“Not Our Brother” (1982) by Robert Silverberg
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.
Tom Halperin, an American mask collector, travels to a remote Mexican village. He witnesses a traditional dance, but his obsession with acquiring a mask leads him into a weird encounter.
Setting: San Simón Zuluaga, a remote Mexican mountain town, during the fiesta of the local patron saint.
Characters: Tom Halperin, an American mask collector; Guzmán López, an antiquities dealer; Ellen Chambers, a mysterious American woman; Filiberto, the hotel owner; Don Luis Gutierrez.
Halloween seen as: A time that allows for encounters with dangerous entities.
Style: Anthropological horror, blending folklore and the supernatural with a sense of cultural exploration.
Point of view: Third person, limited to Halperin's perspective.
Jay
