Autumn Nights: 13 Spooky Fall Reads (Autumn Nights, #1) by Cass Kim

Autumn Nights: 13 Spooky Fall Reads (Autumn Nights, #1) Reviews

• 
  Kat

  I LOVE a great Halloween story and am always on the lookout for wonderful Halloween and fall-themed books to read in October! This collection had it all! Candy corn. Pumpkin patches. Pumpkin spice lattes. Spooky stories that will get you in a Halloween mood just as the weather gets colder. I loved baking in my kitchen while listening to hayrides and pumpkin carvings, haunted scarecrows, witches and summoning circles. I totally fangirled when I discovered this even had a spooky corn maze story, one of my all-time Halloween favorites!! There was even a Baba Yaga and a Jack the Ripper retelling! Lots of black cats with slightly missing ears (ha ha 😊.) This has a little something for everyone with a variety of styles and genres, from sci fi to paranormal to YA, and all great reads.
  
  Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
  
• 
  Helen Whistberry

  Wonderful and wonderfully varied collection of haunting tales perfect for late-night reading in the days leading up to Halloween. Without a stinker in the bunch, each story has its own unique style, setting, and mood reflecting the diverse array of writers involved in this anthology. From spooky houses to the far reaches of outer space, from foggy and historic London Town to popular modern phone apps and RPGs, these stories run the gamut from fantasy to scifi to speculative fiction and outright horror. Truly something for anyone's taste here. I enjoyed every story, but a few that stood out for me were "Hannah and Gregory" and "The Teller Tree" because I enjoy folkloric and fairy tale riffs, "Dawson Farms" because it played upon my own fears of claustrophobia and feeling trapped, and "My Own Dark Way" and "From Hell" for their riffs on a dark period of London history. But really, I could list every story here. There wasn't a single one that didn't thrill and entertain. From humor to horror, I can't imagine any reader who won't find something to fall in love with in this amazing collection of expertly written tales. Proceeds also earmarked for charity which I applaud and support as well. Highly recommended.
• 
  S.E. MacCready

  Autumn Nights is a fast-paced and exciting read. The stories this collection contains are varied, meaning there is something for everybody. I didn't find any of the stories overtly terrifying. Rather, as the title suggests, they were just spooky. I feel this collection would be a good introduction to anyone looking to explore the genre.
  
  All that said, I did notice some formatting errors -- one story in particular, which I won't name. Mostly missing punctuation and extra words, appearing just often enough to be noticed. The story itself was thrilling, and the errors didn't distract from that.
  
  The proceeds from this collection benefit charity, which is commendable, and only wants to make me recommend it even more.
• 
  Matthew

  Full disclosure, I am one of the authors featured in this anthology. For the sake of my rating, consider that my opinion of the other 13 stories in this book, as I am loathe to rate my own work. That job should fall to other readers.
  
  That being said, having now had the chance to read through all of the other stories in this anthology, I’m truly excited to say they were all extremely strong efforts. There wasn’t a single story in this anthology that I didn’t like, though my personal favorites were Constellation Boy and Courting Death. But don’t skip ahead to those. You’ll want to savor every tale in this anthology like your favorite pumpkin flavored beverage.
• 
  Cass Kim

  As somebody who had first look at ALL 14 stories in this spooky anthology, I was loving it. I got the Halloween thrills and chills, but also a lot of unexpected entertainment too. Some stories had humor that made me laugh out loud, others had twists that surprised me. I loved the variety of happy and “bad guy wins” endings. You just never knew what you were going to get as you read through the stories!
• 
  K.A. Miltimore

  Full disclosure: I am one of the authors. That said, the other 13 stories are varied, engaging, seasonal and inventive in how they approached our common theme. I really think there is something for every reader in this anthology. I hope you check it out and support a worthwhile charity. Cheers, KA Miltimore
• 
  Bekka

  This collection of short stories range from cozy Autumnal to slightly spooky. The book features 13 different indie authors. If supporting indie authors isn't enough of a draw for you, all proceeds from the book go to the ASPCA!
  🍂
  🍂
  I generally find I only like a few short stories in collections, but this book has been the opposite, I have enjoyed all of the stories with only a few exceptions. I love that different authors ranged their focus from teenagers to adult protagonists, and from witchy stories to a space adventure. The variety kept me interested! I also love the unifying element of the black cat throughout the stories, I thought that was subtly, but cleverly done. 😻
• 
  D. Ayers

  So far, I've only read two of the stories in this book, but I have loved both of them and am savoring the rest since I'm the kind of kid who wishes it were Halloween all year round!
  
  The two stories I read were by Cass Kim and Tara Jazdzewski. Kim seems to be starting another series with her story, while Jazdzewski's story stands alone. Both authors deliver a certain amount of spookiness, with Kim's story being a little more frightening in terms of gore, and Jazdzewski's giving us the creeps by resurrecting Jack the Ripper.
  
  I'm looking forward to reading more in the collection...just waiting for a night when I need a good scare!
• 
  Melissa Levine

  I’m not a fan of those who create the Goodreads, Audible, Amazon pages without listing all the authors and the stories they wrote. I think this is my last time I'll listen to a collection of short stories as I find the majority aren’t my cup of tea, whether they’re boring, make no sense, etc. The narrator did an awesome job! I’d listen to him again.
  
  “Bloodlines” by Sage Roberts 3/5 The only author who isn’t listed on Goodreads.
  This was an interesting story, although I found the ending disappointing. The first mistake I found: “He dragged a gleaming silver nice [knife] across her palm.”
  
  “Fade to Black” by Amanda Stockton 5/5
  
  “Magician’s Weekend” by Martin Shannon 1/5
  I was annoyed. 1. The protagonist was unable to say anything to the “nerds” when/after they arrived at his house to play their game. I get he had a headache but, at the same time, he had all these inner thoughts and outer actions going on. I guess it was hard to believe that with all the random things his apprentice was asking/telling him that he’d been unable to talk at all. 2. His apprentice and his friends didn’t realize there was something wrong with him? 3. We’re told the protagonist is a magician, can do real magic. Yet he never did any magic and other than the creatures, there was the random “brain rat” that attacked him, leaving no information as to how the brain rat came about/operated. Yeah… I wasn’t feeling it.
  
  “Hannah and Gregory” by Jacob Faust 1/5
  I had so many questions. It was similar to the Hansel and Gretel, obviously done on purpose per the title, the kids getting lost, the witch, the unique house she lived in, her being pushed into the oven, etc. I’m just not a big fan of “remakes.” Mistakes I found: “He fired back,” was spoken after Hannah told Gregory to shut up. Or “'You’ll make a nice appetizer to your little mate,’ he purred.” The cat was female. 1. How old were these kids? 2. Baba Yaga was going to use the fairy king to find treasure? She was a powerful old witch; going after treasure wasn’t working for me. 3. Gregory heard the witch talking when he entered the library, yet she was unable to hear him knocking books and shelving down? 4. The cat took the map back from Gregory, who ended up yelling at the cat, and for whatever reason, “Gregory cursed himself for yelling.” Why? It’s not like he’d been quiet. 5. Hannah went into a room and, like the one Gregory had gone in, heard the witch calling out to her thinking she was the cat. It was the exact same thing she’d said to Gregory. That scene was confusing. 6. Why did Hannah hide behind the stove, when the witch stated she knew she was there? 7. At the end, they decided to give the treasure map to their stepmother. Could any reader see her going treasure hunting? I couldn’t. 8. How did their father respond when they finally got home? I wish there would have been more at the end.
  
  “The Teller Tree” by SM Rose 1/5
  It was funny when I got to this story because maybe two audiobooks back, I’d listened to a collection of stories and there was one very similar to this one. Again, similar to the last story, this was a take on Little Red Riding Hood. Not a fan. One line I found funny was when the girl saw the woodsman in the woods the second time around, she realized he had an ax… that was used to cut trees. Something about that line had me thinking “Obviously the ax was for cutting trees down… he’s a woodsman!” While Roger cut the tree down, it revealed secrets, yet there was no reaction on his part. When the protagonist told the tree’s story, she had to “rearrange” it so she wasn’t telling the exact same story. How had the tree’s story gone when it was just like the protagonist’s life story? The most questioning part of the story was the big reveal at the end. The protagonist was bisexual? A lesbian? When there was no romantic/sexual thoughts or anything toward her female best friend. Sorry, but no.
  
  “From Hell” by Tara Jazdzewski 4/5
  Finally a good story! I wish it would have been longer.
  
  “Constellation Boy” by Dixon Reuel 3/5
  I found the idea of all inhabitants being gone leaving Death to just wait for more to come to be very interesting. This was the first story so far in which the black cat had a very teeny role… and wasn’t even feel but a stuffed animal. While the idea was neat, I wasn’t a fan of the ending. It was bleh. One mistake I found was “He also initialized the embryo growth programmed.”
  
  “Soul Sisters” by Mandy Lawson 2/5 NO CAT!
  This was the only story in which there was NO BLACK CAT at all! How did it even end up in this batch of stories? Obviously that was one of the themes between them. I liked the story up until the big reveal that the protagonist was sisters with the killer. I was like “What?!”. It left me feeling as though the author wasn’t sure how to end the story or what the twist would be until she was near that part of the story. It was a letdown for me. 1. What the age difference between the girls? 2. How had she found out she’d been adopted and who her real parents were?
  
  “The Witches of Nine” by Meg Holeva 2/5
  I felt a little lost with this story as there wasn’t much backstory. When the officers showed up at their house to inform them of the mother’s death, that had to be the most insensitive “we’re sorry for your loss” I’ve ever read/heard. I wish it had been longer. 1. So Kolby’s father was an alcoholic? Why? 2. Her mother was deployed, as in the military? How long had she been gone to where the house is falling apart? Years? How did she die? 3. There was a part when her father stated he needed to keep his promise. About what? 4. What was Kolby going to be doing as a witch? I found it questionable that Kolby thought of the fairy king’s acquaintance as both a beautiful woman and a hag. A mistake I found: “Kolby scritched behind the feline’s ears.”
  
  “Dawson’s Farms” Matthew Cesca 4/5
  I found the female protagonist to be annoying. For example, she saw the scarecrow and the direction it was pointing, looked away, then back at the scarecrow to see it pointing in a different direction. When her boyfriend noticed as well, she acted like he was the one imagining things. When the scarecrows “introduce” themselves, their open mouths were described as being like maws.” Using “maw” seemed questionable given they didn’t have teeth, or a real jaw, just a dark, empty (or straw-filled) hole. One mistake I found was when one of the protagonists thought, “It was starting to get hungry.”
  
  “Location Number Twenty-Three” by Alana Turner 3/5
  This was an interesting Pokémon story.
  
  “A Witches? ” Nicholas Graham by 1/5
  This was boring. 1. Why was the “Goddess,” who most would think of as being female, referred to as “it,” and “their”? 2. What was the purpose of the story taking place in the future when there was nothing futuristic about it? Magic was real yet none was performed. One mistake I found - “Trying to break her sister’s habit of always assing her for advice.”
  
  “My Own Dark Way” KA Miltimore by 2/5
  Again, another remake, if you will. In this case, combining Jack and the Ripper with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was interesting. Otherwise, I felt the story was boring. Dr. Jekyll cutting off the one woman’s tragus was not believable. Does the author know what part of the ear the tragus is? How would a bottle have only cut that part? It’s tiny! Two mistakes I found were “I found myself back to house,” And “'Mad dog’, he spat violently.” It was a female character that spat.
  
  “Courting Death” by Edison Crux 4/5
  I wanted to give this story 5-stars but there was a timeline issue. The reader is told the protagonist and her friend have been friends for two years. When she referred to dating Death, it had taken place before the friends met. Yet, Death had been at the bar for a week, depressed about “the girl,” while not collecting people who should have died. How the two-year/one-week mistake wasn’t caught was strange. 1. One of Death’s friends commented about how no one would have wondered why an eighteen-wheeler would come flying down the highway on a clear day stood out to me. Why would have that been questioned? Why would it have mattered if the day were clear or cloudy? 2. Is there a famous cat called Miss Fortune? This was the second story in which the name was used. 3. A person being decapitated by a weedwhacker? No. 4. If Death couldn’t be around Stephanie that long without causing death’s, how had the cat only gotten sick? How had Stephanie not died? A mistake I found, “He whipped away a rogue tear.” It was a female.
  
  
  I received a free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  L.T.

  Autumn Nights was the perfect read for anytime of the year. While most of the stories are tales set around Halloween, this is not the kind of book you should only read during a specific season. The variety of genres within Autumn Nights led to experiencing stories I normally wouldn't have sampled. I bought this book to get into the fall mood, but was delighted to find that the collection can work for anytime I want a good read.
  
  Each short story in this collection gives a nod to its charitable donation by including a black cat with a torn right ear. How each author took that requirement and ran with it surprised me. No two stories incorporated the cat in the same way and none of the authors made the inclusion feel forced. As I continued through the book, I was amazed at how the cat was utilized in not only the story, but the genre. It made for a fun read.
  
  I don't want to tell you which stories I loved, but that's because the genre and writing style that might be for me might not be for you. However, I believe any reader would find several shorts to enjoy. If you're looking for an autumn-themed sampler of literature, I recommend you pick up Autumn Nights.
• 
  Annie Annie James

  Most of the Stories are good, there were 3 disappointing ones
  
  I gave this 3 stars because the stories we're good, but not the kind I would read more than once and not the kind I would brag to my friends about. However, there were a couple of contributing authors whom I want to read more of.
  
  One of these was the first story in the book; Bloodlines by Cass Kim. The main character (MC) is Sage Roberts. The story is deliciously spooky from beginning to end. The scene near the end where the villain shows up was very scary and we'll written. The only thing I didn't like was the it ended on a cliffhanger and it seemed unrealistic.
  
  Magicians Weekend by Martin Shannon was my favorite story. An unexpected gift topped with a perfect bow ending; it had both scary and humorous scenes, in perfect balance. I will definitely be looking for more of this author's books.
  
  Hannah and Gregory by Jacob Faust had some interesting elements. The beginning is kind of meh..but once you get through that it is interesting.
  
  ****Spoiler Alert******
  
  A retelling of Hansel and Gretel that ends on a cliffhanger.
  
  The Witches of Nine By Meg Holeva
  
  Another talented author and one of the best stories in this book. This could be a compelling series about the MC, Colbie.
  
  Dawson Farms By Matthew Cesca
  
  Very scary, and I thought he nailed the ending.
  
  My Own Dark Way By K. A. Miltimore
  A dark trip into the twisted minds of two famous villains!!! Almost Bradbury-esque.
  
  
  Courting Death by Edison T. Crux was interesting, not scary--mainly sentimental.
  
  What I disliked:
  
  Fade to Black by Amanda Stockton was the second story. I thought it was a premise that had been done many times before and this story didn't add anything fresh or interesting. It was more depressing than scary. However,
  
  *****Spoiler Alert********
  
  I did like the recurring black cat character throughout the book. That was clever!!
  
  The Teller Tree by S.M Rose was my least favorite. It was boring and depressing. Skip-able.
  
  I also disliked the pointless ending of From Hell By Tara Jazdzewski
  
  *****Spoiler Alert***"""
  
  Constellation Boy By Dixon Reuel was an interesting story but I was confused by the deaths of the crew members, and I wasn't sure at the end if another ship would be sent or not.
  
  Soul Sisters By Mandy Lawson
  
  What a rip off ending!!! A great story, right up until that infuriating end.
  
  Who would I recommend to?
  
  If you like cats and spooky Halloween stories. If you like scary but dislike gore, this is the book for you. Also if you are looking for new authors, my favorites in this book are:
  
  Cass Kim
  
  Martin Shannon
  
  K. A. Miltimore
  
  Matthew Cesca
  
• 
  J.D.

  As with any short story collection this one had its really good ones and ones I wasn't all that in to.
  
  Here's a breakdown of each story and the star ratings for me.
  
  Bloodlines: A Sage Robert Story 3/5
  
  An alright opening story. I really enjoyed the Halloweenish vibes with the characters trip to the pumpkin patch but didn't find this story to be overly thrilling. Also I was hoping for a bit of a spookier ending.
  
  Fade To Black 4/5
  
  This one reminded me slightly of The Craft movie with the new girl in school being tricked into performing a satanic ritual then being taunted by the girls she performed it with. It was spooky and I really liked the ending.
  
  Magician's Weekend 2/5
  
  Unfortunately this just wasn't my type of story. I'm not big into fantasy role playing games so it didn't hold my interest very well despite having quite a bit of action. I did really like the idea behind it though.
  
  Hannah And Gregory 4/5
  
  A fun take on Hansel and Gretel with a few new twists thrown in.
  
  The Teller Tree 4/5
  
  A twisted take on Little Red Riding Hood that I really enjoyed. I didn't see the ending coming at all but liked the direction the story ended up taking.
  
  Constellation Boy 2/5
  
  A space exploration team finds something unexpected on a far away planet. I'm not much of a space fantasy fan so this one wasn't really my style.
  
  Soul Sisters 3/5
  
  I usually love a good creepy camp story but this one fell a bit flat for me. It started slow then felt a bit rushed at the end.
  
  The Witches Of Nine 2/5
  
  Not being the biggest fantasy fan, this one wasn't really my kind of story.
  
  Dawson Farms 4/5
  
  There's just scenting so creepy about cornfields and this one plays right into that.
  
  Location #23 5/5
  
  This was a really cool one that definitely reminded me of the Pokémon Go game. Thankfully I haven't had any freak encounters like the girl in this story.
  
  A Witch's Ken 2/5
  
  This story of a young girl who gets a rare opportunity for a wish to come true fell flat for me. It felt too rushed and seemed almost a bit silly with the way the story ended up going.
  
  My Own Dark Way 3/5
  
  An old fashioned tale of murder that held my interest but was just okay overall.
  
  Courting Death 5/5
  
  This unique tale of a woman and her ex boyfriend, death (yes the literal reaper), is a short but sweet story that I really enjoyed.
  
  
• 
  Derek Gillespie

  This collection of short stories is written by fledgling writers and his/her short is sometimes an intro to an upcoming novel. The character they must all include is a black cat with a tattered ear - sometimes this cat is prominent in the story and sometimes it's just a cameo. The audiobook narrator did a great job.
  
  Of all the stories, my favorites were: Bloodlines: A Sage Roberts Story; The Teller Tree; and Soul Sisters. The others either didn't resonate with me (because of the setting or characters) or were too bizarre to get a handle on. For example, I really liked how Magician’s Weekend began because I can totally relate to a Dad who gets the house to himself for the weekend. However, when it took it's magical turn, it went too far off the rails for me to remain interested.
  
  At most, you are going to get some YA creeps from this collection and I'd recommend it if that's your interest.
• 
  Amira

  This book was okay. Some of the stories were really great, and I'll read more form the authors (especially the last story- worth reading through the whole book just for that). Others were clearly newer writers or maybe just not great writers, but with good ideas. Definitely delivered on the feelings of fall! I listened to this on audiobook, which I got for free from the narrator or the author, and this is my honest review. Sorry it's like a year late. I would probably give this book an honest 3 stars because it's "okay" not "good", but I gave an extra star for two reasons: 1 the money from the book goes directly to charity, and 2 the next book in this charity series is much better, IMO.
• 
  Jeff McIntosh

  "Autumn Nights" - 12 Chilling Tales for Midnight was something of a misnomer for me....although all the stories in this collection were competently written, none of them were "chilling".
  
  Klop's "The Glimmerseed" was perhaps the best tale in this collection - about a adolescent who makes a deal with "Carnival jack" - a deal that will eventually impact his family as well as himself. If you're looking f or tales featuring traditional monsters - then "Nothing But Red" is a story of shapeshifters.
  
  One or two of the stories I would classify as fantasy - not nothing particularly frightening or scary.
  Not a bad anthology - just not a great one.
  
  
  Jeff McIntosh
• 
  Elizabeth Hogg

  I really wish that this was an anthology that followed the cat with an agreed upon back story. It would have been interesting to get the cat's story from very different separate stories.
  
  Other than that. Meh. Not a must read.
  
  And one thing that irked me was the typos and misuse of punctuation. Sometimes commas were used where they should be, and sometimes they were no where to be found. Other times, they popped up where they shouldn't. Such as two- at the end of a sentence. Was there any editing going on?
• 
  Evan

  This was a good anthology of short spooky stories. :) The short stories covered the gambit, such as how modern day mobile apps can be horrific to a corn maze story that had me thinking of the TV series Supernatural. I don't recall being disappointed by any of them. They were not necessarily as those in
  Midnight in the Graveyard, but they were still spooky.
• 
  Roger

  Autumn Nights: 13 Spooky Fall Reads. An entertaining collection of 14 spooky shorts from fourteen new (to me) authors. Better yet the profits all go to the ASPCA as part of their ongoing mission to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals. Garrett Michael Brown's narration made the 10-hour 28-minute collection pass quickly and adds to the book's enjoyment. I was given an Audible copy of this book & am voluntarily reviewing it. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).
• 
  David

  A nice collection of Autumn 'spooky stories', although I am loathed to call them horror.
  
  The collection contains lots of very good stories, but also some not so good and occasionally silly. Without really giving any spoilers away, this collection hints at an overarching narrative that doesn't really come to anything. It thinks it does, but it doesn't.
  
  Not bad read, but not a great one either sadly.
• 
  Nancy

  Disclaimer: I got this for free on Audible from Cass Kim, one of the authors.
  
  I liked all of the stories in this collection, some more than others, but all were enjoyable. I liked that they each had a shared element, though some kind of shoehorned that element in there, while others used it as a major part of the story.
• 
  Clare Doherty

  I only got the audio book yesterday but it was so good that I listened to it straight away it was wonderful it has 13 stories in it and each was better than the last and there is one little thing that is added to every single story but you will have to either read it or listen to it to find out what that is but if you like lots of good stories in one bundle then you will love this.
• 
  Rebecca

  I can't say enough about this delightful collection of spooky fun! What a great idea - and for a great cause. Readers will love browsing through the different writing styles of the contributing authors, And probably hide under their covers until morning!
  
  I can't recommend this anthology enough, and look forward to the new edition coming out this Fall!
• 
  Cameron

  DNF at 50%. Honestly reading this felt like a chore. None of the stories felt original and some were just retellings. The thing will spooky short stories is that if you know what is coming then there's no suspense and there's really no world building or character development because it's so short. Honestly not my thing.