“Bleed “(1995) by Richard Christian Matheson
The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories (2018) edited by Stephen Jones
Readers unfamiliar with The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories may prefer to read these notes only after reading the anthology.
A young boy confronts the grief of losing his father and the unsettling changes in his mother's new relationship, all while experiencing a disturbing Halloween night filled with blood and visions of his dead father.
Setting: A child's bedroom on Halloween night.
Characters: An unnamed child; his mother; his deceased father.
Halloween seen as: A time of loss and longing, with a focus on the child's perspective on death and the afterlife.
Style: Poetic, dreamlike miniature with a focus on the emotional impact of grief.
Point of view: First person, from the child's perspective.
Jay
