It seems the Halloween season starts earlier and earlier each year. I first began noticing Halloween candy in stores in July (!), and every time I turned around since then, there were more decorations, party favors, and treats at hand. Is it any wonder I’ve been wandering around the house humming “The Monster Mash” for the last few weeks?

Our 108th issue kicks off a truly epic celebration of the season, with a pair of nightmarish treats. You will never look at seagulls the same way after experiencing Adrian Cole’s “The Birds Are Back in Town.” And Lin Carter’s “Keru” is a tale that would have been right at home in Weird Tales in its heyday.

“The Power of Evil,” by Alan Orloff, is not a supernatural tale, but futuristic suspense (thanks to Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken), so it’s doing double duty this time. And the grisly-sounding “A Burn That Reaches Bone,” by Karen Odden is not a mad slasher tale, but a tale of a horrible crime that reaches through the generations. (Thanks to Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman for this one.) And, of course, there are traditional mysteries, too—I found a rare Victorian-era mystery by Australian writer Ernest Favenc while I was browsing issues of Australian Town and Country Journal looking for mysteries by Mary Fortune (my favorite classic Australian mystery writer) and couldn’t resist adding it to this issue. Plus we have a detective novel featuring Nick Carter and a solve-it-yourself puzzler from Hal Charles.

On the science fiction and fantasy side, we have another great Norman Spinrad story, a classic by Robert F. Young, and the first entry in the Pillsworth & Toffee series by Charles F. Myers (we have more coming up). Fun stuff.

Here’s the complete lineup:

Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure:

“The Power of Evil,” by Alan Orloff [Michael Bracken Presents short story]

“Swimming into Troubled Waters,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]

“A Burn That Reaches Bone,” by Karen Odden [Barb Goffman Presents short story]

“The Mystery of the Death Stroke,” by Ernest Favenc

The Forced Crime, by Nicholas Carter [novel]

Science Fiction & Fantasy:

“The Power of Evil,” by Alan Orloff [Michael Bracken Presents short story]

“Entities,” by Norman Spinrad [short story]

“The Birds Are Back in Town” is copyright © 2019 by Adrian Cole [short story]

“The Courts of Jamshyd,” by Robert F. Young [short story]

“Keru,” by Lin Carter

“I’ll Dream of You” by Charles F. Myers [short story]