By Wizard Oak

Long on weird phenomena but short on explanations, this Halloween fantasia from PS Publishing founder Crowther (Windows to the Soul) sketches an imaginative, puzzling portrait of a small Maine town under siege from malignant supernatural forces. The day before Halloween, Magellan Bend is suddenly teeming with beings in traditional witch garb who ravenously consume random locals not only in body but in the memories of their friends and relatives. After providing a lengthy, panoramic view of the chaos and mayhem, Crowther sends deliverance in the person of Jeremy DePlage, a hospital patient newly awakened from an eight-year coma that rendered him immune to the witches' memory wipes. The loose plotting of this slender horror tale will challenge impatient readers, but those who care more about atmospheric writing will enjoy the creepy chills. (Feb.)