≡ PDF Gratis October Dreams II Richard Chizmar 9781587674921 Books

October Dreams II Richard Chizmar 9781587674921 Books

Download As PDF : October Dreams II Richard Chizmar 9781587674921 Books

October Dreams II Richard Chizmar 9781587674921 Books

Why isn’t it Halloween again yet? Yeah I know I know other months other holidays etc. and Halloween is only supposed to be apportioned a small segment of the calendar. Fortunately, for those of us who do sort of a weird variation of end-movie Scrooge and keep it in our hearts all the year, there are books like this to help.

October Dreams II: A Celebration of Halloween, is a wonderful mingling of fiction and non from some of the top names in the genre. Several are essays on the prompting theme of “My Favorite Halloween Memory,” and oh wow did those hit close to home!

Maybe part of it’s a generational thing. I was a kid in the 1970s and 80s, as were many of the contributors. Reading their essays overwhelmed me with nostalgia and poignant lament. THIS is the way Halloween WAS, for us, back then. Before the internet. Before seatbelt laws and helmet laws and helicopter parents (we grew up to become them, which is creepy when you think about it).

But yeah, wow, the memories. Those cheap plastic costumes with the stupid elastic-band masks … the kind of peanut-butter-flavored taffy chews in orange and black twists of wax paper … being that one weird kid into monster movies … except, don’t you have to wonder, how many of us there were, hiding it from each other? A lot more, I now suspect, than we ever imagined.

The essays will, if you were an American kid of that certain age, take you back. If you’re of a later generation, hey, maybe it’ll help you understand us old fogeys. Or, you can just point and laugh and eyeroll, the way my own daughter does when we watch “I <3 the 70s/80s.”

Speaking of stuff to watch on TV, Lisa Morton is a triple-threat in this book, because not only does she contribute a great story and an essay, but a comprehensive write-up on the history of Halloween in television.

And the stories, oh, the stories! A Ray Bradbury, obviously – and to whom the book’s rightly dedicated. A Dean Koontz I somehow had never seen before. John Skipp. Gemma Files. Whitley Striber. Robert Bloch. The lineup of all-stars just goes on and on.

When I saw that one of the tales was from horror-master Robert McCammon, I confess I was a little extra nervous; an earlier Halloween story of his results in recurring nightmares whenever I read it. Not that I was going to let that stop me, of course, and I’m glad. “Strange Candy” is a thing of subtler, deeper, quieter fright … the kind of fright also tinged with weird awe and beauty.

Is it peculiar to say that I could see this book having a place in high school or college courses? Literature, folklore, sociology, cultural studies, psych … it’s all here. So much to enjoy, so much to make you think and reflect.


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October Dreams II Richard Chizmar 9781587674921 Books Reviews

Why isn’t it Halloween again yet? Yeah I know I know other months other holidays etc. and Halloween is only supposed to be apportioned a small segment of the calendar. Fortunately, for those of us who do sort of a weird variation of end-movie Scrooge and keep it in our hearts all the year, there are books like this to help.

October Dreams II A Celebration of Halloween, is a wonderful mingling of fiction and non from some of the top names in the genre. Several are essays on the prompting theme of “My Favorite Halloween Memory,” and oh wow did those hit close to home!

Maybe part of it’s a generational thing. I was a kid in the 1970s and 80s, as were many of the contributors. Reading their essays overwhelmed me with nostalgia and poignant lament. THIS is the way Halloween WAS, for us, back then. Before the internet. Before seatbelt laws and helmet laws and helicopter parents (we grew up to become them, which is creepy when you think about it).

But yeah, wow, the memories. Those cheap plastic costumes with the stupid elastic-band masks … the kind of peanut-butter-flavored taffy chews in orange and black twists of wax paper … being that one weird kid into monster movies … except, don’t you have to wonder, how many of us there were, hiding it from each other? A lot more, I now suspect, than we ever imagined.

The essays will, if you were an American kid of that certain age, take you back. If you’re of a later generation, hey, maybe it’ll help you understand us old fogeys. Or, you can just point and laugh and eyeroll, the way my own daughter does when we watch “I <3 the 70s/80s.”

Speaking of stuff to watch on TV, Lisa Morton is a triple-threat in this book, because not only does she contribute a great story and an essay, but a comprehensive write-up on the history of Halloween in television.

And the stories, oh, the stories! A Ray Bradbury, obviously – and to whom the book’s rightly dedicated. A Dean Koontz I somehow had never seen before. John Skipp. Gemma Files. Whitley Striber. Robert Bloch. The lineup of all-stars just goes on and on.

When I saw that one of the tales was from horror-master Robert McCammon, I confess I was a little extra nervous; an earlier Halloween story of his results in recurring nightmares whenever I read it. Not that I was going to let that stop me, of course, and I’m glad. “Strange Candy” is a thing of subtler, deeper, quieter fright … the kind of fright also tinged with weird awe and beauty.

Is it peculiar to say that I could see this book having a place in high school or college courses? Literature, folklore, sociology, cultural studies, psych … it’s all here. So much to enjoy, so much to make you think and reflect.