Ghostly
A Collection of Ghost Stories
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Collected and introduced by the bestselling author of The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry--including Audrey Niffenegger's own fabulous new illustrations for each piece, and a new story by her--this is a unique and haunting anthology of some of the best ghost stories of all time.
From Edgar Allan Poe to Kelly Link, M.R. James to Neil Gaiman, H.H. Munro to Audrey Niffenegger herself, Ghostly reveals the evolution of the ghost story genre with tales going back to the eighteenth century and into the modern era, ranging across styles from Gothic Horror to Victorian, stories about haunting--haunted children, animals, houses. Every story is introduced by Audrey Niffenegger, an acclaimed master of the craft, with some words on its background and why she chose to include it. Audrey's own story is "A Secret Life With Cats."
Perfect for the classic and contemporary ghost story aficionado, this is a delightful volume, beautifully illustrated by Audrey, who is a graphic artist with great vision. Ghostly showcases the best of the best in the field, including Edith Wharton, P.G. Wodehouse, A.S. Byatt, Ray Bradbury, and so many more.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife) assembles ghostly fictions by writers both classic (Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, M.R. James) and recent (Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, A.S. Byatt) in this strong but sometimes uneven anthology. Felines feature prominently in Poe's "The Black Cat" as well as in Niffenegger's own contribution, "Secret Life, with Cats." Humor is provided by P.G. Wodehouse's hilarious "Honeysuckle Cottage" and Amy Giacalone's "Tiny Ghosts," which introduces an irrepressible new voice. Writers who experience ghostly encounters are examined in the longest story, Oliver Onions's "The Beckoning Fair One," and Rebecca Curtis's self-consciously postmodern "The Pink House." The final story, Ray Bradbury's postapocalyptic classic "There Will Come Soft Rains," astonishingly anticipates today's smart-house technology and tells the haunting story of a house that is itself a ghost. Niffenegger includes crisp introductions that provide context, such as that both Rudyard Kipling's "They" and Byatt's "The July Ghost" were written in response to experiencing the death of a child. Some of the older stories are more musty than scary, but the best, such as Gaiman's very short "Click-Clack the Rattlebag," do an excellent job of evoking that crucial frisson of dread.
