Thank you NetGalley and Anchor Books for providing me with an ARC of <i>Haunted Nights</i> in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist

One can always tell when I have had enough of summer and I’m ready for the cozy autumn season. This usually happens around the beginning of August and takes the form of me watching spooky movies and reading Halloween stories.

I had <i>Haunted Nights</i> on my NetGalley to-read shelf for an eternity and thought now was an excellent time to start getting into the Halloween spirit.

Generally speaking, I find the Halloween season and the time leading up to the holiday way too short anyway, so might as well make it last as long as possible.

The Details

I can be a fickle reader. Throw an anthology or collection of short stories at me and who knows how I will respond.

I tend to have one of two reactions to anthologies, independent from vivid flashbacks of my time as a literature undergrad student – because most texts back then were “anthologies”.

One, I find the short stories too short. I get frustrated with the lack of “what happens next”. I need answers and I won’t get them, because as the genre says so clearly, these are short stories.

Two, I get overwhelmed by the number of stories and the various storylines. I tend to plough through a book, which is no big deal when it is a continuous story. In the case of an anthology things can get a little complicated when trying to read through it as quickly as possible.

With <i>Haunted Nights</i> it was a little bit of both. I really enjoyed some stories and wanted desperately to know more. With others, I was just trying to make it through to move on to the next.

I mean, that’s the risk a reader takes when choosing to read a collection of short stories, or poems or articles. Some will speak more to you than others.

The stories that spoke to me the most out of <i>Haunted Nights</i> nights were as follows:

<i>With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds</i> by Seanan McGuire

<i>The Seventeen-Year Itch</i> by Garth Nix

<i>Witch Hazel</i> by Jeffrey Ford

<i>We’re Never Inviting Amber Again</i> S. P. Miskowski

<i>Sisters</i> Brian Evenson

<i>Jack</i> Pat Cadigan

To me they were atmospheric, spooky, eerie, and even a little cozy to read. I know, I’m weird. I just can’t help getting all snuggled up in a blanket, reading a story that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The Verdict

Overall, I thought this was a solid anthology of Halloween inspired and themed stories. It was the perfect starting point for this year’s Halloween reads.

Not only will I check out more anthologies and collections edited by the two editors of <i>Haunted Nights</i>, but I will also see what other works the authors I listed above have published.

I would definitely recommend this collection.

Another great collection curated by Ellen Datlow that is PERFECT for the fall. Halloween themed anthologies are a dime a dozen, but this one feels fresh as its stories focus more on the history of the holiday in America and other cultures.
Favorite stories: "Dirtmouth" by Stephen Graham Jones; "Lost in the Dark" by John Langan; "Sisters" by Brian Evenson; "A Taste of the Old Country" by Jonathan Maberry

An enjoyable read but not my favorite. I did keep coming back to it, which is a good tell. I kept waiting for a section to blow me away, which didnt happen but overall I am glad I read this one. I would recommend this to someone looking for something like this but I think the timing and mood needs to be right to get the full effect.

You know that when you pick up a book edited by Ellen Datlow you're bound to get some really nice fiction. This volume is no exception.

Haunted Nights is a collection of short stories with a Halloween theme. That's a pretty narrow window for reading on a theme (it's not like Christmas when people typically begin around Halloween) but fortunately the horror story genre doesn't confine itself to Halloween.

Although I think it's true that you can be pretty confident about your selection when you pick up a book by Datlow, I've also found that I'm rarely 'wow'ed by any one particular story or stories. A lot of them a good to very good but nothing spectacular. That holds true here as well.

The best of the book are saved for the very end. Pat Cadigan's "Jack" is probably my favorite of the collection. Cadigan has a strong writing style and she delivers sentences that just absolutely suck you in...
<blockquote>Every year, there are a few days when the border between the natural and the supernatural worlds gets less solid, less real, less ... there, and nobody knows why.</blockquote>
and
<blockquote>I once overheard a woman who'd just been to a funeral say something to the effect that the dead person's troubles were over. I didn't even have to look at her to know she lived only in the natural world.</blockquote>
I definitely need to read more Pat Cadigan.

I also enjoyed John Langan's "Lost in the Dark" and John R; Little's "The First Lunar Halloween". The latter of course not being set on earth was clever and fun. Langan's story rises to a different level as it is a horror story about horror films.

I had expected to fall in love with Seanan McGuire's story as I relish her novels, but this time I wasn't as moved by her work.

This book contains the following:

Introduction by Lisa Morton
"With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds" - Seanan McGuire
"Dirtmouth" - Stephen Graham Jones
"A Small Taste of the Old Country" - Jonathan Maberry
"Wick’s End" - Joanna Parypinski
"The Seventeen-Year Itch" - Garth Nix
"A Flicker of Light on Devil’s Night" - Kate Jonez
"Witch Hazel" - Jeffrey Ford
"Nos Galen Gaeaf" - Kelley Armstrong
"We’re Never Inviting Amber Again" - S. P. Miskowski
"Sisters" - Brian Evenson
"All Through the Night" - Elise Forier Edie
"A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds" - Eric J. Guignard
"The Turn" - Paul Kane
"Jack" - Pat Cadigan
"Lost in the Dark" - John Langan
"The First Lunar Halloween" - John R. Little

Looking for a good book? Haunted Nights is a collection of Halloween themed short stories edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton and will give you shivers any time of year.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This anthology has 16 never before published short stories. For me, this was a mixed bag of creepy and boring stories. It's definitely not one to read all the way through in one sitting. The stories tended to blend together after a while. The one that I thought was the creepiest was "Dirtmouth" by Stephen Graham Jones. There is something in here for everyone.

An amazing collection by two stellar editors and curators, Haunted Nights provides infinite entertainment and terror. A must read for any fan of horror and genre fiction.

The word "Halloween" on the cover of an anthology is bound to grab my attention. The words "Ellen" and "Datlow" together have a similar effect, and Lisa Morton and Halloween go together like...well, like orange and black.

The problem is, I can be very picky about what counts as "Halloween" enough for me. I will say that many of the stories in this book did not conjure that spooky autumn feeling, that nagging fear that as October 31 approaches, something else is also getting closer and closer. That said, they were good horror stories, and they were about or related to this holiday in some way. I have to step back in some cases and consider the quality rather than my own preferences and expectations.

Additionally, every anthology is going to have some stories that stand out and some that are weaker. It's the nature of anthologies. I'm always on the lookout for what I call the "wall-chucker." Most anthologies have at least one, that story that is so awful you want to pick the book up and throw it at the wall. "Haunted Nights," I'm grateful to say, did not have a single wall-chucker for me. I enjoyed every story...some more than others.

Favorite stories:
With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds by Seanan McGuire. I'm a sucker for haunted houses. This was exactly the sort of story I was hoping for.

A Small Taste of the Old Country by Jonathan Maberry. As the story progressed, I kept hoping my suspicions about the ending were right, and I was delighted to find they were. Usually I prefer a story not to be quite so predictable, but this was a case where it worked.

The Seventeen-Year Itch by Garth Nix. This one surprised me, maybe because I mostly know Nix through the Abhorsen books and The Seventh Tower. This story steps into the gory, dread-inducing side of horror, and it's thrilling.

A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds by Eric J. Guignard. This one took a while to grow on me. Towards the end, though, I was completely engaged, and it's one of the stories that sticks out most in my mind when I think back over "Haunted Nights."

Lost in the Dark by John Langan. A longer, slower piece, but it kept my attention throughout. It made me think of all of the hope I have every time I watch another "found footage" horror movie and my fingers are crossed that this one will be good.

Thumbing back through the book, having read it and then waited an embarrassingly long time to post my review, I'm finding that I look on a number of these stories with fondness. There are some great, memorable pieces in here. Overall, I think the four stars are well earned.

Haunted Nights is a pretty good collection of Halloween-themed stories. The thing which distinguishes it from other collections is the type of Halloween the character celebrate or endure, as the case may be. Some of them are hiding a surprise or two and with only one exception, I enjoyed these stories - some more than others, of course.
Just a couple of notes on the stories themselves:

With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds by Seanan McGuire is a haunted house story. I wasn't surprised to like this. Seanan McGuire can write paranormal stuff really really well.

Dirtmouth by Stephen Graham Jones has an unreliable narrator, so you never know what exactly happened to the narrator and his family. It had my undivided attention, though.

A Small Taste of the Old Country by Jonathan Maberry is a good enough story, I guess; one of those people would feel bad for saying something bad. My issue with it was it is too transparent right from the beginning. The moment you see the setting and the period it takes place, you know everything about it, so it becomes a bit of a chore to read through the food stuff.
Don't get me wrong, it is a good story. It is simply better suited for a younger reader who is learning about those particular issues.
A small nitpick: Poles are Slavs.

Wick's End by Joanna Parypinski is a familiar one. You must have heard at least a version of it. One monster hunting on Halloween encounters another monster.

The Seventeen Year Itch by Garth Nix is a great story that takes place at an asylum. A change in administration creates all kinds of problems. People should really listen to older members of staff.

A Flicker of Light on Devil's Night by Kate Jonez is the exception I mentioned earlier. I almost stopped reading this book. It is boring, it drags like nobody's business and it has the least engaging characters ever written. I can't remember the last time I've read something this short that took this much time and being this boring. I hated this depressing 'story' and its present tense.

Witch-Hazel by Jeffrey Ford features twins and it is really good. And disgusting.

Nos Galen Gaeaf by Kelley Armstrong is about people following old traditions. I can't say I am happy with how it ends, but the story is good.

We're Never Inviting Amber Again by S. P. Miskowski is full of horrible people. It's a bit confusing and the ending doesn't help at all. The narrator and his wife (who is this supposedly perfect wonderful person) are having a Halloween party with some friends and the wife's weird sister. During the evening, you find out how weird and crazy the sister is and how horrible this man is. The wife doesn't do anything bad, though (in the present).

Sisters by Brian Evenson is one of those with a surprise in the end. It is great and it is funny too. I mean, the protagonists call us 'it'.

All Through the Night by Elise Forier Edie is one of my favourite stories here and it broke my heart. It is beautifully written, well-plotted and if it doesn't make you cry or at least makes you sad, you don't have a soul.

A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds by Eric J. Guignard is both funny and sad. It has a dancing skeleton and a talking skull, a hungover young man with one huge regret in his life which he tries to fix on Halloween. Everyone gets what they deserve in the end and it is really satisfying.

The Turn by Paul Kane is a great story with pretty good ending. Do not turn around when you hear footsteps following you. You don't want to see what is behind you.

Jack by Pat Cadigan is about another Jack's attempt to trick someone and pass on his cursed lantern.

Lost in the Dark by John Langan is another favourite. The narrator is hired to conduct an interview with a director of a very popular film to conclude whether those events actually happened or not. You are left to draw your own conclusions. Considering that most of us reading this collection are horror lovers, I'm guessing we'll have similar conclusions.

The First Lunar Halloween by John R. Little takes place on October 31, 2204 on the Moon. There are only two thousand or so humans left in the universe and they are all living on the Moon. The aliens destroyed the Earth and everyone on it. The protagonist is a teacher who collected various stories about Halloween and wants to take a group of students topside. Things don't go as planned.
The ending is what makes it even better.

ARC received from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group via NetGalley

Do you like Halloween or perhaps I should ask if you like excellent horror stories? I do! This anthology has wonderful scarey, creepy stories that the author's wrote. I think the authors of these stories outdid themselves! I loved reading the stories in this book as it gives me a moment of time to experience a different environment. I don't know how Ellen Datlow collects and edits these stories but she did a great job. I'm sure her co-editor did too. The stories explored Halloween in ways that I haven't seen before. This is a solid anthology that shouldn't be missed by anyone!

Haunted Nights by Ellen Datlow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This new collection of Horror (or I should say strictly Halloween stories,) was probably the best surprise I got this month. I generally don't expect all that much about made-to-order stories based on a theme, but every single one of these was consistently awesome. Some were rather extraordinary.

Something else that comes as a rather nice surprise was the fact that I've been following most of these authors anyway, so I'm getting a feel for what they'd do naturally and I can even get a sense as to whether their stories are up to snuff. And if you've been reading this far, you can tell I think so. :)

BUT. And here's the odd part... some of my favorite authors aren't getting their top marks in this collection! Seanan McGuire's story, "With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds", actually fell near to the bottom of my list of favorites! *gasp*

"Dirtmout" by Stephen Graham Jones, was absolutely gorgeous and atmospheric and creepy as hell. This is where I knew I was going to rock to this collection.

Jonathan Maberry's "A Small Taste of the Old Country" was pretty good for a history lesson and a traditional ghost story vibe and I have no complaints even if it didn't strike fear into my heart.

I really loved Joanna Parypinski's "Wick's End". It really captures the taste of sitting around a campfire telling stories about how to beat the devil... even if it's a game in a pub. I LOVE these kinds of stories within stories.

"The Seventeen-Year Itch" by Garth Nix was a good one for hospitals and obsession but it didn't really grab me that much even though it was entertaining.

"A Flicker of Light on Devil's Night" by Kate Jonez was pretty atmospheric even if it was more just a mild horror. :)

"Witch Hazel" by Jeffrey Ford was a decent witch story with twins for all you people who are naturally freaked out by those freaks of nature. :) :)

"Nos Galan Gaeaf" by Kelley Armstrong wasn't part of any of my favorites, unfortunately.

"We're Never Inviting Amber Again" by S.P. Miskowski, was, okay, pretty forgettable, too. :)

BUT Brian Evanson's "Sisters" really knocked things out of the park. I loved the fish out of water aspect. :)

"All Through the Night" by Elise Forier Edie was sweet and bittersweet and thoughtful.

"A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds" by Eric J. Guignard was pretty awesome as an adventure through thug territory living through the Day of the Dead for real. It was pretty brilliant.

Paul Kane's "The Turn" made me turn for real. Nice and scary and a perfect pick me up. :) Boo!

Pat Cadigan's "Jack" was pretty much a pumpkin king. Familiar, full of myth, and decent fun, but kinda middle of the road.

John Langan's "Lost in the Dark" blew me the **** away. This one is easily my absolute favorite of the bunch, half-way a documentary, a horror movie, a barroom expose, and a thoughtful and smart addition to the shaky-cam genre that blows most of the shaky-cams out of the atmosphere. I actually got creeped out and started biting my nails a bit.

And for the last story of the bunch, we got a SF! "The First Lunar Halloween" by John R. Little wasn't particularly scary but it felt like a great lunar/archeological experiment in trickery. :)

Haunted Nights by Lisa Morton and Ellen Datlow is great Halloween read! The stories are just the right size to read in one sitting on a cold quiet night!

Unfortunately, I was unable to get through this book. I read a few of the short stories, but none of them made me eager to look for more by that author. I may try it again once our library gets a physical copy of the book, but it wasn't enough to hold my interest.

This year, for all of October, I wanted to read "scary" books. "Jaws" was first and...ehhhhhhh. "Haunted Nights" was next and it delivered everything I want in a story collection.

My favorite story was the first one, "With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds" by Seanan McGuire, because creepy kids are always...creepy. The rest are good, and spam the genre of horror, from sci-fi to foreign to found footage. Everyone will have a favorite.

While many of the stories were based on Halloween and the history of the holiday, there were stories that touched on the other 'scary' holidays, Día de los Muertos, All Hallow's Day & All Soul's Day.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

*whispers* It's Halloween....

Halloween is probably our most evocative and atmospheric holiday, and given that it already comes loaded with “spooky” connotations, it’s no surprise that it’s the focus of so many horror stories. Haunted Nights is a new anthology of 16 original tales written about Halloween, the stories rife with jack-‘o-lanterns and haunted houses, set during Halloween or Devil’s Night or Día de los Muertos. It comes with a fine editorial pedigree: it’s co-edited by Ellen Datlow, one of the leading editors and anthologists in the genre, and Lisa Morton, who’s won awards not just for her short fiction but for her anthologies and histories of Halloween.

There’s a lot of content in this collection, and as with all collections the best stories will vary based on reader’s taste, so I’ll cover some of my favorites:

Seanan McGuire’s “With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds” starts the collection off right. At first glance it’s a haunted house tale, where a group of teens break into an ancient manor to wreck havoc and mischief, only to discover that the house is still inhabited by a little girl who’s been dead for several hundred years. But on a deeper level it’s more of a teen story, a study of peer pressure and the need to belong to a group—any group, even the outcasts and n’er-do-wells. McGuire—aka Mira Grant—nails the execution, crafting a chilling yet very unique story, and I see why her YA work has been winning awards left and right.

This is immediately followed by Stephen Graham Jones’ “Dirtmouth,” one of the standout stories to me, where a father takes his infant children on a reclusive retreat to a snowy mountain cabin on Halloween. The trip is meant to memorialize his wife, missing and presumed dead after a climbing trip, as Halloween was her favorite holiday. As anyone knows, Halloween is the one night of the year where anything is possible, and there are surprises in store for him this night…

Kate Jonez’ “A Flicker of Light on Devil’s Night” takes a dark, melancholy direction, telling of a frustrated single-mother trying to keep her rebellious offspring in line on Devil’s Night. You can feel the unease creeping in well before the story reaches its brutal finale. Brian Evenson’s “Sisters” is a dark and macabre ghost story from early-Americana New Jersey, where two sisters take a dark turn and become psychotic during a celebration, and it’s up to an old country doctor to figure out why. And Garth Nix’s “Seventeen Year Itch” is a creepy gem, where an asylum inmate demands to be locked in solitary over Halloween night every seventeen years; the new asylum director decides this is too barbaric and refuses this demand… to disastrous results.

John Langan’s “Lost in the Dark” is the high point of the collection, in my opinion. It’s a tad more metafictional, written like it’s a journalistic investigation of the origins behind a hit horror movie franchise. The journalist is the professor who once taught the movie’s director, hoping to catch up and learn more after seeing a behind-the-scenes interview that hints at a frightening possibility—that the film was originally a documentary of a real-life mystery, and the ghost story it portrays may be closer to truth than fiction. I have a soft spot for horror stories about horror films, fictional or otherwise, and Langan writes with keen attention to detail and a good knowledge of horror flicks. He also nails the spooky vibe; the story is awash in atmosphere, making it more of a chilling and disconcerting story than an outright shocking or scary one. It’s quite effective, and I’m glad to have read it.

When I was a kid, every treat bag contained a mix of candies great, good, and not-my-cuppa, though that didn’t stop me from greedily gobbling them all up through November. Collections tend to be a mixed bag as well, and this one is no exception; I can’t say that I loved every story in Haunted Nights, but none of them were “bad” stories by any means, and a number of them were excellent. Most of all, it’s nice to see an original collection of stories about the holiday so near and dear; not one of these tales has been printed before, so even the most well-versed horror story reader will crack this volume and find some new treats. This is a nice collection, with enough variety in themes and story types to appeal to any reader. And if you’re a fan of both horror short fiction and Halloween, it’s a great choice to add to your shelves.

This book is just what you need to get in the Halloween mood. There are 16 stories in this book. Each by a different author. These are fresh stories as none have ever been published before. The stories are a mix of all things Halloween and spooky. There is something for everyone in this book.
the stories are short, even though there were a few I would love to read a whole book about.

Out of the stories in the book, Sisters by Brian Evenson was one of my favorites. It never did tell what the characters in the story are ghosts, aliens or what. But I just really liked the child like feel to the story.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

Who better to present a series of short stories revolving around the theme of Halloween than the Horror Writers Association? Each of these twisted tales collectively comes together to form a trick or treat bag haul—readers will recognize their own individual favourite “candies” so to speak and some will be sweeter or more savoury than others but in that bag of goodies will be something for everyone. Standouts for me included “A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds” (Guignard), “A Flicker of Light on Devil’s Night” (Jonez), “A Small Taste of the Old Country” (Maberry) and “With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds” (McGuire).

"Always enjoy life! You are dead longer than you are alive!"

This was quite an assortment of sixteen short stories from members of the Horror Writer's Association. No two were alike. In fact, they weren't even similar. They did all have a common theme in that they were written around Halloween - or All Hallow's Eve, Samhain, and even Dia de los Muertos.

I actually enjoyed all the stories - unusual for me in an anthology with this many stories. Some I did like more than others - ones by Seanan McGuire, Jonathan Maberry, and John Langan stood out for me.

So if you're looking for spooky atmospheric tales since Halloween is right around the corner, try out this collection.

I received this book from Blumhouse Books through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Haunted Nights is a perfect October read. It's a collection of Halloween themed horror short stories edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton. From a haunted house to wandering Jack to the far-flung future of Halloween, there is enough variety to suit anyone. Lisa Morton, a well-known expert on Halloween, writes the enjoyable and informative introduction to the book.

Of the 16 short stories included in the collection, I really liked all but about 2 of them. I think as far as anthologies go, that's a pretty good success rate. My favorites were about the wandering Jack with the fiery turnip. Yes, there was more than one about Jack, but they were nothing alike. I also enjoyed the uniqueness of "The Seventeen Year Itch" by Garth Nix.

I liked that in addition to Halloween, some of the stories also dwelt on what was termed the time when the veil between the worlds thins, The Day of the Dead, All Souls' Day, and Devil's Night. The variety really made the collection a joy to read.

If you enjoy your horror with a taste of Halloween and other related themes, then this is a good book for you. The quality of the writing is there. The chills are present. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed it.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own and freely given.

Good read. Haunted nights indeed. The majority of these stories were really good. I can't say that there were duds, but some just scarier than others. An entertaining read.