#47 - Happy Halloween

 Happy Halloween, dear reader!

Spooky season is one of my favorite times of year. I love the liminal phase from summer brightness to winter dreariness. As the sun gives way to dark, as scarves and pumpkins emerge, everything takes on an edge of the fantastical. Maybe my love for the spooky season comes from growing up trick or treating with friends, carving pumpkins, and going on haunted hay rides. Or perhaps it originates from visiting European castles and medieval towns in autumn as a child. Or it could be from reading and watching classical horror in my formative years: Dracula, Frankenstein, Cthulhu, the Yellow Wallpaper, etc. 

So, for October, and honestly most of November too, I like to intentionally read and watch horror, true crime, and spooky things to celebrate. I have a special fondness for bad horror movies and Christopher Lee's Dracula. 

This week I have a bit of a treat (and a recommendation!) for you, dear reader. This week I want to introduce you to a book for short stories called Tombstone Teeth and Other Horrors by E.G. Rand. I horror short stories because the genre works so well for sharp, fast hits leaving you with a bit of a shudder and a look over you shoulder. And Rand delivers. She's a relatively new author, but with inspiration from Stephen King and Clive Barker, I cannot wait to read more of her work. Here's a bit about each story to hopefully entice you to find yourself a copy, its widely available online as a physical book and as an ebook.

Tombstone Teeth is divided into four shorts, the first names the book is the longest. Its a ghoulish tale about a creature or spirit or something haunting the local graveyard which lures people in to satiate its unending hunger. It builds and builds through vignettes of time adding to the terror as the reader passes through each moment. 

The second story, A Bad Hangover, is less ghostly and more existential. It's a dark and grim look at the horrors of real life. 

The third story is my favorite, its rather Lovecraftian. It is called the Siren, and is most definitely not about the Little Mermaid. Anyone who has visited the beaches of the Pacific coast or north of the Carolinas during the off season will think twice about going back after reading this short. Remember the obscuring mist and the howling wind? Yeah, I do. Wish I didn't.

The fourth and final story, the House on Laurel Lane will be a favorite for those who love a good serial killer and watching true crime shows alongside their supernatural horror. What happens in a house after a murder? What if the killer isn't done yet? 

I was delighted by the way Rand can write in different flavors of horror while channeling the best parts of the authors who inspired her. I found the stories to be creepy and a fun, fast read for the month of October. I hope in the future we will get to read more by her. Anyway, support a new author and get a copy for yourself. You might just find yourself chanting along...

Tombstone Teeth, Tombstone Teeth...