Book Review: A Haunted Halloween – Author Paul Melniczek

A Haunted Halloween by Paul Melniczek

Introduction
Wicked Treats
By The Light…Of The Sinister Moon
Effortless
Celebrate With Us
Reunion
The Last Ride (A Halloween Treat)
October Haze
Within These Bindings
The Invited
Tricks
The Attic Door
Publishers Afterword

Artwork by Frank Walls
Wicked Treats
Reunion
October Haze
The Attic Door

Halloween. The name itself conjures up a witch’s brew of images. Leering Jack-O-Lanterns sitting on porches, costumed children trick-or-treating across suburban neighborhoods, skeletal trees marking the passage of another season, and lonely fields of corn swaying gently in a chill, autumn breeze. But there is also a darker side to this magical night, one which can breathe life into things which were only possibility, and sculpt them into dreadful reality. Every home has at least one closet which harbors a skeleton. There’s a house in every town with a morbid past and haunted occupant. Families hide their dark secrets, and inside each of us wages a struggle of good against evil, one in which the final outcome is never certain, or necessarily pretty. Within the folds of the dark season, all things emerge from the shadows to celebrate, claiming the holiday for their own sinister purpose, and for every treat there’s a nasty trick waiting somewhere close by…

Halloween, what a glorious time of year. The days are cooler and shorter, the shadows longer and more sinister, the air seems cleaner, fresher, carrying on it a scent of rotting leaves and smoke from fireplaces and wood burning stoves.

Halloween means different things to different people. For me Halloween is about romping through the night, hands clenched tightly around your candy bag. A night where every house, every shadow and every barren tree holds a hint of magic and also dread.

In Dark Regions Press first Halloween book “A Haunted Halloween” by Paul Melniczek, they have succeeded in bringing to life all those lost memories of Halloween’s gone by.

The Introduction by the author and Afterword by the publisher sums up perfectly what Halloween is all about. You can tell that they love Halloween and that love shines through in a simply stunning group of Halloween tales.

This is a must book for you Halloween collection, heck it’s a must book for anyone’s collection.

I thought every story was strong, dripping with Halloween dread and excitement, monsters, ghouls and things that go bump in the night.

I did have a few favorites that continue to haunt me;

Wicked Treats – First story and it sets the tone very well. A tale of friendship and betrayal with horrendous consequences.

Effortless – Not a typical Halloween tale but the most unsettling story in the book for me and my favorite.

Reunion – A classic Halloween tale with one of my favorite things…scarecrows. What would a man do to join his departed loved one?

The Attic Door – The final and longest story of the collection is a good old fashioned haunted house tale that is creepy, frightening and is a perfect story to end this superb collection.

Now I might be a bit biased as anyone that knows me, knows how much I love Halloween but not only is this now one of my favorite Halloween story collections it is one of my favorite short story collections…period.

If you love all things Halloween you are missing out on a delicious treat if you don’t pick up a copy of “A Haunted Halloween.”

As I have come accustomed to with all of Dark Region’s offerings, the exceptional cover art and interior art by Frank Walls adds just the right atmosphere to the stories.