Customer Reviews

Harvest Tales and Midnight Revels; Stories for the Waning of the Year

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This brilliant, lovingly compiled collection of horror stories is only half the charm of this very original book - the genesis of the collection is almost as entertaining as the fiction: A Halloween "story party" where professional and non-professional adult writers come together to feast and read their short stories to friends and neighbors - cool! If you're looking to make Halloween fun for adult friends and family, this book may be just what the Mad Doctor ordered. Home spun horror as delicious as my demented aunt Denise's spice cake! Bravo Mr. Mayhew! Bravo!

I've read lots of scary books and I have many favorites including the original Dracula by Bram Stoker.Many of Harvest Tales short stories come close to being a classic horror that could hold up over decades the way Mary Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe hold up.....these Harvest Tales especially: A Cross at the End of a Circle and Scooter Tillis and the Bag of Nutritious Snacks, The India Rubber Factory also deserves mentioning as does the poem by Ben Gorman -Promises. There is something for everyone here from yuk, ugh, gore, to mischevious evil pranks. I don't recommend reading -My Dinner with Buck to dinner guests. I heard these guys read about Buck on the radio in San Francisco and I happened to be eating breakfast - read it after eating - way after....it's a great story. That Buck - he always gets his way.....I want that Demon in - A Demon's Wish - just to have in my pocket for awhile.

This book is a Halloween "Classic"! Any one who is young at heart and still wonders about those things that go "bump" in the night, will be entranced by these briliant stories about the most Magickal and Special Holiday of the Year. Each story holds its own...and just like Halloween night itself,the tales will sneak up on you and grab your imagination...

This was by far one of the best halloween books I've seen this year.Stories like Carrion Bird,Graveyardand The Demon's Wish are greatfor a dark halloween night.Like the author said:Now is the timewhen the veil between worlds is thinnest.So turn down the lights,get a mug of whatever you like to drink tokeep the chill off your bones,and have a haunted Halloween.I hope your skiesare full of leaves.I hope your attic is full of creaks.

A demon who will grant your heart's desire in return for a taste of your blood. A legendary trick-or-treater who returns from the grave to help a youngster collect candy. A god of the urban highway who demands human sacrifices. All this and other haunting stories await you in HARVEST TALES AND MIDNIGHT REVELS: STORIES FOR THE WANING OF THE YEAR. These delightfully spine-tingling tales run the gamut of horror and Halloween themes. Some are outrageously humorous, some melancholy, and some frightening, but all of them are designed to bring back the spirit of All Hallows Eve for adults who long to celebrate the holiday as they did in their youth.

This book came about as the result of yearly Halloween parties hosted by the editor and his best friend, parties for which invited guests were requested to bring a holiday-related story they'd written and read it aloud. Many of the guests were (or are still) in some way professionally connected with the literary world, the fine arts, filmmaking, or television, and their talents shine through in these wonderfully crafted tales.

HARVEST TALES AND MIDNIGHT REVELS is one of the best anthologies of Halloween stories to come along in years. Even celebrated sci-fi and fantasy author Piers Anthony calls it "an impressive and original book, with an intriguing history of its own." And famed genre author and scriptwriter Larry Niven says "[these] stories are really good!"

Any lover of Halloween or horror literature who enjoys getting a good set of goose bumps will want to add this book to their library. With HARVEST TALES AND MIDNIGHT REVELS handy, any day of the year can feel like Halloween!

This wonderful compendium of ghost stories brings back the eerie experience of encountering things that "go bump in the night." A must-have library addition for any true lover of Halloween! Would welcome the chance to encorporate this idea into an article for Happy Halloween Magazine!

A wonderful collection of short stories from an eclectic group of authors. Every story is different and new, ranging from funny to frightening. It makes the reader wish he had been invited to the story parties!

Wonderful! Nineteen stories and poems, all different but sharing the spirit of All Hallows Eve. It is the mix of fantasy subject and style, from humorous to macabre that makes this book so very appealing. A delightful, spooky volume for a stormy autumn night.

Harvest Tales and Midnight Revels is really a prize; and the story of its creation, detailed at the end of the book, is almost as remarkable as the tales it contains! I look forward to seeing further work from this group of truly creative people.

Escondido Reader

Finally! Someone gets it! Those of us who still love Halloween (the greatest holiday of all) have a treat which allows us to enjoy the darkness of the harvest time and the chill of this wonderful and creepy night. The stories are great and they range all over from funny to very disturbing. This book is perfect for the Halloween lover and even gives ideas how to host an adult Halloween reading party. The stories truly remind adult Halloween lovers how magical and scary their favorite night was and is. This is not your children's Halloween celebration! The stories are all way too much for children and they do their job perfectly. Enjoy a fun Halloween for adults by picking up this book. If you love the fall of the year and especially the Halloween season do yourself a favor and grab this book while you can!

I loved this book! Thank you, Michael Mayhew. This anthology of creative storytelling at it's finest is a journey of laughs and screams through the Halloween season.

I loved the idea of an adult storytelling party, and I am not offended in the least by Mayhew's last chapter that gives detailed instructions on how he does it. Yes, each will add their own touches to make the party their own, but a pattern that works is always a nice feature. Thank you.

I hope there will be future editions.