Autumn’s Harvest: An Autumn Fantasy Anthology

Autumn is a beautiful and magical time, and yet many times it is the most neglected. You hear of the wonder of winter, the beauty of spring, and the joy of summer, well, now we wish to explore the mystery of autumn. It is a time of death and rebirth. As the trees lose their leaves in one last explosion of color before the stark paleness of winter, waiting to return again like a phoenix, what becomes of the world around them, both seen and unseen? What lurks beneath the harvest moon? What only comes out when the world is fading and the Earth itself holds its breath, waiting for the first snow to fall? Fairies? Monsters? Witches? What adventures wait in this magical in-between?

 
Featuring 26 stories. 
Authors include: Amber M. Simpson, KT Wagner, Gustavo Bondoni, Teresa Lopez, Sarah Gribble, Ada Hardy, W. T. Paterson, Rachel Villalobos, A.P. Sessler, James Potter, Kevin Hopson, DJ Tyrer, Dorothy A. Winsor, Jennifer McCollom, M. Lopes da Silva, Melissa R. Mendelson, Paul Stansbury, Rainie Zenith, Lorah Jaiyn, Diane Arrelle, Eddie D. Moore, R.F. Keele, Kristyl Gravina, J.W. Grace, Clara M. O'Leary, and Frank S. Montellano.

From Sarah Gribble's "The Apprentice":

Children.

I see them coming, swarming like ants around spilled soda. Sugar, sugar, sugar. Stuff their faces, beg some more. They trot around in their little costumes—fairies and superheroes and Kardashians.

Knock, knock.

I open the door, toss a piece of chocolate to a particularly creative child wearing a sheet. If he ever saw a real ghost, he’d piss his pants.

His parents say, “What do you tell the lady?” and the kid mumbles an insincere “Thank you” right before I slam the door in their smiling faces.

I return to my recliner and wait, staring at the door. My familiar is lurking around somewhere, probably swishing her black tail in irritation. She hates Halloween as much as I do, poor thing. She’ll stay hidden until after dusk, most likely. And then we’ll go to work.