Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night: A Halloween Horror Anthology edited by Stephanie Rose and William Sterling. This anthology was inspired by Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. The stories stick mostly to a middle grade or teenage protagonist. The horror level is not too high, but it does get higher as you read. The majority of the stories stick to the middle grade horror, with only a couple dipping into Young Adult/Adult. I feel like this book is for children who enjoy horror movies. They might watch Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street with their parents. But the book is also for the parents who let their kids watch horror movies. The book includes stories from more well-known authors who were invited to contribute. It also features open submission stories from newer authors. I knew and have read works by the authors before. They knocked it out of the park like Brian McAuley, Clay McLeod Chapman, and William Sterling. The new authors I discovered and want to read more of are Renee Thomasin, J.A. Barrios, and V.S. Lawrence. The stories balance horror and humor very well, making this a very easy collection to read. I read Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night: A Halloween Horror Anthology thanks to Netgalley and Death by TBR Books. Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night: A Halloween Horror Anthology will be published on September 16, 2025.

Why did I read Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night: A Halloween Horror Anthology? As a kid, I loved both Goosebumps by R.L. Stine and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. Most of the stories take place in the 90s. That was when I was a kid. and was first discovering and loving horror. I saw the names Brian McAuley, Clay McLeod Chapman, and William Sterling. I knew them from various podcasts. I have read short stories and blurbs from them. I’ve been actively trying to read more short story collections as I’ve started writing a few. I was able to meet some of the writers at various festivals, and will included a picture with their story.

I’m going to rank all 18 stories from my favorite to least favorite. I will give a summary and overview of what I liked and disliked. I broke the stories down by categories of 5 stars, 4 stars, 3 stars, and 2 stars.

5-Star Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD FOR HALLOWEEN by BRIAN MCAULEY is about an 18-year-old. He was never able to go out for Halloween because of his drunk mother. He has had a devil mask since he was 8, but never got to use it. Now at 18, he ignores his mother telling him he’s too old and goes. This story was gleefully dark. The ending was messed up, horrifying, and oddly funny. The ending story did not let me down.

BEST FRIENDS FOREVER by RENEE THOMASIN is about Myra getting ready to go trick-or-treating with her best friend. They have always dressed together, and nothing is going to change that. This story reminded me of a Tales from the Crypt episode in the best ways. The story was creepy, and it gives the reader enough hints to be uneasy. The story could have gone a couple of ways at the end. But I was very happy with how it went. I appreciated this story more as a writer for all it held back. Everything in the story made sense as it led up to the reveal.

THE LIGHT ACROSS THE BRIDGE by J.A. BARRIOS is about a boy forbidden from celebrating Halloween. He used to, but since they moved to this new block, there are no kids. His mother says there are monsters out, and he can’t leave. But he disobeys and finds that his mother did not tell the truth exactly. This story had me guessing what the truth was. The story is very clever. I like that it has a Latino protagonist. The story had a good ending that was sweet. This story is the most fitting for being a Goosebumps story.

BOOGER SUGAR by CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN is about a father. He comes up with a booger witch that is after your booger sugar when you pick your nose. He old the story to get his son to stop picking his nose. The story starts innocently, then becomes real. This one feels like a Goosebumps story. The tale is both gross and hilarious, with a hint of scary. I liked this story; it was fast-paced and focused.

WE DON’T GO IN THE HOWARDS’ HOUSE by WILLIAM STERLING is about kids on Halloween. They go behind their parents’ backs to visit a haunted house. The rumor is that a kid goes missing every year, but it might be true. The story is great at building tension. The story winks at the audience, but there are some surprises. The story has three twists, and each one keeps getting better. The horror is great, both real and fake.

SPOOK ALLEY by V.S. LAWRENCE is about a guy who is terrified of a spooky alley. It is set up mainly for little kids to get scared. He had a bad experience when he was a kid. To add to the terror, kids disappear in there every year. So he looks out but doesn’t enter, until he is forced to. The story sounds lame, but it was told very well. The horror was very atmospheric. There were layers to the story. On the surface, it is about a teen scared of a place that scared him as a kid. But under the surface, it is about the loss of innocence and finding oneself again. I enjoyed the story and thought he writing was clever.

4 Stars Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

SWEET TOOTH by AMANDA WITTMAN tells the story of a slumber party. During the party, they play a game to summon a candy troll named Sweet Tooth. The game was set up to be a prank, but what if it is real? I liked this story; it reminded me of Goosebumps. The story was the right amount of scary for kids. It was atmospheric and took me back to being a kid. The ending was good.

LAST REQUESTS by LOUIE SULLIVAN is about a radio show hosted by Dr. Creepy. This is the last broadcast, but we don’t know why. A creepy guy named Lanturn Jack calls in. He knows personal things about the host. He wants to play a game. The story reminded me a little of the movie Late Night with the Devil. The story is very well paced and creepy. I feel this story would be better expanded.

POSTS by TANYA PELL is about a worker at a haunted corn maze. This worker has to turn all the lights off in the maze, even the center light. The story nailed the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in a maze in the dark. I like the perspective of a worker in costume, scared. The ending was way more intense than I thought. I do think the ghost in the sheet scene was the only weak part. The story was well-paced until the ghost. I enjoyed the story.

MRS. KING’S CANDY by HAYDEN ROBINSON is about a boy who trick-or-treats at a mysterious house. The boy is crying when he approaches. He is crying because his parents eat all his Halloween candy every year. The woman says her candy is special. No one can take it unless you want them. The story is heartwarming in a messed-up way. The story is a little slow. I enjoyed it for the most part.

ALL HARROWS’ EVE by JEFF C. CARTER is about a group of kids who are trick-or-treating. Some of the kids are injured. It is hinted that they survived an ordeal. Or are they in one? I think the story is good. I would have liked to know more about what they survived. The end made me laugh. The story was rapidly paced and fun. It had nice little details to it.

TRICK OF THE TREAT by NIDHEESH SAMANT is about a serial killer who kills with a machete on Halloween. He really wants to kill small children, but has to settle with horny teenagers. He finds Carl, a small child dressed as a ghost. Carl was warned about bad men; did he heed it? This story was brutal. It goes there with the killings. I thought the story was good, but I don’t think it was always consistent.

3 Stars Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

WITCH APOTHECARY by MORGAN BRICENO is about a woman who owns a witch store. It is very cliché. A real witch visits and is appalled and curses her. The reader finds out the curse was at the end of the story, which was too long. I liked the imagery and the language of the story. The imagery did give me some chills. I thought the story could have been tighter.

THE CRAVING by M.K. HEWITT is a story of a girl eating a candy that said not to eat it. A candy that she can’t remember receiving. She eats it and develops a hunger that is all-consuming. The story is okay. Just when it was getting interesting, it ended. I felt the story was trying to say more, but I couldn’t figure out what it was trying to say. So others might get more out of the story than I did.

THE PUMPKIN PATCH POLTERGEIST by ANTHONY MICHAEL MURPHY is about Declan. He is a young middle schooler. Declan is dared to smash pumpkins at a pumpkin patch. It is rumored to be haunted. He is nervous about it and looking to smash one. He trips and breaks one, and feels an otherworldly presence that attacks him. He got out alive but left his bike behind. Does he dare go back? The story was okay. I did like the ending. I did like the atmosphere of the quiet, dark pumpkin patch. The bully that egged it on was really annoying and very one-note. For a short story, it felt long.

2 Stars Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

THE BEST HALLOWEEN by DANA GRICKEN is about a vampire ready to feast on Halloween. He is happy to finally be his self, but he gets mistaken for a Halloween animatronic on the loose. The story is meant to be funny and doesn’t always land. The story is unique and did not go the way I expected. The story was just okay.

MORGANA MACABRE’S HALLOWEEN SPECIAL by WENDY DALRYMPLE is a story about two fans of Morgana Macabre, an Elvira-like movie host. The movie is lame, but after the movie, things get real as the killer from the movie tries to kill Morgana. But like the killer coming through the screen, it allows Morgana through their screen. The story felt like a mash-up of horror tropes with nothing original. The story did take me back to watching Up All Night with Rhonda Sheer as host when I was a kid. I appreciated the small details about the costumes, which really painted a picture.

THE PANTHERA PROJECT by LAWRENCE VERNON is about an animal that is loose with alien DNA infused. The story reminded me of a Dean Koontz story in the worst ways. The story was very paint-by-numbers. The tension between the creature and the car was the best scene by far. The story felt very long.

Recommendation: Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night: A Halloween Horror Anthology is fun and horror-filled. The stories nailed the ’90s culture and did not take themselves too seriously. All the stories were easy to read and easy to picture what was going on. I recommend this for readers who grew up reading Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I also recommend this book to discover new voices in horror. Death by TBR Books is fairly new and seems like a fun new voice in horror. I will read more from them in the future.

Rating: Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night: A Halloween Horror Anthology edited by Stephanie Rose and William Sterling. I rated a solid 4.0 out of 5.

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