“Dust Upon a Paper Eye” by Cate Gardner
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.
Hen, a makeup artist working on a macabre theater production, encounters a homeless man and a disturbing truth about the show's creator and his creations.
Setting: A theater and surrounding city streets, likely contemporary.
Characters: Hen, a makeup artist; Dominic, a homeless man; Herr Smithton, the theater owner and director; ruby-red, a mannequin.
Halloween seen as: A time when the boundary between the living and the inanimate blurs, with a focus on exploitation, desperation, and the power of art.
Style: Dark fantasy, with a focus on the macabre and the potential consequences of artistic obsession.
Point of view: Third person, primarily from Hen's perspective.
Jay
