Bonfires burning bright

Halloween is as good a time as any to indulge in my love-hate relationship with horror fiction. This time I turn to short fiction and the first book up is 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. Like his well known father, writes great horror stories because he emphasizes the humanity of the his characters, which makes their eventual fates all the more compelling. The stories range from the challenges of living as an inflatable human to a tale where the jokey family myths about monsters turn out to be true. Hill's stories are not as brutal as those of his father, which make them even more appealing.

Since I have so enjoyed the Hill stories, I went out for a few more. The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates looked good and Dark Domain by Polish author Stefan Grabinski also caught my eye.

I will try to fit in a horror movie as well. It has been quite some time since I have seen Prince of Darkness (trailer here,) which surely has one of the finest endings in horror movies. The original Black Christmas (trailer here) is similarly excellent.