Holy Flying Pumpkins!
A LegendFiction Anthology
eISBN 9798330448630
ASIN B0DJCGW3WB
This volume is much less serious but maybe no less fun than the other two anthologies currently available from LegendFiction. I picked it up because of the contribution of Karina Fabian, but now am looking to see what I can find from the other contributors. I devoured this volume in a single sitting and over 2 very large mugs of tea. It was a really fun read and great read for early in October.
The description of this volume states:
“Are you looking for a serious work of literary genius? Then, I'm sorry you've picked up the wrong book. Holy Flying Pumpkins is an anthology of Halloween short stories that contain, among other things, killer fast food, pumpkin flinging, and serial killers with extremely poor judgment.
Does any of that sound like literature to you? Absolutely not! It is, however, a rollicking good time.
These ten humorous Halloween short stories have been brought to you with love by the nerds at LegendFiction.”
The contributors in the collection are:
Corinne Oncena
The introduction is by Katy Campbell at the end of which she states:
“Which brings me to this anthology. I wanted to help break Christian authors out of their “Great Christian Literature Bind” by challenging them to do something fun and crazy. To turn off that internal editor and write some cheesy Halloween stories–the cornier, the better. Use cliches, cringey one-liners, dad jokes, whatever you like! Just have fun and keep the content appropriate for teens and up.
It was amazing how many funny creative stories came into being once the pressure to be great was removed. There were many submissions and it was hard to decide what would make the actual anthology.
I hope you enjoy this selection as much as I did!”
Maybe if we are lucky they will release another volume with some of those surplus stories, for the 10 in this volume were excellent. The stories in this offering are:
House Pets - Citlalin Ossio
Night of the Pumpkin Slingers - Grace Woods
The Last Drive Thru - Joe Campbell
The Ghost of Leah LaCrosse - Mark Phelps
Thanks for the Mummy-ries – Karian Fabian
Specter’s Mid-Death Crisis - Katy Campbell
Halloween Knight - Corinne Oncena
The Fairy Tale Food Chain - Katharine Campbell
Oh Deer - Grace Woods
Troll Bacon - Dominic de Souza
To start with I had just finished the 9th DragonEye PI novel (according to current numbering) and have read a number of other stories in the Vernverse. So I was really excited to read this offering and it did not let down. The visit with Vern in Thanks for the Mummy-ries was great fun. Specter’s Mid-Death Crisis by Katharine Campbell had me laughing out loud. I could so easily picture this being my youngest daughter who is currently 14. Grace Woods's Night of the Pumpkin Slingers was an excellent story and leaves you wanting more. And I could not help but greatly enjoy The Last Drive Thru by Joe Campbell and that ending, scarf that burrito down. House Pets by Citlalin Ossio was a very heart-warming tail er I mean tale. My 16 year old son will love Halloween Knight by Corinne Oncena, I just hope he doesn’t start digging up the back yard. I laughed so hard at the ending of The Fairy Tale Food Chain by Katharine Campbell. I found the story by Mark Phelps The Ghost of Leah LaCrosse deeply moving, It is one I think even my 18 or evn 29 year olds would enjoy. Oh Deer by Grace Woods was a hoot, who knew catnip would be essential on a holiday quest! And we cannot forget the offering from the founder of LegendFiction Mr Dominic de Souza, his offering and the finale in the collection Troll Bacon, was wonderful. My dad raised me to try anything twice, the first time you don’t like it could just be how it is prepared. And I got to admit after this story I am now wondering what Troll Bacon smells like and other ways to prepare it.
At the end of the volume is a section About the Authors, which has a paragraph or two for each of the contributors. All but one has a link to a site or social media, though one of them is currently expired. I went looking for other volumes from the contributors and had picked up one by Katharine Campbell 2 years ago, it just bumped to the top of my ‘to be read list’. And I added the other two anthologies from LegendFiction to my wishlist.
This collection was an absolute hoot. There was not a weak story in the collection. I have already shared it with my two youngest kids and they are both excited about giving it a read. This was such a fun read I can easily recommend it. And so hope we soon have more offerings from many of the authors who contributed to it.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2024 Catholic Reading Plan!
For reviews of other Anthologies click here.
For Reviews of other books by Karina Fabian click here.
P.S. LegendFiction the fiction writing community for Christian nerds (Catholic & Orthodox authors).
Anthologies from LegandFiction:
Dawn of LegendFiction
There Be Dragons
Holy Flying Pumpkins!
…