The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead, is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms. There are no stinkers here that shouldn’t have been included, but you will certainly find yourself remembering some morsels more fondly than others.A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. This will largely be a case of personal preference. Of course, as with any collection of short stories, or sketch shows, or bag of Revels, there are some that will hit the spot and some that won’t.
As fantasy and horror writer Christopher Golden rightly says in his introduction to the book, “It happens so rarely for a writer to pop up fully formed like this.” It isn’t necessary for a reader to be aware of Hill’s lineage to know that he is someone who understands and loves a good story, regardless of which genre it ‘belongs’ to. It’s this confidence in both his readership and his own ability that sets Joe Hill apart from many début authors, and makes it easy to see why the publisher give a chance to some kid with only a handful of short stories under his belt and not even a famous surname. Like Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott in Scream, who knows she shouldn’t go back inside the house but can’t see a better way to escape her situation, the choices that the central character makes build tension in a way that relies on the reader to provide many of their own scares. In some ways it is a classic horror story which depends on the reader’s knowledge of the genre’s tropes in order for it to be fully appreciated. On the other hand, the story that opens the book, Best New Horror, is a different kind of beast. A more detailed description of a short story would provide a disservice to the reader, but it is a sweet and wistful yarn about nostalgia, loss, and the movies. The (nearly) title story, 20th Century Ghost, is the tale of a young boy who, on a visit to his local cinema, sees a ghost. In genre terms, the stories here are a mixed bunch, ranging from adrenaline-pumping horror to character-driven drama.
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