The Ghastling: Book 8

Book 8 is our seasonal edition compiled especially for Halloween & Samhain. In Damien B. Raphaels story THE SCULPTURE an artisan suggests that the flesh of a pumpkin is far more forgiving for this type of work than the more traditional turnip - but what exactly has he been commissioned to carve in his dimly-lit studio? Grinning hand-carved faces light the town in Catrin Keans FOGTIME as children in bedsheets run from door to door swinging rattling buckets. Dressing up as someone else - or something else - and demanding treats is another odd custom that weve grown to accept as part of the season. This too is traced to the Celts who were said to leave offerings of food and drink to placate the fairies witches demons and unfortunate souls who wandered between this world and the next on Samhain. Perhaps it isnt just the young trick-or-treaters then that make Mammy lock the doors and pull the curtains. In Alys Hobbs IN WE COME its adults who roam the streets disguised - a troupe of actors to be exact searching for an audience for their folk play. Make room for in we come! Weve come a-mumming three-two-one! However this troupes antics seem to go beyond mere performance and it may not just be money or food that theyre looking for in exchange. The Celts believed that the sun began to grow weak during Samhain and so bonfires were lit not just in honour of the dead but also to guide them on their journey - and keep them away from the living. So when Jenny watches a constellation of flickering lights appear on Kristy Kerruishs THE HILL she should probably keep a safe distance - but Trevor has been gone for a while and its all mumbo-jumbo anyway...isnt it? Mr Fanner certainly hopes not as he walks AMONG OCTOBERS FIELDS with the derelict Riverbrook Home for Boys in his sights. Callum McKelvies story begins with whispers: the tragic fire all the children gone and mysterious sounds across the fields at night. Mr Fanner is searching for inspiration for his next ghost story but he may wish that he had looked elsewhere. Leaving the restless bonfires of Samhain behind lets instead turn to the quietness of the fireside where storytelling has long been the preferred form of entertainment. At Halloween the attention of the fireside storyteller unsurprisingly turns to ghosts and the macabre and so we felt it was important to include a selection of tales that if not specifically Halloween-themed were befitting of this seasonal tradition. So read aloud if you dare the DIARY OF A DEADMAN by N. A. Wilson follow Mark Sadler into the sweltering woods in THE POACHERS BALL and enter Florence Vincents THE TEMPLE to experience foreboding in a foreign land. Then we suggest you gather friends around the campfire to share HOW SHADOWS FALL C. L. Hanlons fresh take on the legend of the vanishing hitchhiker.