> > > Once Upon a Halloween
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Author: Richard Laymon
Artist: Alan M. Clark
Page Count: 252
Pub. Date: 2001
ISBN: 1-58767-012-7
Rating:  (Rate It!)
Status: Out of Print
About This Title:
Once Upon a Halloween
by Richard Laymon
Trick or treat.
Say your prayers
Tonight, all hell breaks loose.
It's Halloween night. The old Witherspoon house stands all alone in the dark,
the last house on a dead-end street. Its only neighbors are thick woods and
a moonlit graveyard. Not long ago, a grisly murder/suicide took place in the
house. Now, it is said to be haunted.
Haunted but no longer abandoned. Three years ago, Laura and Shannon moved in.
They're young, pretty, friendly . . . and, best of all, generous with candy
on Halloween. Tonight, they're getting ready for a costume party. Shannon is
upstairs getting dressed and Laura is downstairs handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.
It's a perfect Halloween night until Laura opens the door and finds herself
facing a lone teenaged boy . . . a terrified boy who says: "Let me in!
They're gonna get me!"
And, for Laura and Shannon, the party begins.
It's Halloween night and there are ghosts and goblins in the streets. And something
much worse in the graveyard...
Available in two states:
Limited Edition of 2,000 signed copies ($40)
Traycased Lettered Edition of 52 signed and lettered copies bound in
leather with a satin ribbon page marker and additional full-color artwork ($175)
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Not a trick, a total treat!
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05/01/2008 - by Robert B. from Salem, OR US
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Once upon a time, Richard Laymon outdid himself on an extremely fun carnival ride of a story called "Once Upon a Halloween". While reading it, I kept waiting for the axe to drop, literally, where it would piss me off or gross me out. It did neither, and it was all the better for it. It hooked me immediately and its playfulness kept me reading it. I laughed out loud plenty of times, and I was on the edge of my chair reading frantically. I felt like I had just read a movie. I had clear images in my mind of all of the characters and all of the situations while reading it. If you can find this book, or if you have it sitting and collecting dust on your shelf, READ IT. It makes reading horror fun again. It is a trick-or-treat bag of a story. Lots of little pieces of candy to chew on… nothing too substantial, but everything is satisfying (oh, and it won't make you sick to your stomach). In a lot of ways it is a fairy tale. Yes, it goes down some major avenues that you wouldn't normally see in a fairy tale, and not everyone who "lives happily ever after" is whom you would expect, but it has some interesting aspects of a fairy tale. It is close to actual times, but nothing is too specific to be real-life. The action, while it could happen, is pretty far-fetched (just as a fairy tale should be). Is there a moral to the story? Maybe. You can read into it if you would like. One could call it an amoral moral tale. It is best to not know too much about this book before reading it (if you want to, you can probably find some reviews that will give the whole story away). In my opinion, it is best not to know too much about anything "Horror" before enjoying it. Otherwise, it might not terrify or excite you. Everyone hates the "he's-behind-the-door"-guy at the theater, and I am not going to be that guy for books. I loved this book, and it was my first Laymon book (oh yes, there will be more). If you are one of the lucky 2,052 people to have a copy, READ IT! Borrow it from a friend if you have to (or if they will let you). It is a little expensive on the secondary market, and it has not been reprinted anywhere that I can tell. So, try to find it, and when you do, read it on a dark and stormy night in your favorite comfortable chair. Wrap yourself in a blanket, turn on one light in your house to read by, and dive into this goodie bag of a story. Do it. Read it. Enjoy it.
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