Halloween Week: Ghost Stories Deck by S.E. Schlosser (illustrated by Paul Hoffman)

We've all been there. You're at a Halloween party, or some other equally spooky occasion, and somebody asks for a scary story. Everybody looks at you, and you draw a blank! You can't even remember how the story about the hook goes, let alone some terrifying tale that your audience hasn't heard before.

Well, never again. Not with the Ghost Stories Deck. Just shuffle the deck, draw one of the 50 flash cards, and you're the life of the party again (even if it's just a party of one)!

OK, maybe not, but author S.E. Schlosser and illustrator Paul Hoffman have certainly assembled an interesting novelty: an actual deck of cards, each one containing an entire spooky story on front and back. The 50 stories in the Ghost Stories Deck are culled from the duo's series of books entitled Spooky Stories, and each one is rated on a skull system according to its potential scariness. (Though of course how scary they are to you and yours will depend on the individual.)

The stories themselves aren't always written out in the most effectively frightening manner. ("Don't Turn on the Light" perhaps comes closest.) But the pieces are all there for aspiring storytellers to make the tale their own and tell it in a manner that suits their audience, whether around a campfire, at a slumber party, or any other gathering where the call arises for a spooky tale told well. (And, in case you need a refresher, the Ghost Stories Deck also includes the one about the hook.)