Nightmares on All Saint’s Eve: A Halloween anthology

Who doesn’t love a good Halloween anthology, right? If you’re into the creepy, unexplainable, and sometimes terrifying, this anthology full of paranormal short stories is for you. I’m so glad I could contribute two short stories to Nightmares on All Saint’s Eve. Both were a lot of fun to write, especially because they are vastly different from each other.

Mirrors

The first one is called “Mirrors.” We follow a young woman named Jo, and she hates Halloween for very personal reasons, but still accompanies her girlfriend Mindy to the fair in Salem. The season always brings back painful memories she would like to forget. But when Jo enters the Mirror House, she finds something terrifying. Something she wishes she never knew. What inspired this story was the small hint of an idea, barely a seed. The idea that one day, I will look into the mirror, and my reflection will lag, looking back at me just a split of a second too late. It sprouted into something edging more on the psychological horror side, in a setting I’m very familiar with because I used to live in Massachusetts, and my husband and I loved to go to Salem for Halloween.

Hide and Seek

The second story, “Hide and Seek,” wasn’t actually planned. I was asked almost at the last minute to provide another story when I was at the playground with my husband and kid. On our walk back, hubby helped me brainstorm something, and he’s the one who found the idea. It felt great to get out of my comfort zone. The boy we follow in this story is a bit hard to read. He’s mysterious, to say the least, and wildly obsessed with another boy named Jeremy. On Halloween night, he decides to follow Jeremy to a party, only he has a very different idea of what having fun means.

I can’t speak for my fellow writers’ inspirations for their stories, but I hope you’ll enjoy this Halloween anthology! You can find it now on Amazon.

Now, turn down the lights, wrap yourself in a warm blanket, and put a bowl of candy corn on your lap, if that’s your thing. Happy spooky reading!

About the Writer: Amélia Cognet is a suspense and horror writer who loves books, tattoos, rainy days, and fluffy sweaters. She lives in sunny California with her husband Christophe and her two-year-old daughter Kara.