And since Halloween means horror, the fantastical, and stories you can tell to scare your friends, I decided to compile a list of six stories to read for Halloween: but these stories aren't your typical ghost stories. Instead, these are tales that will leave you feeling haunted.
1. "Stone Animals" by Kelly Link
I read this story curled up in a library chair, sick and tired. It's not traditional horror, but it certainly leaves the reader feeling haunted, much like the things in the story. In Stone Animals, a family moves into a house: but it's not the house that's haunted, nor is it their things that are haunted, at least to start. If anything, when coming to the house, it's the people themselves that become haunted (although they certainly don't think that). Stone Animals is one of the few stories I've read where I had no inkling of where it was going and when it would get there. I knew there were rabbits, objects that were wrong, and a family was strained by their past, but how it would all come together was another thing entirely. Even more than that, it was a story that left me feeling haunted after I read it. I spent the rest of my time in the library that day feeling uneasy and strange, and unwilling to read another story because it just seemed wrong to do anything but think of that one.
Stone Animals is available for free at Small Beer Press as part of Kelly Link's "Magic for Beginners" collection. You can also get it (and five to twelve other books) as part of the Humble Bundle ebook bundle for charity (only until October 23). I'm an avid supporter of the Humble Bundle, and I encourage you all to take that route if you can.
Stone Animals is available for free at Small Beer Press as part of Kelly Link's "Magic for Beginners" collection. You can also get it (and five to twelve other books) as part of the Humble Bundle ebook bundle for charity (only until October 23). I'm an avid supporter of the Humble Bundle, and I encourage you all to take that route if you can.
