Halloween: Flash Fiction Style

HALLOWEEN IS A FAVORITE HOLIDAY AT OUR HOUSE. We do it all. Gravestones on the grass, imitation spider web on the rose bushes, creepy glowstick eyes peering out from the shadows, a minimum of 12 pumpkins usually carved to follow a theme (last year it was classic horror literature, as you can see).  

We even fry donuts for all the neighbors (last year we made close to 200). One year we had to leave town for Halloween. No donuts. Someone tried to show their displeasure by toilet-papering our yard. The house-sitter scared them off. We came home to find a half dozen very large, very soggy rolls of toilet paper strewn about the yard, with only a strand or two clinging limply to the trumpet vine. T.P. Fail.

One of our favorite traditions is to listen to the ultimate Halloween story: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

Several audio versions are available online, including this one.

But one can only tolerate so much “Tell-Tale Heart.”

To mix things up for you, and to enrich your spooky celebration, we’ve put together an amazing Halloween issue for you.  

To begin with, a strange but sweet story by Rebecca Roland, “The Monster on her Cheek.”

Next up, “Three Rules for Befriending Ghosts,” by Benjamin Thomas, in which a ghost becomes a loyal companion. 

Then, an odd little tale of a pregnant house. Yes. That’s correct. “Offspring” by Brenda Anderson.

Finally, our recycled story for the month, “Devil Got You on Speed Dial” by H. L. Fullerton, which originally appeared in DarkFuse’s Horror D’oeuvres.  

Happy Haunting!