The citizens of Halloween Town have been at it again, this time hijacking Arbitrary Day. Fortunately I'm old enough to appreciate their hijinks!

First to arrive was a book of Great Horror Stories, boasting tales by Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft. Ever a fan of Lovecraft and Poe's works, I eagerly flipped to the Table of Contents to see what tales were included. I was delighted to find Poe's The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, a macabre tale of a dying man being hypnotized into a state where his body is dead but his mind remains in a trance, fully aware of his own passing. Following Poe's work is Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space, detailing the horror of an alien life form which came to Earth in a meteor and devastated the landscape before it's (partial) return to the cosmos drove the locals insane.

I haven't read The Colour Out of Space in several years, despite owning two collections which contain it, and look forward to enjoying it again. Unfortunately, I recently picked up a couple extensive collections of Poe, and have read The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar within the last month. Fortunately this collection includes several stories I haven't read, including W.W. Jacobs' classic The Monkey's Paw, which, in addition to numerous retellings, inspired my favorite story on The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror II! Also included is Kipling's The Mark of the Beast. I love Kipling, but was not aware of this story before noticing his name in the Table of Contents.

A second package was indicated, but was held at the post office rather than delivered to my mailbox. Of course it had to be: The mailbox isn't nearly large enough for a gigantic poster of grotesque glory! This beauty, certain to give nightmares to anyone sleeping within the same room as it's hung, is Michael Whelan's Lovecraft's Nightmare B. I guess the B indicates that there's an A somewhere, but I don't think my home could handle both at once!

Bravo Santa! Or Jack! Whichever!