Synopsis:
Norman Partridge’s Halloween novel, Dark Harvest, was chosen as one of Publishers Weekly’s 100 Best Books of 2006. A Bram Stoker Award winner and World Fantasy nominee, Partridge’s rapid-fire tale of a small town trapped by its own shadows welcomed a wholly original creation, the October Boy, earning the author comparisons to Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Shirley Jackson.
Now Partridge revisits Halloween with a collection featuring a half-dozen stories celebrating frights both past and present. In “The Jack o’ Lantern,” a brand new Dark Harvest novelette, the October Boy races against a remorseless döppelganger bent on carving a deadly path through the town’s annual ritual of death and rebirth. “Johnny Halloween” features a sheriff battling both a walking ghost and his own haunted conscience. In “Three Doors,” a scarred war hero hunts his past with the help of a magic prosthetic hand, while “Satan’s Army” is a real Partridge rarity previously available only in a long sold-out lettered edition from another press.
But there’s more to this holiday celebration besides fiction. “The Man Who Killed Halloween” is an extensive essay about growing up during the late sixties in the town where the Zodiac Killer began his murderous spree. In an introduction that explores monsters both fictional and real, Partridge recalls what it was like to live in a community menaced by a serial killer and examines how the Zodiac’s reign of terror shaped him as a writer.
Halloween night awaits. Join a master storyteller as he explores the layers of darkness that separate all-too-human evil from the supernatural. Let Norman Partridge lead you on seven journeys through the most dangerous night of the year, where no one is safe…and everyone is suspect.
Format:
E-book
My Thoughts:
I had a thoroughly good time reading this collection, and I definitely need to find and read Dark Season, because the lore of the October Boy feels like the type of thing I need more of in my life.
The Stories:
Johnny Halloween:
A sheriff has a secret tying him to the robbery of a local convenience store years before and a criminal known colloquially as Johnny Halloween.
Satan’s Army
A devout bishop sets up the ultimate hypocritical display to “drive the evil out” of a small town.
The Man Who Killed Halloween
An essay about the author’s childhood in Vallejo when the Zodiac Killer began his murderous rampage in the area. It tells about how these tragic slayings altered the lives of everyone in the area in so many ways.
While it seems, by reading the synopsis that this one wouldn’t really fit with the collection, it actually totally did, and I’m glad it was included.
Black Leather Kites
A former boxer turned Sheriff’s Deputy finds himself in a battle against agents of Satan.
Treats
A boy and his tiny army make grand Halloween plans.
This one didn’t do much for me, but I can’t really pinpoint why. I guess the scariness of it just didn’t feel tangible.
Three Doors
A lovelorn war veteran has a prosthetic hand which grants him the ability to knock on three doors and whoever answers must do as he bids.
Although the premise seems flimsy, I promise this is actually a pretty damned good story.
The Jack O’Lantern: A Dark Harvest Tale
Oh, the October Boy… 😍😍😍
I didn’t know I loved him, but…I do. And I really felt for his plight.
I enjoyed the thematic elements of blood, lies, and desperation to escape a nothing town. A changing of the Old Guard is always appreciated from where I’m sitting.
Overall Rating:
A wonderful collection of Spooky Season tales.
About the Author:
Norman Partridge’s fiction includes horror, suspense, and the fantastic—“sometimes all in one story” says his friend Joe Lansdale. His compact, thrill-a-minute style has been praised by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and his fiction has received three Bram Stokers and two IHG awards.
Partridge’s career launched a series of firsts during the indie press boom of the early nineties. His first short story appeared in the second issue of Cemetery Dance, and his debut novel, Slippin’ into Darkness, was the first original novel published by CD. Partridge’s chapbook Spyder was one of Subterranean Press’s inaugural titles, while his World Fantasy-nominated collection, Bad Intentions, was the first hardcover in the Subterranean book line.
Since then, Partridge has published pair of critically acclaimed suspense novels featuring ex-boxer Jack Baddalach for Berkley Prime Crime (Saguaro Riptide and The Ten-Ounce Siesta), comics for Mojo and DC, and a series novel (The Crow: Wicked Prayer) which was adapted for the screen. His award-winning collections include Mr. Fox and Other Feral Tales and The Man with the Barbed-Wire Fists. Partridge’s latest novel, Dark Harvest, was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the 100 Best Books of 2006.
Whether working in mainstream markets or the independent press, Partridge’s vivid, exuberant writing style has made him a fan favorite. Never content to be pigeon-holed as a writer, Partridge continues to defy categorization. A third-generation Californian, he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Canadian writer Tia V. Travis. (bio via Goodreads)
If you want to buy Johnny Halloween: Tales of the Dark Season, you can no longer get the physical book, as it was limited edition, but you can pick up the e-book here.
If you want to buy Dark Harvest, you can get it using my Bookshop Affiliate link at the bottom of the post.
Each Bookshop order contributes to an earnings pool which is distributed among indie bookstores (even the ones who don’t use Bookshop!). Or, if you want to support a specific shop, find them on this map and they’ll receive the full profit off your order.
Johnny Halloween: Tales of the Dark Season By: Norman Partridge Cemetery Dance Publications ASIN: B005WKF6IY Published: October 15, 2010 E-book, Hardcover (out of print) 125 Pages
I bought Dark Harvest way back when it was first released and STILL haven’t read it. Next year will be my year but now I’ll probably have to add this one to the list too.
You totally should! And next year I’ll read Dark Harvest. 😂