October Dreams edited by Richard Chizmar

Richard Chizmar

Richard Thomas Chizmar is best known as the publisher and editor of Cemetery Dance magazine and the owner of Cemetery Dance Publications...

 and Robert Morrish is an anthology

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 of Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

-themed memories and short stories from many award winning names in dark fantasy and horror fiction. Jack Ketchum

Jack Ketchum

Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for American author Dallas Mayr . He is the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, including The Girl Next Door and Red...

's "Gone" (first published in this anthology) was nominated for the 2000 Bram Stoker Award

Bram Stoker Award

The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing. The awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot of the Active members of the HWA...

 for Best Short Fiction

Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Fiction

The Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing for short fiction.-Winners and nominees:...

.

Editions

This anthology was first published by Cemetery Dance Publications

Cemetery Dance Publications

Cemetery Dance Publications is a specialty press publisher of horror and dark suspense. Cemetery Dance was founded by Richard Chizmar, a horror author, while he was in college. It is associated with Cemetery Dance magazine, which was founded in 1988. They began to publish books in 1992.Cemetery...

 in 3 different hardcover formats:

• "Trade Edition" bound in full cloth
• "Slipcased Limited Edition" of 450 signed and numbered copies bound in leather
• "Traycased Lettered Edition" of 52 signed and lettered copies bound in leather. This version includes a separate, specially-commissioned Halloween Art Portfolio, featuring twelve pages of artwork.

Stories included

• "The Black Pumpkin" by Dean Koontz
  Dean Koontz
  Dean Ray Koontz is a prolific American author best known for his novels which could be described broadly as suspense thrillers. He also frequently incorporates elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, and satire. A number of his books have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, with...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Elizabeth Engstrom
  Elizabeth Engstrom
  Elizabeth Engstrom is best known as a speculative fiction writer. She was born Bette Lynn Gutzmer, but she legally changed her name to Elizabeth Engstom a few years after publishing her first novel under that pseudonym. She is married to Al Cratty, and sometimes writes under the name Liz Cratty as...
  
  
• "Lantern Marsh" by Poppy Z. Brite
  Poppy Z. Brite
  Poppy Z. Brite is an American author. Brite initially achieved notoriety in the gothic horror genre of literature in the early 1990s after publishing a string of successful novels and short story collections...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Rick Hautala
  Rick Hautala
  Rick Hautala is best known as a speculative fiction and horror writer. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1974 where he received a Master of Art in English Literature. Rick arrived on the horror scene in 1980 with many of his early novels published by Zebra books. He has written and...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Steve Rasnic Tem
  Steve Rasnic Tem
  Steve Rasnic Tem was born in Jonesville, Virginia, which is in the heart of Appalachia. He went to college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and also at Virginia Commonwealth University. He got a B.A. in English education. In 1974, he moved to Colorado and studied creative...
  
  
• "Conversations in a Dead Language" by Thomas Ligotti
  Thomas Ligotti
  Thomas Ligotti is a contemporary American horror author and reclusive literary cult figure. His writings are unique in style, have been noted as major continuations of several literary genres – most prominently Lovecraftian horror – and have overall been variously described as works of...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Gary A. Braunbeck
  Gary A. Braunbeck
  Gary A. Braunbeck is an American science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror author.-Biography:Braunbeck was born in Newark, Ohio . He writes in a number of different genres, but principally horror...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Jack Ketchum
  Jack Ketchum
  Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for American author Dallas Mayr . He is the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, including The Girl Next Door and Red...
  
  
• "Yesterday's Child" by Thomas F. Monteleone
  Thomas F. Monteleone
  Thomas F. Monteleone is an American science fiction author and horror fiction author. His first novel, Seeds of Change was the lead-off title in the critically unsuccessful Laser Books line of science fiction titles , but he went on to become a popular writer of supernatural thrillers...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Hugh B. Cave
  Hugh B. Cave
  Hugh Barnett Cave was a prolific writer of pulp fiction who also excelled in other genres.-Life:Born in Chester, England, Hugh B. Cave moved during his childhood with his family to Boston, Massachusetts, following the outbreak of World War I...
  
  
• "The Whitby Experience" by Simon Clark
  Simon Clark
  Simon Clark is a horror novel writer from Doncaster, England. One of his most notable works is the novel The Night of the Triffids.Clark has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, World Fantasy Award for Best Novella and British Fantasy Award...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Christopher Golden
  Christopher Golden
  Christopher Golden is an American author of horror, fantasy, and suspense novels for adults, teens, and young readers.Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. He is a graduate of Tufts University...
  
  
• "In-between" a poem by Ray Bradbury
  Ray Bradbury
  Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
  
  
• "Gone" by Jack Ketchum
  Jack Ketchum
  Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for American author Dallas Mayr . He is the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, including The Girl Next Door and Red...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Alan M. Clark
  Alan M. Clark
  Alan Marshall Clark is an author and an artist who is best known as the illustrator and book cover painter of many pieces of horror fiction. He was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel for his 2005 book Siren Promised .He has won the World Fantasy Award for his illustrations ,...
  
  
• "Yesterday's Witch" by Gahan Wilson
  Gahan Wilson
  Gahan Wilson is an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations...
  
  
• "A Short History of Halloween" by Paula Guran
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Poppy Z. Brite
  Poppy Z. Brite
  Poppy Z. Brite is an American author. Brite initially achieved notoriety in the gothic horror genre of literature in the early 1990s after publishing a string of successful novels and short story collections...
  
  
• "Mask Game" by John Shirley
  John Shirley
  John Shirley is an American fantasist, author of noir fiction, and science-fiction writer. Shirley is a prolific writer of novels and short stories, TV scripts and screenplays who has published over 30 books and 10 collections...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Tom Piccirilli
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Jack Cady
  Jack Cady
  Jack Cady was an American author. He is most known as an award winning fantasist and horror writer. In his career he won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award....
  
  
• "Out of the Dark" by David B. Silva
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Robert Morrish
• "Heavy Set" by Ray Bradbury
  Ray Bradbury
  Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by William F. Nolan
  William F. Nolan
  William Francis Nolan is an American author, who wrote stories in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He is best known for coauthoring the novel Logan's Run, with George Clayton Johnson. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1976 horror film Burnt Offerings which starred Karen Black and...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Michael Cadnum
  Michael Cadnum
  Michael Cadnum is an American poet and novelist. He has written more than thirty books for adults, teens and children. He is best known for his adult suspense fiction, and young adult fiction based on myths, legends, and historical figures....
  
  
• "Boo" by Richard Laymon
  Richard Laymon
  Richard Carl Laymon was an American author of suspense and horror fiction, particularly within the splatterpunk subgenre. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and lived as a child in California...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Douglas Clegg
  Douglas Clegg
  Douglas Clegg is a horror and dark fantasy author, and a pioneer in the field of e-publishing. He maintains a strong Internet presence through his website and LiveJournal.-Biography:...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Ray Bradbury
  Ray Bradbury
  Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
  
  
• "Masks" by Douglas E. Winter
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Stanley Wiater
• "A Redress for Andromeda" by Caitlin R. Kiernan
  Caitlin R. Kiernan
  Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan is the author of many science fiction and dark fantasy works, including seven novels, many comic books, more than one hundred published short stories, novellas, and vignettes, and numerous scientific papers.- Overview :Born in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to the United States...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Richard Laymon
  Richard Laymon
  Richard Carl Laymon was an American author of suspense and horror fiction, particularly within the splatterpunk subgenre. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and lived as a child in California...
  
  
• "The Circle" by Lewis Shiner
  Lewis Shiner
  Lewis Shiner is an American writer.Shiner began his career as a science fiction writer, identified early on with cyberpunk, and later wrote more mainstream novels, albeit often with magical realism and fantasy elements...
  
  
• "First of All, It was October" by Gary A. Braunbeck
  Gary A. Braunbeck
  Gary A. Braunbeck is an American science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror author.-Biography:Braunbeck was born in Newark, Ohio . He writes in a number of different genres, but principally horror...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Yvonne Navarro
  Yvonne Navarro
  Yvonne Navarro is an American author who has published over twenty books. Of those twenty, the titles AfterAge, deadrush, Final Impact, Red Shadows, DeadTimes, That's Not My Name and Mirror Me were solo novels, or fiction created solely by her...
  
  
• "Pay the Ghost" by Tim Lebbon
  Tim Lebbon
  Tim Lebbon is a horror and dark fantasy writer, and a judge at the 2005 World Fantasy Convention.-Life and career:Lebbon was born in London. His short story "Reconstructing Amy" won the Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction in 2001 and his novel Dusk won the 2007 August Derleth Award from the...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Kim Newman
  Kim Newman
  Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
  
  
• "Buckets" by F. Paul Wilson
  F. Paul Wilson
  Francis Paul Wilson is an American author, primarily in the science fiction and horror genres. His debut novel was Healer . Wilson is also a part-time practicing family physician. He made his first sales in 1970 to Analog while still in medical school , and continued to write science fiction...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Owl Goingback
  Owl Goingback
  Owl Goingback is an American author of horror and children's books, a fiction ghostwriter, and a writer of non-fiction.-Works:Having served as a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force, and the former owner of a restaurant and lounge, Owl Goingback became a full time writer in 1987. He has written...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Dennis Etchison
  Dennis Etchison
  Dennis William Etchison , is an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. Etchison refers to his own work as “rather dark, depressing, almost pathologically inward fiction about the individual in relation to the world.”Stephen King has called Dennis Etchison “one hell of a fiction...
  
  
• "Orchestra" by Stephen Mark Rainey
  Stephen Mark Rainey
  Stephen Mark Rainey is an author of novels, short stories, and various works of nonfiction. From 1987 to 1997, he edited Deathrealm, a magazine of horror and dark fantasy fiction, for which he won several awards for Best Editor.-Biography:...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by David B. Silva
• "Eyes" by Charles L. Grant
  Charles L. Grant
  Charles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Kelly Laymon
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Simon Clark
  Simon Clark
  Simon Clark is a horror novel writer from Doncaster, England. One of his most notable works is the novel The Night of the Triffids.Clark has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, World Fantasy Award for Best Novella and British Fantasy Award...
  
  
• "Deathmask" by Dominick Cancilla
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
  Kristine Kathryn Rusch
  Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an American writer. She writes under various pseudonyms in multiple genres, including science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, and mainstream....
  
  
• "Some Witch's Bed" by Michael Marshall Smith
  Michael Marshall Smith
  Michael Marshall Smith is a British novelist, screenwriter and short story writer who also writes as Michael Marshall.-Biography:...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Wayne Allen Sallee
• "The Trick" by Ramsey Campbell
  Ramsey Campbell
  John Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
  
  
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Edward Gorman
  Edward Gorman
  Ed Gorman is an award-winning American author best known for his crime and mystery fiction. He wrote The Poker Club which is currently in post production for a film of the same name directed by Tim McCann....
  
  
• "Pork Pie Hat" by Peter Straub
  Peter Straub
  Peter Francis Straub is an American author and poet, most famous for his work in the horror genre. His horror fiction has received numerous literary honors such as the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award, placing him among the most-honored horror authors in...
  
  
• "Trick-or-Read" by Stefan Dziemianowicz
• "My Favorite Halloween Memory" by Peter Crowther
  Peter Crowther
  Peter Crowther is a British journalist, short story writer, novelist, editor, publisher and anthologist. He is the founder of PS Publishing. He edits a series of themed anthologies of science fiction short stories published by DAW books...