I love reading shorts in October. Drop your favorite Halloween short stories and/or collections/anthologies. Some of my favorites:

• “The Spook Man” and “Pumpkin Head” by Al Sarrantonio
• “Pumpkin Girl” by Robert Grant
• “The Halloween Man” by William F. Nolan
• “The Spirit of Things” by John Skipp
• “Yesterday’s Witch” by Gahan Wilson
• “Making Friends” by Gary Raisor
• “Trick or Treat” by A.R. Morlan
• “The Folding Man” by Joe R. Lansdale

This short story from Nevill’s collection, Some Will Not Sleep, is one of the most unsettling short stories I’ve ever read.

It’s starts with a simple enough premise. Guy let’s his old friend/acquaintance from college move into his place when he’s got nowhere else to go. From there, however, things begin to get a little weird. Turns out that so-called friend, Ewan, is an absolutely disgusting, filthy person, and when he’s not living in his own waste, he’s drinking heavily, blasting strange Swedish death metal at 3 a.m. and finding every way imaginable to piss off his roommate. Oh yeah, he also sees angels up in trees and worships some kind of “Goddess”, whom he whispers to at night. And on top of all that, he also refuses to leave.

I thought this was an incredibly effective story. I was so genuinely grossed out by his roommate in the beginning. Then, when he just flat out refuses to leave over and over again, spewing some crazy bullshit excuse every time, I could almost feel the rage and frustration boiling over in our protagonist (whom I can’t recall is ever named) and in myself as well. It’s just one of the stories that is so maddening to read, yet I still found myself completely engrossed in the story, basically glued to the pages because I had to know what happened next. And I dont want spoil too much of the story, but what a chilling ending…

For those who have read this short story or collection, thoughts?

I’ve read two of Nevill’s novels now, which were both fantastic, but I’ve been blown away so far by this SSC.

Side note: Just finished another amazing story in this collection tonight, “What God Hath Wrought?”. In Utah, 1848, an ex-soldier hunts down a preacher and his army of undead converts who took his sister. Didn’t even realize Nevill took a crack at the western genre, but I’m definitely here for it.

I am interested in trying to read more and werewolves are my favorite mythical creature and I was wondering if this communities got any good recommendations for me.

I finished NOWHERE by Alison Gunn on audio yesterday and thought it quite good.

This is an incredibly compelling novel and I can't say for sure if it is because of or despite the extremely unlikable and borderline hate-able protagonist, Police Chief Rachel. Not that her husband Finn is the best guy in the world because he is certainly very flawed and not the most likeable character either, but he seems a tad less self-destructive than his wife.

I don't recall being this pulled into a novel led by such an annoying protagonist.

I was very impressed overall with the story Gunn told. There are some great creepy scenes in the story leaning into "hillbilly" folk horror and creepy kids.

A tragedy that occurred prior to the start of novel hangs like a dark cloud over Rachel and Finn's family, but damn is that darkness unrelenting.

This is not a happy horror story by any means so if you aren't in the mood for a downer of a story, and if you're able to read a novel with a character who progressively becomes more unlikeable, then give this one a try.

Right, that's quite a few qualifiers on this one, but I was very impressed with Gunn's novel.

So back in 2016, I had received a fire stick with Kody on it that was Jail broken. I remember watching this one movie I know it was a low budget possibly a found footage. I remember a guy he lived in a house with his family and I believe it was haunted he sent his family away and wanted to "investigate" it. Then ended up getting possessed, the rest I can remember was it was a scene where he had gotten a prostitute, at some point he offered her up some "coke" but ended up being battery acid she tried to run down the stairs get out the front door but the front door was all locked. That he called her and killed her. Then his nephew came to check on him later on in the movie and then he duct taped his nephew to a chair and forced him to take drain cleaner down his throat. I can't remember much of the movie other then that. And I believe the title that the jail broke Kody gave me not the right title. I tried to look it up way back and no luck. Hoping someone reading this will recognize this film. Thanks.