Haunted Nights: A Horror Writers Association Anthology by Brian Evenson, Elise Forier Edie, Ellen Datlow, Eric J. Guignard, Garth Nix, Jeffrey Ford, Joanna Parypinski, John Langan, John R. Little, Jonathan Maberry, Kate Jonez, Kelley Armstrong, Lisa Morton, Pat Cadigan, Paul Kane, S. P. Miskowski, Seanan McGuire, Stephen Graham Jones Narrator: Alana Kerr Collins, Amy Landon, Andrew Eiden, Carrington MacDuffie, Emily Sutton-Smith, Erin Spencer, Gabra Zackman, Gerard Doyle, Hillary Huber, James Patrick Cronin, Keith Szarabajka, Kevin Kenerly, Luis Moreno, Malcolm Hillgartner, Michael Kramer, Suzanne Elise Freeman, Tom Taylorson
Published by Blackstone Audio Inc on 03 October 2017
Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
Genres: Horror
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher, Submitted
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Here are 16 chilling, never-before-published tales that explore every aspect of our darkest holiday, Halloween, coedited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most successful and respected genre editors, and Lisa Morton, a leading authority on Halloween.
In addition to stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick-or-treating in the future, Haunted Nights also offers terrifying and mind-bending explorations of related holidays like All Souls' Day, Día de los Muertos, and Devil's Night.
"With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds" by Seanan McGuire
"Dirtmouth" by Stephen Graham Jones
"A Small Taste of the Old Country" by Jonathan Maberry
"Wick's End" by Joanna Parypinski
"The 17-Year Itch" by Garth Nix
"A Flicker of Light on Devil's Night" by Kate Jonez
"Witch-Hazel" by Jeffrey Ford
"Nos Galen Gaeaf" by Kelley Armstrong
"We're Never Inviting Amber Again" by S. P. Miskowski
"Sisters" by Brian Evenson
"All through the Night" by Elise Forier Edie
"A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds" by Eric J. Guignard
"The Turn" by Paul Kane
"Jack" by Pat Cadigan
"Lost in the Dark" by John Langan
"The First Lunar Halloween" by John R. LittleNarrated by Gabra Zackman, Erin Spencer, James Patrick Cronin, Michael Kramer, Gerard Doyle, Kevin Kenerly, Amy Landon, Carrington MacDuffie, Andrew Eiden, Tom Taylorson, Suzanne Elise Freeman, Alana Kerr Collins, Luis Moreno, Keith Szarabajka, Emily Sutton-Smith, Malcolm Hillgartner, and Hillary Huber.
©2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
ABR received this audiobook for free from the Publisher, Submitted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the audiobook or the content of our review.
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Co-edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton, Haunted Nights: A Horror Writers Association Anthology presents 16 original Halloween-themed short stories from authors Seanan McGuire, Jonathan Maberry, Stephen Graham Jones, Kelley Armstrong, Paul Kane, and plenty more. Each story is read by a different narrator, giving this anthology a wide range of flavors and vocal styling that keep the pace fresh over the course of nearly 12 hours.
As far as the content goes, I often find anthologies to be a mixed bag and this is no exception. The audio production end is strong throughout and the narrators give fine readings for each of their segments, so I have no quibbles on that end of things. However, a number of the stories contained herein struck me as largely forgettable. Still, there are a handful of standouts. Stephen Graham Jones delivers an awesome ghost story in “Dirtmouth,” and Jonathan Maberry gives us a fun bit of straightforward culinary revenge in “A Small Taste of the Old Country.” Garth Nix’s “The 17-Year Itch” provides a cool story of possession in a prison setting – I thought I had this one figured out from the beginning but was pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong. “The Turn” by Paul Kane gives us a demon’s perspective on Halloween, and John Langan reports on a found-footage movie that may be more documentary than genre fiction in “Lost in the Dark.”
The one aspect I appreciated above all else was the diversity in theme. Plenty of other Halloween-focused anthologies focus mostly, if not entirely, on a familiar, oftentimes whitewashed, North American approach to the holiday, but there’s a nice mix of cultural representation and beliefs from this HWA production. Maberry focuses on Austrian customs while Armstrong delivers a Welsh-based Halloween story. Eric J. Guignard gives us an LA-based Day of the Dead celebration alongside some gang fights in his “A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds” and Elise Forier Edie tells us a story from the perspective of a 19th Century Irish immigrant to New York. John R. Little examines Halloween with a sci-fi speculative bent, as a small group of human survivors living on the moon attempt to recreate the lost traditions of an Earth they never knew in the year 2204.
My chief complaint, though, is that Haunted Nights just isn’t particularly horrifying. There’s some nice ghost stories and plays on familiar horror tropes, but there are no real scares and only a few of the stories dare to approach anything truly horrifying. This anthology is rather placid, with the authors playing it far too safe and refusing to take any risks. Frankly, taken as a whole, this is far too tame for my tastes and I found myself pining for edgier material nearly the whole through.
About Gerard Doyle
No bio available.
About Eric J. Guignard
Eric J. Guignard writes dark and speculative fiction from the outskirts of Los Angeles. By role of editor, he’s also published the anthologies, Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations and After Death… , the latter of which won the 2013 Bram Stoker Award. Read his novella, Baggage of Eternal Night (a finalist for the 2014 International Thriller Award), and watch for many more forthcoming books, including “Chestnut ‘Bo” (TBP 2016). Outside the glamorous and jet-setting world of indie fiction, Eric’s a technical writer and college professor, and he stumbles home each day to a wife, children, cats, and a terrarium filled with mischievous beetles.
About Jonathan Maberry
JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning horror and thriller author, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His books have been sold to more than a dozen countries.
His novels include the Pine Deep Trilogy: GHOST ROAD BLUES (Pinnacle books; winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2006), DEAD MAN’S SONG (2007) and BAD MOON RISING (2008); the Joe Ledger series of action thrillers from St. Martin’s Griffin: PATIENT ZERO (2009, winner of the Black Quill and a Bram Stoker Award finalist for Best Novel), THE DRAGON FACTORY (2010; now available), THE KING OF PLAGUES (March 2011), ASSASSIN’S CODE (March 2012), EXTINCTION MACHINE (2013); THE WOLFMAN (NY Times bestseller from Tor, based on the Universal Pictures film starring Benecio Del Toro, Emily Blunt and Sir Anthony Hopkins; winner of the Scribe Award for Best Adaptation); the forthcoming standalone zombie thriller DEAD OF NIGHT (Oct 25 2011); and the Benny Imura series of Young Adult dystopian zombie thrillers from Simon & Schuster: ROT & RUIN (2011; named in Booklist’s Ten Best Horror Novels for Young Adults, a Bram Stoker and Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award finalist; winner of the Cybils Award, the Eva Perry Mock Printz medal, Dead Letter Best Novel Award, and four Melinda Awards), DUST & DECAY (Aug 30 2011), FLESH & BONE (2012) and FIRE & ASH (21013).
Jonathan was an expert on the History Channel documentary on zombies scheduled to air October 26.
His nonfiction works include: VAMPIRE UNIVERSE (Citadel Press, 2006), THE CRYPTOPEDIA (Citadel, 2007 –winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction; co-authored by David F. Kramer), ZOMBIE CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (Winner of the Hinzman and Black Quill Awards and nominated for a Stoker Award; 2008), THEY BITE! (2009 co-authored by David F. Kramer), WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE (2010; Bram Stoker nominee; co-authored by Janice Gable Bashman), and THE VAMPIRE SLAYERS FIELD GUIDE TO THE UNDEAD (2001, written under the pen name of Shane MacDougall).
He writes a variety of projects for Marvel Comics involving CAPTAIN AMERICA, BLACK PANTHER, DOOMWAR, WOLVERINE, DEADPOOL, THE X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, the NY Times bestselling MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN, MARVEL UNIVERSE vs THE PUNISHER and MARVEL UNIVERSE vs WOLVERINE. All of Jonathan’s comic book collections are released as Graphic Novel collections within a month or two of individual comic publication.
Recent short stories include “Pegleg and Paddy Save the World” (HISTORY IS DEAD, Permuted Press 2007), “Doctor Nine” (KILLERS, Swimming Kangaroo Press, 2008; and reprinted in THE STORIES (in) BETWEEN Edited by Greg Schauer, Jeanne B. Benzel, and W.H. Horner. Fantasist Enterprises, 2009), “Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Greenbrier Ghost” (LEGENDS OF THE MOUNTAIN STATE 2, Bloodletting Books, 2008), “Clean Sweeps” (AND SO IT BEGINS, Dark Quest Books, 2008), “Family Business” (THE NEW DEAD, St. Martin’s Press, 2010), “Like Part of the Family” (NEW BLOOD edited by Patrick Thomas and Diane Raetz, Padwolf Press, 2010), “Zero Tolerance” (THE LIVING DEAD 2, Night Shade Books), “Flint and Steel” (GI JOE: COBRA WARS, 2011), “Saint John”(THE MONSTER’S CORNER, 2011, St. Martin’s), “The Death Song of Dwar Guntha” (Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, 2012, Simon & Schuster), and “The Wind Through the Fence” (an original e-story available for all e-readers). His essay, “Take Me To Your Leader” will be included in the nonfiction book, TRIUMPH OF THE LIVING DEAD: Robert Kirkman’s Zombie Epic on Page and Screen edited by James Lowder (BenBella Books/Smart Pop, 2011).
About Lisa Morton
Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of horror fiction, and Halloween expert. She is a winner of both the Black Quill and Bram Stoker Awards, and her short stories have appeared in more than 50 books and magazines. Her first novel, THE CASTLE OF LOS ANGELES, was released by Gray Friar Press in 2010, and her first collection, MONSTERS OF L.A., was published by Bad Moon Books in October 2011. She is a native and lifelong resident of Southern California, and currently resides in the San Fernando Valley.
About Paul Kane
Paul Kane has been writing professionally for almost fifteen years. His genre journalism has appeared in such magazines as Fangoria, SFX and Rue Morgue, and his non-fiction books are the critically acclaimed The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy and Voices in the Dark. His award-winning short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic (as well as being broadcast on BBC Radio 2), and has been collected in Alone (In the Dark), Touching the Flame, FunnyBones, Peripheral Visions, Shadow Writer, The Butterfly Man and Other Stories, The Spaces Between and GHOSTS. His novella Signs of Life reached the shortlist of the British Fantasy Awards 2006, The Lazarus Condition was introduced by Mick Garris – creator of Masters of Horror – RED featured artwork from Dave (The Graveyard Book) McKean and Pain Cages was introduced by Stephen Volk (The Awakening).
As Special Publications Editor of the British Fantasy Society he worked with authors like Brian Aldiss, Ramsey Campbell, Muriel Gray and Robert Silverberg, he is the co-editor of Hellbound Hearts for Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster), an anthology of original stories inspired by Clive Barker’s mythos – featuring contributions from the likes of Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola, Kelley Armstrong and Richard Christian Matheson – The Mammoth Book of Body Horror (Constable & Robinson) – featuring Stephen King, James Herbert and Robert Bloch – and the Poe-inspired Beyond Rue Morgue (for Titan).
In 2008 his zombie story ‘Dead Time’ was turned into an episode of the Lionsgate/NBC TV series Fear Itself, adapted by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (SAW II-IV). He also scripted The Opportunity which premiered at Cannes in 2009, The Weeping Woman – starring Fright Night’s Stephen Jeffreys – and Wind Chimes (directed by Brad ‘7th Dimension’ Watson. He is the author of the novels Of Darkness and Light, The Gemini Factor and the bestselling Arrowhead trilogy (Arrowhead, Broken Arrow and Arrowland), a post-apocalyptic reworking of the Robin Hood mythology gathered together as the sell-out Hooded Man omnibus. His latest novels are Lunar (which is set to be turned into a feature film) and the short Y.A. book The Rainbow Man (as P.B. Kane). He currently lives in Derbyshire, UK, with his wife – the author Marie O’Regan – his family, and a black cat called Mina. You can find out more at his website www.shadow-writer.co.uk which has featured Guest Writers such as Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, Dean Koontz, John Connolly and Guillermo del Toro.
About Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn’t killed for using her typewriter at three o’clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite.
Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan’s anecdotes end with things like “and then we got the anti-venom” or “but it’s okay, because it turned out the water wasn’t that deep.” She has yet to be defeated in a game of “Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?,” and can be amused for hours by almost anything. “Almost anything” includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir’s Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist.
About Stephen Graham Jones
Stephen Graham Jones is the author of fifteen novels and six collections. He really likes werewolves and slashers. Favorite novels change daily, but Valis and Love Medicine and Lonesome Dove and It and The Things They Carried are all usually up there somewhere. Stephen lives in Boulder, Colorado. It’s a big change from the West Texas he grew up in. He’s married with a couple kids, and probably one too many trucks.
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