A quick review of Ralph Angelo Jr.'s short THE HALLOWEEN TERROR OF WEATSBORO.

As I said in the title, this will be a bit of a quick review, due to the fact that the short is only thirty three pages in length, and is fairly straightforward in composition. The Halloween Terror of Weatsboro was written at the spur of the moment back in October 2013 to tie in with the spirit of the Halloween season (Thanks to Mark Bousquet's Atomic Anxiety blog, which is where I got this bit of information. You can read his full interview with Ralph here.).  It's a fun little Halloween adventure, with some tropes that remind me a bit of old Hammer and Universal films. One of the characters actually mentions something along these lines near the end of the story. Here's a synopsis...



The story begins with a brief forward that sets up the history behind the events that are to come. It tells of a coven of vampires that have been living in the Pennsylvanian woods for centuries. Driven out by the battle of Gettysburg (along with other supernatural creatures), they end up relocating to the small town of Weatsboro, PA. Before relocating, they find an object of power, something that can be used to change the course of history... Fast forward to the present day. We are introduced to the locals that inhabit Weatsboro, chief among them Tommy Hasbrough Sr., the town mechanic, and his fourteen year old son, Tommy Jr. After getting a service call out to the old Vershrugen homestead, Tom Sr. goes missing. Convinced that something supernatural is taking place, it's up to Tommy and his friends to save his Dad, and possibly the world as we know it...



Ralph's short was a fun read, and it definitely gave me similar feelings to the movie The Monster Squad and parts of The Lost Boys. It's fast paced and doesn't dilly-dally about. It's just a good old-fashioned adventure, and doesn't try to be anything else. It does have a few flaws, but they can be overlooked because of the speed at which it was written, and the short page count in which Ralph has to tell his story. He admits that (see the above link in the first paragraph) that he could have kept adding on to the story, and this would have allowed him to flesh it out a bit more. That said, this is still an entertaining short story, which I breezed through in about twenty minutes. If you're looking for a quick read, an introduction to Ralph's work, or just a good adventure, you should appreciate The Halloween Terror of Weatsboro. At .99 cents for Kindle, you really can't lose. Here's where you can pick it up. Here's Ralph's website, if you like to learn more about him and his works. Anyhow, back to reading for me. Already immersed in an excellent new read. Happy reading, all!