{"id":15551,"date":"2021-06-23T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=15551"},"modified":"2021-06-18T17:41:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T21:41:51","slug":"review-hallowed-days-daniel-hale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-hallowed-days-daniel-hale\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Hallowed Days by Daniel Hale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"15552\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-hallowed-days-daniel-hale\/halloweddays\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/halloweddays.jpg?fit=333%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"333,499\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"halloweddays\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/halloweddays.jpg?fit=333%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-15552\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/halloweddays.jpg?resize=234%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"234\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/halloweddays.jpg?resize=234%2C350&amp;ssl=1 234w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/halloweddays.jpg?w=333&amp;ssl=1 333w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 234px) 85vw, 234px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Hallowed-Days-Daniel-Hale\/dp\/1950305546\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>Hallowed<\/i><\/b> <b><i>Days<\/i><\/b><b> by Daniel Hale<\/b><\/a><b><br \/>\n<\/b><b>JournalStone Publishing (November 2020)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>156 pages; $15.95 paperback<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>Reviewed by Joshua Gage<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hallowed Days<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a dark fantasy- and horror-themed anthology focusing primarily on Christmas and Halloween. What makes Hale\u2019s fiction so potent is the way he builds up to the ominous dread at the end of his stories. Rarely do we see any actual blood and guts, and most of the stories depend on tiny details that are magnified at the end of the tale. <\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, in the story \u201cWhen Santa Stayed\u201d we follow a father who is comforting his daughter, Annabelle, with her questions about Santa Claus, as well as dealing with marital problems and his own nightmares. It seems to be a basic children\u2019s story from the point of view of a concerned parent, until Santa leaves a letter for Annabelle that lets the reader know it is anything but. What is great about this tale is that Hale not only deals with the stereotypical \u201cchild curious about Santa\u201d trope, but he also taps into some of the mythic, pagan origins of Santa Claus as well. This adds to the darkness of the story, and really makes for a creepy read.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hallowed Days<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we are also presented with some of Hale\u2019s poetry. The narrative poem \u201cKrampusnacht\u201d deals with a holiday party, its revelry, and then takes a much darker turn when the guests get consumed by the holiday spirit and the ancient German traditions. Readers are presented another story in which the right details are provided to let the reader know something ominous is happening, but they are not given too much detail to overwhelm or alienate them from the narrative. And while Hale\u2019s prosody may leave a bit to be desired, the tale in \u201cKrampusnacht\u201d is enough to capture the attention of a reader and give them some lingering dread.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hallowed Days<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a fun collection of creepy, atmospheric stories. At times, Hale dabbles into poetry or experimental fiction styles, but for the most part, the stories are just solid horror fiction that imply some dreadful end. The focus on holidays is clever, and while Hale treads outside of Christmas and Halloween occasionally, it would be really interesting to see what he could do with less traditional holidays. Still, horror readers will enjoy this collection and its themes. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hallowed Days by Daniel Hale JournalStone Publishing (November 2020) 156 pages; $15.95 paperback Reviewed by Joshua Gage Hallowed Days is a dark fantasy- and horror-themed anthology focusing primarily on Christmas and Halloween. What makes Hale\u2019s fiction so potent is the way he builds up to the ominous dread at the end of his stories. Rarely &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-hallowed-days-daniel-hale\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: Hallowed Days by Daniel Hale&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[2333,2332,506,401,79],"class_list":["post-15551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-daniel-hale","tag-hallowed-days","tag-joshua-gage","tag-journalstone","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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