It’s Finally Halloween—And Time To Publish The Top Stories In The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award Contest. Happy Reading!

Stories poured in from the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. The winning pieces—one that’s at once bittersweet and spooky, three others that are entirely unnerving—are set in wartime Japan, in rural Scotland, in suburban America, and in the dark hill country of the American South.

And the winning writers are as varied as their work: A well-known author who has won many prestigious awards, a 29-year-old from the West Coast who never previously published a word and is now publishing two stories here, and an Australian native now living in, and inspired by, Scotland.

Come on in and have a read—but be warned: Afterward, you may feel like sleeping with the lights on for a while.