By Attention storytellers: Do you enjoy spinning a spine-chilling story on a Halloween night? We have just the forum for you - the Town Crier.

For the second straight year, the Town Crier is featuring a collection of Halloween stories from you. We received great stories last year and expect them to be even better in 2001. We are awarding first-, second and third-place honors to the authors. First-place winners will receive a prize.

Here are the guidelines: Stories should be no longer than approximately 400 words. Subject matter is wide open, and while the story doesn’t have to be scary, it shouldn’t be gory or in bad taste.

Send your stories by Oct. 25 to editor Bruce Barton at 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022; or by e-mail to bruceb@latc.com. Artwork accompanying the story is welcome but optional. We will run as many stories as we can in our Oct. 31 Halloween issue.

May the scariest storyteller win.