Description
Book SynopsisImogene is young, beautiful, kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She''s also dead, the legendary ghost of the Rosebud Theater.
Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with a head full of big ideas and a gift for getting his ass kicked. It''s hard to make friends when you''re the only inflatable boy in town. Francis is unhappy, picked on; he doesn''t have a life, a hope, a chance. Francis was human once, but that''s behind him now. John Finney is in trouble. The kidnapper locked him in a basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. With him, in his subterranean cell, is an antique phone, long since disconnected...but it rings at night, anyway, with calls from the dead...
Meet these and a dozen more, in 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS, irresistible, addictive fun showcasing a dazzling new talent.
Trade ReviewEach of these chilling tales arrests you from the opening sentence and leads you - trustingly, thanks to the simple mastery of the story-teller - into a place of gulping fear. * DAILY MAIL *
[An] inventive collection . . . brave and astute. * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW *
Hill's best stories veer away from the well-trodden creep shows and back alleys of genre writing into more dangerous territory: suburban basements, ball fields and schoolyards. * WASHINGTON POST *
Hill's stories are visceral and nasty in places, but never gratuitous. The collection as a whole is polished and well written. Even the most macabre themes are handled exceptionally well, so one story ever feels exploitative or trashy. Joe Hill is definitely one to watch. -- Ross Sutcliffe * SCI-FI NOW *
Fully developed characters with complex emotional lives enhance the 14 stories in Joe Hill's extraordinary collection ... There's not a false note or disappointing effort in this volume. * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *
The collection of short stories ranges from creepy to sweet, with an impressive arsenal of tactics to attack your psyche. * BOSTON GLOBE *
[Hill] displays consummate skill in a variety of genres . . . Amusing, moving, horrifying-Ghosts runs the full spectrum. * USA TODAY *
Alternately sad, scary, strange and at times even sweet, these tales will haunt you long after you've read them. * PARADE *
One of the best [horror] collections of the year. Hill is a relative newcomer who consistently creates creepy, very disturbing stories * LOCUS *
The selections range from the mundane to the surreal, with a strong emphasis on the kind of horror tale perfected by Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub and Stephen King. * SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE *
Hill's stories are visceral and nasty in places, but never gratuitous. The collection as a whole is polished and well written. Even the most macabre themes are handled exceptionally well, so one story ever feels exploitative or trashy. Joe Hill is definitely one to watch. -- SCI-FI NOW * Ross Sutcliffe *
