Here’s the challenge. Starting tomorrow, October 1, read one story before bed every night. Thirty-one nights, thirty-one stories, and the last one lands on Halloween.
Each story takes about ten to twenty-five minutes. That’s shorter than an episode of anything you’d watch instead.
How it works
1. Get the book. October 31 has exactly thirty-one stories, one per night. The ebook is $4.99 and free with Kindle Unlimited.
2. Get the calendar. It’s a free printable with every night’s story, dateline, and reading time, and a box to cross off. Put it on the fridge. Get the calendar →
3. Read the night’s story. In order is best. The book is built to build.
4. Read the companion post. Every night I post a short piece here about the real folklore or history behind that night’s story, with no spoilers. Read it before the story for context or after it to find out what was real.
5. Save the last one. Story 31 is the title story. Read it on Halloween, after dark.
If you miss a night, double up. Nobody’s checking. Well, the calendar is.
The 31 nights
Every story in October 31 takes place on October 31st. Only the year and the place change.
Week 1
- Oct 1 · In a Hand the Clerk Can Read · 1897, the Carpathian foothills · 12 min
- Oct 2 · Two of Everything · Present day, a research station on the ice · 17 min
- Oct 3 · Counting Them Out · 1948, County Clare · 9 min
- Oct 4 · The Show Only Runs Once · 1954, a traveling carnival · 16 min
- Oct 5 · Nine Lives, All Spent · 1653, Massachusetts Bay Colony · 18 min
- Oct 6 · I Told You Three Times · Present day, an Aegean island · 16 min
- Oct 7 · Wrong Girl, Wrong Door · 1975, rural Texas · 18 min
Week 2
- Oct 8 · A Little Trouble in the Walls · 1544, outside Hildesheim · 15 min
- Oct 9 · Those Who Came After · 1923, an English estate · 23 min
- Oct 10 · The Low Road · 1799, the Hudson Valley · 15 min
- Oct 11 · Keep Your Hands Where the House Can See Them · 2003, Ohio · 19 min
- Oct 12 · Short a Partner · 1833, New Orleans · 19 min
- Oct 13 · He Walked Far Enough Away · 1918, Northern Ontario · 18 min
- Oct 14 · Stingy Jack’s Lantern · The Irish countryside, and long before · 19 min
Week 3
- Oct 15 · Full Measure · 1974, rural Minnesota · 17 min
- Oct 16 · He Keeps Good Time · A small town, any year · 17 min
- Oct 17 · Cut the Lines · 1830s, the North Atlantic · 16 min
- Oct 18 · Every Door in the House · 1962, an English manor · 22 min
- Oct 19 · Ground Worth More Than Food · 1996, South Texas · 17 min
- Oct 20 · Stone That Wasn’t Praying · 1400s, a French cathedral town · 16 min
- Oct 21 · Everything Wants Something Back · Present day, New England · 18 min
Week 4
- Oct 22 · A Coat That Did Not Fit · Victorian London · 22 min
- Oct 23 · Say It Again, Slow · 1994, Louisiana bayou country · 16 min
- Oct 24 · The One That Came Back Instead · 1810, the Welsh hills · 16 min
- Oct 25 · An Appointment Without a Date · 1665, London · 19 min
- Oct 26 · It Trades For It · 1950s, a New England fishing village · 19 min
- Oct 27 · A Thing Fed Late · 1986, Nebraska · 16 min
- Oct 28 · Not Ready for the Word · 1904, Prague · 18 min
The last three
- Oct 29 · Not Going Anywhere This Time · 1970s, an American suburb · 19 min
- Oct 30 · Whose · 1931, Bavaria · 20 min
- Oct 31 · October 31 · Present day, a small town · 26 min
Why a story a night works
October is supposed to be the scary month. For most of us it turns into a month of meaning to watch something frightening and ending up rewatching the same three movies.
A story a night fixes that. It’s short enough to fit around a workday, and building a habit is part of the pleasure. By the third week you’ll be looking forward to that last half hour before bed. By the last week you won’t need the calendar to remind you.
It also works well read aloud. Story 3, Counting Them Out, runs about nine minutes and is the best one to try that with.
Read along with other people
If you post about it, tag the night: #31NightsOfOctober. Tell me which story got to you. I’ll share favorites on the blog and on Facebook, and I read every reply.
The rules
1. One story a night.
2. Read it after dark if you can.
3. If a story tells you not to answer, don’t answer.
4. Save the last one for Halloween.
Get the free 31 Nights calendar →
Night 1 starts tomorrow. It’s a farmhouse in the Carpathian foothills in 1897, and a boy is throwing stones at a doctor’s shutters.
T. P. Grimbard
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Tomorrow night: What Was a Strigoi? Romania’s Restless Dead Before Dracula