West Lothian Writers have celebrated Halloween with an annual writing challenge since 2013. This collection is just a few of the spine tingling, creepy or down right silly, short stories and poems our members have crafted for the holiday. Read on, if you dare.

Waverley is a small cat with a big miaow and he lives with Mr and MrsTurner and their son Jonathan at number 10, Marten's Drive.Waverley likes the house at number 10, Marten's Drive because it haslots of good places to sleep and a back garden that seems to go onforever. Beyond the wooden fence at the bottom of the garden there isa children's playground, green fields, and then the woods. All daylong Waverley snoozes in the sunny spots around the ho...

It looked bleak and predictable for little Keelen Mailman: an alcoholic mother, absent father, the horrors of regular sexual and physical assault and the casual racism of a small outback town in the sixties. But somehow, despite the pain and deprivation, the lost education, she managed to absorb her mother's lessons: her Bidjara language and culture, her obligations to Country, and her loyalty to her family.So it was no surprise to some that a girl who could hide for a year in her ...

**The Accidental Medium is the first book in a hilarious series from Tracy Whitwell featuring Tanz, the accidental medium who, with the help of the dead, is about to become an unwilling crime-solver.'Spooky and hilarious and brimming with oddball characters, I love this book!' – Mandasue Heller**Tanz is a wine-loving, straight-talking, once-successful TV actress from Gateshead, whose career has shrivelled like an antique walnut. She is still grieving for her friend...

It’s 1967. The world is rocking, and Neil is growing up fast.I have this annoying problem that gives me a lot of trouble: a conscience.Neil Bridges attends a Catholic boys’ school in which teachers rule with iron fists and thick leather straps. Some crumble under the pressure but Neil toughs it out, just as his Vietnam-bound older brother has done before him. He has to be a man, after all. But at sixteen, how can he be sure of himself when he’s not...

WINNER OF THE JOHN LLEWELLYN RHYS MEMORIAL PRIZE'Her art is ignited by voice, as you hear it, is unquestionable' ALI SMITH, GUARDIAN'Distinctive, pared-down style' DAVID EVANS, INDEPENDENT**'Unflinching look at the lives of working-class women' DAILY MAILNell Dunn's scenes of London life, as it was lived in the early Sixties in the industrial slums of Battersea, h...

'Okay, okay. So stick my head in a holly bush . . .'Tuffy, the Killer Cat, knows what he likes. And he isn't loving the 'art' that Ellie's mum brings home from her new class! So what's a cat to do . . .Mischief and mayhem rule in Anne Fine's brilliant new story, with hilarious illustrations by Steve Cox throughout. Perfect for developing readers aged 5–7.

From the creator of viral Tiktok sensation, Mammy Banter, comes a hilarious warts-and-all novel about modern motherhood – and how having it all sometimes isn’t what you think it might be.She used to want it all.Now she just wants a nap.Tara Gallagher is knackered. She used to dream of being Beyoncé but suddenly she’s thirty-six – with three kids, a loving husband, a very boring job – and instead of headlinin...

It was my birthday. How was I supposed to know it wouldn't be the only party around town on that dark and dreary Halloween night?So things ended up in a bit of a mess. (Well, more than a mess, really. A complete disaster.) But it was not my fault so don't blame me . . .Another laugh-out-loud Killer Cat adventure, by the award-winning and celebrated Anne Fine. Perfect for readers of 7+.

Humour, gender, sexuality, sensuality, identity, racism, cultural difference: when do any of these things ever come together to equal poetry? When Jackie Kay's part of the equation. Darling brings together into a vibrant new book many favourite poems from her four Bloodaxe collections, "The Adoption Papers", "Other Lovers", "Off Colour" and "Life Mask", as well as featuring new work, some previously uncollected poems, and some lively poetry for younger readers. Kay's poems draw on her own ...

"Fans of Griffiths, Gleitzman and Jennings will be thrilled to have this in their collection." Kids Book ReviewI'm Tom Weekly. You think you've made mistakes? I've made more.Every single word in this book is true. I do know someone with the worst case of nits in history. Stella Holling used chocolate to trick me into kissing her again. My sister, Tanya, truly is an evil genius. And as weird as it sounds, I really did ask Jack to help me mine my teeth for ...

A perennial favourite."Charming, wry, and believable." — Quill & QuireRiel Nason’s novel The Town That Drowned debuted in 2011 to glowing reviews and a flurry of awards, including a Commonwealth Book Prize. Nason’s evocation of the awkwardness of childhood, the thrill of first love, and the importance of having a place to call home made the novel an instant classic. Now in celebration of its 10th anniversary, The Town That Drowned ...