As an All Hallows Geek reader, the title “We Bleed Orange & Black” likely calls to you. It’s the perfect description of those of us who live for that one night a year dedicated to tricks and treats. This year Halloween will look a lot different for many of us, with most of us confined to our homes. Thankfully, author Jeff C. Carter has put together the perfect collection of short stories for Halloween in quarantine.
“We Bleed Orange & Black” features 31 “fun-sized” Halloween tales, all written by Carter. Each tale is unique and transports you to a different place or time, providing the perfect escape during a Halloween season that we will likely need it most. There are tales of witches, werewolves, vampires, trick or treating, and more. Each meant to spark some Halloween spirit within the reader.
Part of the fun of Carter’s collection of short stories is that not only does he mix it up when it comes to the subject matter but also format. Carter has found unique ways to share his stories; for instance, the horror of “Haunted House – 1 Star” is told through an online review. “The ABCs of a Healthy Halloween” is a 26 line story written using each letter of the alphabet as the first letter of each sentence, while “Top Ten Tips To Get Your Body Ready” is written as a how-to guide for preparing your body for the afterlife.
Carter’s tales also vary in tone, ensuring a balanced mix of horror and Halloween fun throughout the book. In fact, he provides a list of “All Ages” and “Rated PG” tales at the front of the book for parents or “scaredy-cats,” looking for a more timid reading experience. But peppered throughout are plenty of tales for horror-loving readers, including “All Gallows Eve,” which tells the tale of a hangman who learns there are consequences to ignoring a mans dying wish, “Copper Nails,” a dark tale of a gnarled tree that has loomed over a family home for generations and will make sure it remains for generations to come, or “Red Snow,” a suspenseful thriller set in a small town in the Arctic Circle where tragedy quickly spreads on Halloween night.
Not every story in the collection is a winner, but with 31 stories from one author, having only a few stories fall flat seems quite the feat. And even those aren’t particularly bad; they didn’t feel as strong as others in the book.
My personal favorites from the book are the aforementioned “Haunted House – 1 Star” and “Copper Nails” as well as “The Tale of the Burning Midnight,” an Are You Afraid of the Dark-esque story about a group of kids who meet late at night to tell scary stories, only to become a twisted tale themselves that will be told for generations to come. I also particularly enjoyed “Working the Roots of Pumpkins,” which reads as a wholesome family Halloween tale of a mother and daughter baking a fall treat and sharing their family heritage, but, in the end, something more sinister is at play.
Other notable tales are “Nearby Incidents” and “Anonymous IRL,” which are tied together by an arc about a serial killer and feature all the horrors of modern life, including Karen’s, the NextDoor app, online trolls, swatting, and teens flying drones.
With 31 tales to enjoy, it’s unfortunate this book is being released on October 6. This would be the perfect book to curl up to each night in October leading up to Halloween. Release date aside, I would still highly recommend picking this one up and giving it a read this Halloween season.
Carter set out to create a love letter to Halloween, and I believe he achieved it with his perfect blend of fall fun and light horror tales. It’s enough to get you into the Halloween spirit. If you’re spending this October in the safety of your own home, “We Bleed Orange & Black” is the perfect escape to help you temporarily forget about a COVID Halloween and remind you of all the things we love about the season of Samhain.
“We Bleed Orange & Black” is available for pre-order now on Amazon and will be released on October 6, 2020, on Kindle and in print.
*I was provided a review copy of “We Bleed Orange & Black” by the author for this review.
About the Author:
In addition to being a lifelong Halloween fanatic, Jeff C. Carter’s stories have been featured in dozens of anthologies, translated for international markets, and adapted for podcasts, including the Reedsy story prompt contest (winner), “Transmissions from Punktown,” “Delta Green: Extraordinary Renditions,” “A Mythos Grimmly,” “eFiction” and “Nightland” magazine and the “Tales to Terrify” podcast, among others. He lives in Los Angeles with a cat, a dog, and a human.
His hobbies are legion, including but not limited to, making props and costumes, special FX makeup, Japanese art, calligraphy and language, climbing, Surfing, travel, escape rooms, and survival skills.
His previous collection, “Between the Teeth,” hit #4 in sci-fi and #11 in horror short stories on the Kindle lists. You can find more of his work at JeffCCarter.com.
