“Resurrection Men”
by A.C. Quill
I stumble off the night bus, and find I’m lost in South London. In front of me runs a long, high brick wall. The map app on my phone shows me what’s behind the wall: Nunhead cemetery. A big green obstacle, I’ll have to trudge round the edge of it, if I want to get home.
Or could there be a short cut?
Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: Resurrection Men by A.C. Quill
“Monsters Without Masks: An Interlude”
by H.B. Kurtzwilde
The house at the corner of Cherry Street and Beville was the object of endless rumors. It was too big, too old, and too creepy to be just a home. Any child in River City could have given the address with total confidence if asked where to find a ghost or a witch. Therefore, the residents felt they had a civic duty to fulfill when it came to Halloween.
Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: Monsters Without Masks: An Interlude by H.B. Kurtzwilde
“Monsters Among Us”
by Bernie Mojzes
It’s not that he hated Halloween; he just found it tiresome. The incessant buildup in all the media promising unparalleled sights and frights, the ghosts and monsters of the past stalking through the modern world… ultimately a letdown. An adrenaline backwash.
And then, even worse, the interminable time afterward, a swamp of ennui and unexplainable depression, lingering days, even weeks.
Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: Monsters Among Us by Bernie Mojzes
“Witnesses”
by Eric Del Carlo
Fable had it that this Halloween night was when old-time rock ‘n roll held its breath: here was the great Incident, the naughty, erotic slip-up, that lightning-stuck occurrence when the two gaudy musical god children got it on together, man on man. Stick Duggs and Elvin de Vries, each bona fide legends. Rock icons who had blistered the flesh of the planet with their puissant sounds. Both men had already assembled acclaimed careers by this time; and they would persist as mainstays of music for decades after this.
But tonight…oh, tonight they were lovers.
Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: Witnesses by Eric Del Carlo
“Inkling”
by Julie Behrens
It was night by the time the raven Parri made it to the witch’s keep, and she let herself in without rousing a soul. She was cold and wet from the rain, and thinking only of her soft bed. But there was a candle burning in her room, and she winced to see Elena awake and writing at the small desk.
“You’re getting in rather late,” her witch said. The calm in her voice was more worrying than anger.
Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: Inkling by Julie Behrens
“Precipice”
by Eric Del Carlo
O Gods of Speed and Shadow! The imminence of the great, glorious calamity is present in the air, vibrating the particles, giving every edge a razor keenness, forcing the deepest colors from all surrounding objects. The thrill. The thrill! It is like nothing else, nothing in the universe, with all its splendors, its baffling wonders, its soul-searing beauties and mind-shattering horrors.
Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: Precipice by Eric Del Carlo
“Eyes Wide Shut”
by Elvyra Venus
The moon was full, the trick-or-treaters finally home in bed, and a few teens lingered on the streets throwing eggs and keying cars. I centered the bowl full of grave dirt, murderer cremains, and my blood on the gravesite and lit the white candle pressed into the muck. Though I’d purchased the $2 candle at the craft store, I had spent hours carving sigils and circles into it, the physical manifestation of my will for this spell to work.
Continue reading Halloween Microfiction: Eyes Wide Shut by Elvyra Venus
Editor’s Note: This story contains suicidal ideation.
“I Am the Candle”
by Eric Del Carlo
I see your tears. And I know your lover has left you. The boy pigmented in autumnal hues? Or the raven-haired, much-tattooed girl? Who was here last? I try to recall if I heard harsh words. I can’t always understand what you and your paramours say to one another, but I often recognize tone, timbre. And know when emotions run high and perilous.
Continue reading Microfiction: I Am the Candle by Eric Del Carlo
“The Way You Look Tonight”
by Sonni de Soto
Your sightless eyes, covered in the blindfold you always tie tightly over them, are cast downward. “Are you sure about this?”
Continue reading Microfiction: The Way You Look Tonight by Sonni de Soto
And so the wheel has turned. Another year has passed and with it has come great change for many of us. I began my Circlet Press journey in 2008. It was a very dark time in my life and I needed something to hang on to. Cecilia Tan had put out a call for interns and though I was not a college student I applied anyway and she said yes. The lesson here? Don’t self reject.
In the years since, I have developed friendships that I hope last a lifetime. I have learned. I have failed. I have got up again. I’ve had the great honor of reading work from newcomers and pros alike. And the even greater honor of publishing those works.
As you may all know by now, Circlet Press has become an imprint of Riverdale Avenue Books. My future involvement is unknown and this is likely the last of the Circlet Press Halloween Microfictions. I wanted to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to Cecilia Tan for giving me a chance. Thank you to my fellow editors. I miss sitting up in that attic with you, drinking tea and laughing about love tunnels and popped blouses. And thank you to all my authors, the ones I said yes to, and even the ones I said no to. It was a privilege to read your words, to share in your fantasies, and to teach you, and learn from you. Some of you quite literally saved my life, and I wish nothing but the best for all of you in both your writing and in your lives.
Without further ado, here is a roundup of all the 2020 Halloween Microfictions. Do take a moment to treat yourself on this rainy November day, the first day of the next year of our lives. May it bring us all great pleasure and fortune.
Movie Lovers by Kaysee Renee Robichaud
On a Wing and a Curse by Eric Del Carlo
A Little Knowledge… by Avery Vanderlyle
Mid-Autumn Incense by September Sui
Never Broken by Morrigan Blackburn
Double Feature by Tom Cardamone
From Beyond the Veil by Jena Burne