The Ultimate Halloween [Paperback]

Marvin Kaye (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

An all-new special collection of new and classic short stories, centered around the night of Halloween. Featuring some of the genre's greatest writers selected especially for this volume. Halloween: The word itself instantly conjures up images of costumed trick-or-treaters, The Great Pumpkin, ghosts and ghouls rising from their graves and hockey-masked killers stalking babysitters in suburban America. In the grand tradition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Love craft, Anne Rice, and Stephen King, The Ultimate Halloween will be a collection of fantasy, mainstream, mystery and suspense stories that all deal with the night of October 31st. Stories both original and traditional will be included, with some of the best known writers in the dark fantasy genre invited to participate.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marvin Kaye is the editor of Ghosts: A Haunting Treasury and The Vampire Sextette. He resides in New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: I Books (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743423968
• ISBN-13: 978-0743423960
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,343,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't Live Up to the Title, October 31, 2009

By 

Urban Werewolf "Horror and Spec. Fic. Junkie" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ultimate Halloween (Mass Market Paperback)

I have a tradition I started a couple years ago that's getting harder to maintain of reading a Halloween themed antho all through October to get in the spirit. When I saw this by Marvin Kaye (who normally puts together fairly good compilations) I was thrilled. Sadly, it was only to be mostly disappointed when I read it for this year.

The book started out with some promise in "Auntie Elspeth's Halloween Story" by Esther Freisner, a fun little story-within-a-story told from the point of view of a curmudgeonly old woman forced to babysit pampered nieces and nephews. As stories went on however, I was less and less pleased with how the antho shaped up. A few weak stories in my opinion, a few good ones that I'd already read in better anthologies, occasionally broken by a decent little gem I hadn't seen before. "Into the Abyss" by RJ Lewis was amusing, "The Halloween Man" by William F. Nolan was a nice reminder of child's fears on Halloween and "Uncle Evil Eye" by Carole Bugge has a wonderful sense of wistful nostalgia for Halloween fun as a child.

The biggest problem I had was that several of the stories that were new to me (that I hadn't seen in every other Halloween antho) didn't really center around Halloween in my opinion, but used it as a device or backdrop for some different action that wasn't really based in the traditions and general feel of Hallow's Eve, Samhain, etc. One or two stories I might even enjoy in another format, if I hadn't been looking for a Halloween collection. And I'll also agree with the other reviewer that ending on "The Banshee's Comb" at 78 pages was not the best choice. I would rather have had three more shorter stories deeply rooted in Halloween/Samhain.

So in my estimation, if you want the real ultimate Halloween anthology, find a copy of October Dreams edited by Robert Chizmar and Robert Morrish. October Dreams:: A Celebration of Halloween Between all the original stories, one or two classics, a few essays on Halloween, and authors sharing real Halloween memories, it beats the socks off of this entry as having a true feel of Halloween old and new. And if you want a better introduction with a brief history of Halloween and some classic stories, find 13 Horrors of Halloween edited by none other than Isaac Asimov. 13 Horrors of Halloween (Thirteen Horrors of Halloween) Either one will be generally more satisfying for the feel of Halloween.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall a good book for halloween, October 2, 2004

By 

Simon Vallée (Boucherville, Québec Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ultimate Halloween (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a pretty good book of halloween-themed stories. Overall, it's a good book with effective stories, but the stories themselves differ very much in themes. Some are humoristic, some are like fairy tales and others are more "classical" horror stories, including one of Lovecraft's hand. If you want an anthology of stories that have similar styles and atmospheres, don't try it, you will be disappointed, but if your objective is to remind yourselves about all of Halloween multi-facetted meanings, then indulge yourself with this wonderful book. Just don't expect the story you're starting to read to be like the one you've just finished. You will have your favorites, and you will have your not-so-favorites, but all the stories achieve what their authors sought to do with them.

As for me, I believe it's going to become an annual tradition for October.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable!, April 11, 2008

By 

Book Paladin (Provincetown, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Halloween (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book! I just stumbled on this compilation by accident, wanting a little Halloween ditty and couldn't put it down. There is a different tone to each story. From humor to fright, I loved each different story, especially the variety of styles.