I can't think of a much better way to get into the spirit of Halloween then reading a bunch of Halloween-related short stories. And if there's one thing that you should take away from this review it's this: Season of the Dead hits the spooky season nail directly on the head! I may not have been enamored with every single story, but at the very least they all accomplish setting the perfect mood for October. That speaks the strengths of the stories, but also the careful discernment of editor William Simmons (who also provides an insightful introduction and helpful notes at the beginning of each tale).

Another thing to note is that the stories here are mostly from the bygone era of the late 19th century to the early 20th century. That's not a turn off for me by any means, but it did require reading more slowly and carefully as to not miss anything from the occasionally archaic language. Still, that didn't keep me from freaking out when stone statues came to life, shuddering when someone's flesh was pulled from their face, laughing when a wayward man was cursed to carry a corpse around on his back, and almost crying when a young boy was stolen away from his family by faeries.

I've read Hawthorne's incredible "Young Goodman Brown" and Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror," but apart from those the rest of the stories were all a first read for me. And though I recognized a lot of the author names (Edith Nesbit, Fitz-James O'Brien, W.W. Jacobs, M.R. James, Robert W. Chambers, Edith Wharton, etc), I hadn't even heard of many of these stories before. I appreciate Simmons for bringing them to my attention and casting a light on some lesser-known female authors because there's a lot of good stuff here.

Only a few of the stories fell flat or just didn't work for me. The rest were great! Some standouts include:
"Man-Size in Marble"
"The Three Sisters"
"Teig O'Kane and the Corpse"
"Dracula's Guest"
"The Scarecrow"