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Tagged as Halloween, Halloween blogs, Halloween fiction, Hallowen stories, October Frights Blog, Owl folklore, owl stories, owls in fiction

October 30, 2023 · 6:29 pm

Nosferatu, the Deathbird Calling Your Name

Greetings to All Horror Fans on Halloween 2023!

Vampires are everything. No Halloween is complete without a vampire story. Many of us have read Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula with characters Jonathan Harker and Lucy who are embedded as our literature favorites forever. Our vampire literary canon continues with Salem’s Lot, The Vampire Diaries, Interview With a Vampire, and too many more to list.

I ask you today, do you know the first vampire story ever published in our literary history?

In 1748, Der Vampir by Heinrich August Ossenfelder.

The Vampire by Heinrich August Ossenfelder

My dear young maiden clingeth
Unbending fast and firm
To all the long-held teaching
Of a mother ever true;
As in vampires unmortal
Folk on the Theyse’s portal
Heyduck-like do believe.
But my Christine thou dost dally,
And wilt my loving parry
Till I myself avenging
To a vampire’s health a-drinking
Him toast in pale tockay.

And as softly thou art sleeping
To thee shall I come creeping
And thy life’s blood drain away.
And so shalt thou be trembling
For thus shall I be kissing
And death’s threshold thou’ it be crossing
With fear, in my cold arms.
And last shall I thee question
Compared to such instruction
What are a mother’s charms?

How is that for a scorned lover’s seduction?

We also have Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Polidori’s The Vampyre (both stories you can read free here on Reading Fiction Blog).

The Bride of Corinth by Johann Wolfgang Goethe appeared in 1797. Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1800 and The Vampyre, poem by John Stagg in 1812.

I have one more vampire treat for you. The silent film “Nosferatu,” 1922 (restored version). This unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula was made in 1922 by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok (the unauthorized Count Dracula). No ads or popups. One hour and a half hours, and what a vintage beauty!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

READING FICTION BLOG

Once a month, I feature a free short story (and audio too) by a famous contemporary or classic author. Browse the Index of Authors’ Tales above to find over 300 free short stories by over 150 famous authors. Also, don’t miss Author of the Week on Mondays once a month. Follow my blog via email.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

And on my Amazon Author Page

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For Authors/Writers: The Writer Unboxed

https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/dh.aspx

Discover Author of the Week posted on Mondays.

In the Dark, the Horror Broke Loose

The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft (1928)

Tuesday’s Tale of Horror October 17, 2023

For Halloween Reading!

Even if you are not a big Lovecraft fan, The Dunwich Horror is a exciting short story rich in atmospheric prose portraying a vision of evil, including witchcraft, body horror, and yes, there be monsters here. Dunwich is a strange town of lush hills where Wilbur Whateley lives. And Lavinia, a lone creature given to wandering amidst thunderstorms in the hills.

Come, if you dare, to meet Wilbur and the unimaginable power created. If you love ancient magick. There are terrors here in this horror story with antique flavors that so many classic stories have.

Take a read of this spooky opening paragraph.

When a traveller in north central Massachusetts takes the wrong fork at the junction of the Aylesbury pike just beyond Dean’s Corners he comes upon a lonely and curious country. The ground gets higher, and the brier-bordered stone walls press closer and closer against the ruts of the dusty, curving road. The trees of the frequent forest belts seem too large, and the wild weeds, brambles, and grasses attain a luxuriance not often found in settled regions.

Read the story here at HPLovecraft.com:

Listen to the audio, a dramatic reading performed by Caden Vaughn Clegg

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890 to 1937) American author of fantastic and macabre short novels and stories, one of the 20th-century masters of the Gothic tale of terror. His Cthulhu Mythos series of tales describe ordinary New Englanders’ encounters with horrific beings. Lovecraft was a master of poetic language, and he attained unusually high literary standards in his particular fictional genre.

For all the Lovecrafts fans here, you might like to check out Mike Davis’ Lovecraft Ezine website and Mike’s podcasts on YouTube.

Do check out my INDEX of Authors’ Tales tab above for more free Lovecraft short stories.

READING FICTION BLOG

Once a month, I feature a free short story (and audio too) by a famous contemporary or classic author. Also, don’t miss Author of the Week on Mondays once a month. Follow my blog via email.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And on my Amazon Author Page.

Comments are welcome!

Feel free to click “LIKE.”

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Lovecraft Ezine

Books & Such Bibliophilica NewYorkerFictionOnline

Monster Librarian

For Authors/Writers: The Writer Unboxed

https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/delamarew-beststories/delamarew-beststories-00-h.html#Page_288

Discover Author of the Week posted on Mondays.

Thank you for supporting Reading Fiction Blog

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Tagged as At the Mountains of Madness, Colour Out of Space, Dragon, Dreams in the Witch House, Great Tales of Horror, Halloween, Halloween 2023, Halloween blogs, Halloween horror, Halloween Horror stories, Halloween short stories, Halloween stories at Reading Fiction Blog, Haunter of the Dark, HP Lovcraft stories, In the Vault, Lovecraft, Lovecraft EZine Podcasts, LovecraftEzine, music of Erich Zann, Rats in the Walls, Read Halloween Stories, Shadow Over Innsmouth, stories for Halloween, The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, The Lunking Fear, Whisperer in the Darkness

October 30, 2022 · 4:17 pm

Dead Still Here on All Hallows Eve

All Hallows Walter de la Mare (1926)

Sunday’s Gothic Short Story, October 30, 2022

READING FICTION BLOG

Here is a perfect story to read aloud for Halloween. Walter de la Mare is a dazzling author famous for his ghost stories and psychological drama. This is a fast short story and absolutely classic. We have a traveler visiting a deserted cathedral. The cathedral is not just haunted.

“Devils are creatures made by God, and that for vengeance.”

Why would devils haunt a deserted cathedral?

“We then turned inward once more, ascending yet another spiral staircase. And now the intense darkness had thinned a little, the groined roof above us becoming faintly discernible. A fresher air softly fanned my cheek; and then trembling fingers groped over my breast, and, cold and bony, clutched my own.”

You got to read this one. Author de la Mare is one of the finest writers of the supernatural.

Walter de la Mare (1873 – 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem “The Listeners”, and for a highly acclaimed selection of subtle psychological horror stories, amongst them Seaton’s Aunt and The Return. He was considered one of modern literature’s chief exemplars of the romantic imagination.

Read All Hallows at Gutenberg.ca (page 288 in Table of Contents):

Listen to the audio at BBC Radio:

Don’t forget to view the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 250 short stories by more than 150 famous storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, ‘quiet horror,’ and mainstream fiction.

Follow or sign up to join me in reading

one short story every month.

Comments are welcome!

Feel free to click “LIKE.”

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Books & Such Bibliophilica NewYorkerFictionOnline

Monster Librarian

For Authors/Writers: The Writer Unboxed

Discover Author of the Week posted on Mondays!

https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5653/the-art-of-fiction-no-189-stephen-king

Filed under book bloggers, Book Reviews, classic horror stories, dark fantasy, dark literature, fiction, fiction bloggers, free horror short stories online, free short stories, free short stories online, ghost stories, ghost story blogs, Gothic fiction, Gothic Horror, graveyards, Halloween, Halloween stories, haunted houses, Hauntings, historical ghost stories, horror, horror blogs, literary horror, literature, mysteries, occult, paranormal, phantoms, psychological horror, pulp fiction, quiet horror, Reading Fiction Blog, READING FICTION BLOG Paula Cappa, short stories, short stories online, short story blogs, soft horror, supernatural, supernatural fiction, supernatural mysteries, supernatural tales, supernatural thrillers, tales of terror

Tagged as All Hallows, All Hallows Eve, classic ghost stories, ghost stories, ghosts, Halloween, Halloween Horror stories, Halloween stories, Halloween2022, Horror authors, horror writers, Read for Halloween, Samhain, Samhain Gothic Horror, Samhain2022, Walter de la Mare

October 20, 2022 · 9:30 am

Author of the Week, Stephen King, October 20

AUTHOR OF THE WEEK October 20

Stephen King

(Horror, Suspense, Science Fiction and Fantasy)

“I’m one of those people who doesn’t really know what he thinks until he writes it down.”

“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”

“The writer must have a good imagination to begin with, but the imagination has to be muscular, which means it must be exercised in a disciplined way, day in and day out, by writing, failing, succeeding, and revising.”

“The worst advice? ‘Don’t listen to the critics.’ I think that you really ought to listen to the critics, because sometimes they’re telling you something is broken that you can fix.”

Stephen King (born 1947) is a best-selling American author of horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy. His books have sold more than 350 million copies. The Stand, The Shining, Carrie, and It. His memoir, On Writing, has become an inspirational read for writers. King has published 50 novels, some under pen-name Richard Bachman. With over 200 short stories published, King has received Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to the American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.

WHAT’S UPCOMING FROM STEPHEN KING?

Salem’s Lot The movie: release Date: April 21st, 2023

Author Ben Mears returns to ‘Salem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.

Read an interview at The Paris Review, 2006.

Stephen King on “Lisey’s Story,” writing process on YouTube.com. “Lisey’s Story” is an Apple TV miniseries.

Please join me in my reading nook and discover an author on Mondays once a month at Reading Fiction Blog!

Browse the Index of Authors’ Tales above to find over 250 free short stories by over 150 famous authors. Once a month I feature a FREE short story by contemporary or classic authors. Audios too.

[Apologies that I’ve not been posting these past few months. I’ve been working on my newest novel Draakensky, which is in it final stages of writing. This story is supernatural, magical realism, and murder. Very exciting and all absorbing. More updates to come on this.]

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Tagged as Carrie, Fairy Tale by Stephen King, Halloween, Halloween 2022, Halloween blogs, Halloween reading, IF it Bleeds by Stephen King, It, Salem's Lot, Stephen King

October 30, 2021 · 12:29 pm

Bad Moon Rising Interview for Halloween

I am pleased and honored to have this interview at Teri Polen’s BAD MOON RISING at her blog Books and Such. It is always a treat to be featured at Halloween time for my supernatural fiction. Teri writes a weekly blog, introducing authors and new writers to readers, featuring some of the best books and talent in the industry.

You can read my interview about my fiction at Bad Moon Rising,

October 30, 2021.

https://teripolen.com/2021/10/30/badmoonrising-wild-darkness-by-paula-cappa-shortstory-thriller-mystery/

Teri Polen reads and watches horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, and anything Marvel-related are likely to cause fangirl delirium. She lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband, sons, and black cat. Sarah, her debut novel, was named a horror finalist in the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Visit her author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Teri-Polen/e/B01MYOUA6V

Happy Halloween!

http://englishonlineclub.com/pdf/Ray%20Bradbury%20-%20The%20Halloween%20Tree%20%5BEnglishOnlineClub.com%5D.pdf

Filed under dark fantasy, dark literature, fiction, ghost story blogs, Gothic Horror, Halloween stories, horror, horror blogs, literature, novels, occult, paranormal, Penny Dreadful, quiet horror, Reading Fiction, READING FICTION BLOG Paula Cappa, short stories online, short story blogs, speculative fiction, supernatural fiction, supernatural mysteries, supernatural tales, supernatural thrillers, tales of terror, witches, Women In Horror

Tagged as Bad Moon Rising, Books and Such, Halloween, Halloween authors, Halloween writers, Halloween2021, Read Halloween Stories, Reading Fiction Blog, Teri Polen

September 29, 2020 · 8:23 am

Mr. Moundshroud and A Thousand Pumpkins

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (1967)

Tuesday’s Tale for Halloween September 29, 2020

Halloween is one month away. If you’ve not read Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree, it’s a MUST READ for Halloween fans. This is an adventure story about a group of boys on Halloween night. Tom and his mates must search the Halloween world to find their missing friend Pip, who has been abducted into the Land of the Dead.

At some 160 pages, longer than a typical short story but not quite a novella, you can settle in for a spooky and nostalgic ride. What is so wonderful about this story, aside from all the little horrors along the way, is that we discover some of the oldest Halloween traditions from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mexico, Irish Druids, and much more about the Land of the Dead. Here’s a peek as the boys come upon a haunted house.

“Then the darkness within the house inhaled. A wind sucked through the gaping door. It pulled at the boys, dragging them across the porch. They had to lean back so as not to be snatched into the deep dark hall. They struggled, shouted, clutched the porch rails. But then the wind ceased. Darkness moved within darkness. Inside the house, a long way off, someone was walking toward the door. Whoever it was must have been dressed all in black for they could see nothing but a pale white face drifting on the air.”

At this house they come upon the Halloween Tree …

The pumpkins on the Tree were not mere pumpkins. Each had a face sliced in it. Each face was different. Every eye was a stranger eye. Every nose was a weirder nose. Every mouth smiled hideously in some new way. There must have been a thousand pumpkins on this tree, hung high and on every branch. A thousand smiles. A thousand grimaces. And twice-times-a thousand glares and winks and blinks and leerings of fresh-cut eyes. And as the boys watched, a new thing happened. The pumpkins began to come alive.

Ray Bradbury at his best! Rich language, vivid imagery, and so eerie on our most famous dark autumn night of the year. I loved the mysterious Mr. Moundshroud.

Read the story free at the EnglishOnlineClub.com (Illustrated by Joseph Mugnaini):

Listen to the audio by Ray Bradbury on YouTube.com

Don’t forget to view the INDEX above of more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 200 short stories by more than 100 famous storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, ‘quiet horror,’ crime, sci-fi, romance, and mainstream fiction.

Follow or sign up to join me in reading one short story every month.

Comments are welcome!

Feel free to click “LIKE.”

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Books & Such Bibliophilica NewYorkerFictionOnline

Lovecraft Ezine HorrorNews.net Fangoria.com

Slattery’s Art of Horror Magazine Chuck Windig’s Terrible Minds

Horror Novel Reviews HorrorSociety.com

Monster Librarian The Story Reading Ape Blog

For Authors/Writers: The Writer Unboxed

http://algernonblackwood.org/Z-files/Willows.pdf

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Filed under classic horror stories, dark fantasy, dark literature, fiction, fiction bloggers, free horror short stories online, free short stories, free short stories online, ghost stories, ghost story blogs, Halloween, Halloween stories, historical ghost stories, horror, horror blogs, literary horror

Tagged as Halloween, Halloween blogs, Halloween short stories, Halloween stories audio, horror stories for Halloween, Listen to free Halloween stories, Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree

October 16, 2018 · 8:41 am

The Willows, a Chilling Tale for Halloween

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood (1907)

Tuesday’s Tale of Terror October 16, 2018

What better story for the Halloween season than a haunted forest? A haunted river, perhaps? In Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows there is a prevailing secret in nature. Even the landscape here is haunted. In this story, our narrator takes on a canoe trip down the Danube River. Two men come upon a location of fierce desolation and loneliness and yet everything is alive here. Even the Danube is personified—and full of tricks. Once set up with tent and fire, the two friends settle in, until the first thing they see is something odd floating on the Danube.

“Good heavens, it’s a man’s body!” he cried excitedly. “Look!”

A black thing, turning over and over in the foaming waves, swept rapidly past. It kept disappearing and coming up to the surface again. It was about twenty feet from the shore, and just as it was opposite to where we stood it lurched round and looked straight at us. We saw its eyes reflecting the sunset, and gleaming an odd yellow as the body turned over. Then it gave a swift, gulping plunge, and dived out of sight in a flash.

This mystery lends its own power about nature, humanity, and good old-fashion fear. I challenge the readers here not to feel a high amount of dread in the reading. This is so evocative, so sinister—an excellent mix of terror. Classic ‘quiet horror’ for Halloween reading time!

Algernon Blackwood had a persistent interest in the supernatural and spiritualism. He is famous for his occult tales and a master at chilling you to the bone. He firmly believed that humans possess latent psychic powers. His writing soars with an acute sense of place. All his fiction is charged with hidden powers. He published over 200 short stories and dozens of novels.

“All my life,” he said, “I have been strangely, vividly conscious of another region–not far removed from our own world in one sense, yet wholly different in kind–where great things go on unceasingly, where immense and terrible personalities hurry by, intent on vast purposes compared to which earthly affairs, the rise and fall of nations, the destinies of empires, the fate of armies and continents, are all as dust in the balance” Blackwood. The Willows

Read the short story at Algernonblackwood.org

Listen to the audio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_bbDrW7_M

More Blackwood short stories here at Reading Fiction Blog in the above INDEX.

Follow or sign up to join me in reading two short stories every month. Comments are welcome! Feel free to click “LIKE.”

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Books & Such Bibliophilica NewYorkerFictionOnline

Lovecraft Ezine Parlor of Horror

HorrorNews.net Fangoria.com

Slattery’s Art of Horror Magazine Chuck Windig’s Terrible Minds

HorrorAddicts.net Horror Novel Reviews HorrorSociety.com

Monster Librarian HorrorTalk.com

Rob Around Books The Story Reading Ape Blog

For Authors/Writers: The Writer Unboxed

6 Comments

Filed under classic horror stories, fiction, fiction bloggers, free horror short stories online, free short stories, free short stories online, ghost stories, ghost story blogs, Halloween, Halloween stories, horror, horror blogs, literary horror, occult, quiet horror, Reading Fiction, READING FICTION BLOG Paula Cappa, short stories, short stories online, short story blogs, soft horror, supernatural fiction, supernatural mysteries, supernatural tales, supernatural thrillers, tales of terror

Tagged as Algernon Blackwood, Halloween, The Willows, The Windigo

January 5, 2016 · 1:47 pm

Why Do We Love Horror?

In the words of Arthur Conan Doyle ( and as a companion post with this week’s featured author, 1-5-2016 Tales of Terror, “The Horror of the Heights”),

“Where there is no imagination, there is no horror.”

So, let’s see now, why do we love to read horror stories and terrifying suspense mysteries? Why do we watch horror movies? Is it to stimulate our imaginations? Is it because some of us love gore-watching or identifying with killers? Or maybe it’s because we like to face the unknown safely in our reading chairs or comfy movie theater seats. As an avid reader, film lover, and writer of supernatural, mystery, and horror, I ask these questions all the time.

Below is a link to FilmmakerIQ.com John P. Hess’ 15-minute vimeo on this very subject. Hess explores the “Psychology of Scary Movies” theories from contemporary scientific professionals to Freud, Jung, Aristotle and much more. When I came across this vimeo some time ago, I found it informative and insightful. I hope you do too.

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/77636515″>The Psychology of Scary Movies</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/filmmakeriq”>FilmmakerIQ.com</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

We could say there is no single answer to the question, but if you have a theory, agreement or disagreement, please post.