October 2023 Recommended Reading and Viewing

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

October is here, and with it comes the start of the long holiday season. As usual, I've saved some particularly festive recommendations for this month, this time focusing on the general short form, as I've heard that horror is a genre best suited for the short story. I hope it keeps you suitably entertained in the following weeks.


Reading: Night Shift (1978) by Stephen King

Released not long after The Shining, this is King's first short story collection, composed of the pieces he had submitted to numerous magazines in the years prior to writing Carrie, in addition to four stories making their debut here. A classic of the genre, practically every story is a keeper - "Graveyard Shift", "I Am the Doorway", "The Boogeyman", "Strawberry Spring", "Quitter's Inc.", and "Children of the Corn", just to name a few.

Mass Market: https://www.amazon.com/Night-Shift-Stephen-King/dp/0307743640/
Trade: https://www.amazon.com/Night-Shift-Stephen-King/dp/0307947297/
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Night-Shift-Stephen-King-ebook/dp/B001BANK2S/



Viewing: Creepshow (George A. Romero, 1982)

This is an altogether fun movie, a collaboration between Stephen King's writing and the director of Night of the Living Dead. The gimmick is that it's an anthology film with an all-star cast told in the style of the notorious 1950's EC Comics horror titles like Tales from the Crypt, which means it's a mixture of genuine fear with a strain of macabre humor and even camp. It's a cult classic worth revisiting every Halloween.

DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Creepshow-Hal-Holbrook/dp/B084SWQNF5/
4K + Blu-Ray: https://www.amazon.com/Creepshow-Collectors-Ultra-Blu-ray-UHD/dp/B0BZCM3S54/
Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Creepshow-Hal-Holbrook/dp/B008ROGJ2Y/


So that's it for October. Have a ghoulishly Happy Halloween!