Thorn’s Thoughts: Halloween Carnival Volume One

Halloween Carnival Volume 1, edited by Brian James Freeman, provides a handful of efficiently written variations on its title theme. Its overall effect is pleasant, if not especially demanding. One gets the sense that this might be what Freeman wants: an assortment of easy and digestible Halloween-set tales. The collection’s structure is interesting, in that it begins with three relatively brisk pieces before concluding with a long story and a novelette. This layout seems to suggest a process of easing into or building up to the main event(s), but I think the book peaks with its second entry—Kevin Lucia’s genuinely powerful “The Rage of Achilles, or When Mockingbirds Sing.”

Read my full review on Unnerving Magazine’s website.