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20th Century Ghost
Summary
This e-short story from the New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Horns now features an excerpt from Joe Hill’s novel The Fireman.
Imogene is young and beautiful. She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945. . . .
Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town. . . .
Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. . . .
John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead. . . .
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Reviews
This is a book of short stories, some horror, some fantasy, some a combination. Some of the stories include: a young Van Helsing, a movie theatre ghost, a boy who wakes up one morning having turned into a bug, two brothers ? the younger a savant who builds cardboard box mazes, an inflatable boy, a very reclusive horror writer, a basement with an old nonworking phone that rings, an odd museum, a boy who can actually fly while wearing his cape, and more.I really enjoyed most of these stories. Collections of short stories often end up ok for me, with a mix of liking some stories and not liking others. I don?t think there were any I disliked in this collection, and most I really liked. Many of the stories don?t quite ?end?? with more of a leave-it-up-to-your-imagination kind of thing, which can be extra-creepy with horror stories! I have had ?The ants go marching one-by-one...? going through my head since I finished the book (it played a role in one of the last stories).
Hill's collection of short stories if a phenomenal and varied collection. With a combination of eeriness, supernatural turns, and characters or plots which are simply dark (and all too believable), the collection moves from moment to moment like a beautifully twisted roller coaster. Hill's writing brings each of them to life in turn, and it's difficult to put down the collection at any point. Unlike so many collections where themes and characters seem to be repeated in different settings or times, Hill's work is so varied that each story seems to present its own universe, and Hill's talent is undeniable in each one.Absolutely recommended.
I enjoyed 20th Century Ghost. I liked all the creepy, quirky, scary short stories. The stories are full of suspense with a high creep factor. All the characters were rich and believable. Great creepy book!
Sorry to say that this is NOT one of Joe's better novels. Just could not grasp the stories...
This was really great. Some imaginative supernatural stories and some really good slice of life stories.
Best New Horror - Okay. I would have liked to see the story expanded and continued.
20th Century Ghost - Really good. A nice, but still creepy, "love" story for horror buffs.
Pop Art - The best short story that I have ever read. Can't go into too many details without giving away spoilers.
You Will Hear the Locust Sing - Nice story with a 1950s "giant monster" movie feel.
Abraham's Boys - Nice "continuing" tale of Van Helsing from Dracula. Good ending.
Better Than Home - Eh, sucked.
The Black Phone - Another fine, scary story. I feel like Joe Hill, at this point, already does short stories better than his dad.
In the Rundown - Okay at best.
The Cape - My third fav after Pop Art. Gave me the chills.
Last Breath - Very chilling. I would love to see this made into a tv show of some sort.
Dead-Wood - Could have saved some trees and done without this one.
The Widow's Breakfast - The daughter's were creepy. Would have liked just a story about them.
Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead - Eh. One of my least favorite. Seems to just remind the reader that Joe Hill grew up being Stephen King's son.
My Father's Mask - WOW. If I hadn't already read Pop Art, then this would be my fav short story. Simply amazing.
Voluntary Committal - Nice build up of dread as the story went along, but I felt it was a little dragged out.
20th Century Ghost - Really good. A nice, but still creepy, "love" story for horror buffs.
Pop Art - The best short story that I have ever read. Can't go into too many details without giving away spoilers.
You Will Hear the Locust Sing - Nice story with a 1950s "giant monster" movie feel.
Abraham's Boys - Nice "continuing" tale of Van Helsing from Dracula. Good ending.
Better Than Home - Eh, sucked.
The Black Phone - Another fine, scary story. I feel like Joe Hill, at this point, already does short stories better than his dad.
In the Rundown - Okay at best.
The Cape - My third fav after Pop Art. Gave me the chills.
Last Breath - Very chilling. I would love to see this made into a tv show of some sort.
Dead-Wood - Could have saved some trees and done without this one.
The Widow's Breakfast - The daughter's were creepy. Would have liked just a story about them.
Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead - Eh. One of my least favorite. Seems to just remind the reader that Joe Hill grew up being Stephen King's son.
My Father's Mask - WOW. If I hadn't already read Pop Art, then this would be my fav short story. Simply amazing.
Voluntary Committal - Nice build up of dread as the story went along, but I felt it was a little dragged out.
Some of these stories creeped me out completely. Others reminded me of the wonderment and disquieting feelings that some of Ray Bradbury's stories used to awaken in me.
I just finished a disappointing collection of short stories, so I had some trepidation about diving into another collection immediately afterward. To compound my reservations, I'm not generally a fan of horror. Thanks Joe Hill. I had read his debut novel Heart Shaped Box a year or two ago and thought it was decent. Not good enough to rush out and buy his next effort, but good enough to keep him in mind. If the introduction had been reversed and this was the first book I read from Hill, I'd be carrying Heart Shaped Box in my bag right now. Hill writes well. However, he tells a story even better. His writing isn't one note either. He does horror, he does mystery, he even does a little drama. Plus, he does horror. He offers a little over-the-top horror, but he also offers the Hitchcock-style psychological teases as well. Well-worth the read and a perfect book to engulf over Halloween weekend.
20th Century Ghost-Joe HillI'm not quite sure what to say here. Well,I take that back, there is a lot I want to say about this book. First of all, Joe Hill, what happened? I expected a book full of “ghost” stories, or at least “scary” stories, but what I ended up reading was a few good scary stories, and a bunch of stuff to fill pages in a book. I tried to give you some credit, being a Boston author, and throwing in some Boston humor, but even that couldn't componsate for the majority of the stories that, I'm not quite sure,had anything to do with a ghost story.I will give credit to the truly scary “ghost” stories as being really good. Unfortunatly, they were outnumbered by stories that could have been written by fifth graders given a creative writing assignment. A couple of stories could have been written by college freshman who have not learned that it is quality that makes a story, not quanitiy of pages. I was bored out of my mind at stories that wouldn't end, and left scratching my head, wondering why some of the stories were even in the book. Overall, it was pretty dissapointing, because there was some good stuff in it...buried.
The King's have began a true literary dynasty. Stephen, Tabitha, and their son Joe Hill are the king, queen and prince of horror and this book proves that claim.
I picked this up because one of my favorite authors, Christopher Golden, wrote the intro. He does horror really, really well, so if he liked it, then surely I would, too.I thought it was better than the last collection of short stories I read, but not as good as Hill's full-length novel (Heart-Shaped Box). Hill provides a pretty broad spectrum of horror stories, some of them being so subtle that it takes a reread to find the horror. I can see why Golden likes it; Golden and Hill share a similar brand of horror. It isn't just things jumping out and yelling "Boo!" - it's the slow, creeping chill when things start to go wrong.Although some of the stories just fell flat for me, I did especially like the title story and the longer novella at the end, Voluntary Committal.
20th Century Ghosts consists of fifteen stories by Joe Hill. Although generally enjoyable, some of these stories fell flat while others were real gems. Hill definitely demonstrates skill as a writer. Some of the stories just didn't connect with me. Among the ones that really stood out were "Voluntary Committal" where Morris Lerner, an idiot savant kind of character who builds crazy mazes out of boxes and uses it to get rid of his older brother's friend, a villainous character who had it coming. Another is "Abraham's Boys" about descendants of Van Helsing. A very solid collection of short stories that is worth reading.Carl Alves - author of Blood Street
Rating: 4.5 of 520th Century Ghosts WOWed me! I loved Hill's take on "ghosts." I loved that the collection included horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and mainstream fiction. But what I loved most was that I could (can) still remember all 16 stories (there was one hidden in the Acknowledgments), and there were only two I didn't like. Frequent readers of short stories know how rare that is.Hands down my absolute favorite of the collection was My Father's Mask. After I finished it I sat dazed for about 15 minutes. Then I just sat there, staring at the wall, and thought about it for another 30 minutes. Finally I had to consult the Net to see if others reacted the same way. Sure enough, I was not alone. I'll be thinking about this story for I don't know how many days (weeks? years?) to come.Best New Horror was pure fun, and a warning to all us horror nuts who think we'd never end up like one of those characters. HA! Voluntary Committal, The Black Phone, The Cape - all equally creepy and brilliant.Highly recommended to fans of psychological horror and/or great storytelling. If you're looking for tons of BOO! in your face scares or a splatterfest, skip this one for now, but come back to it when you want something deeper and, at times, more frightening.
Excellent collection of short stories. Everything from the mundane to the creepy to the gory to just plain weird. Something for everyone. Good times.
I love a good ghost story! Joe Hill's last book, THE HEART SHAPED BOX was just that - a great ghost story. This compilation of short stories, sadly, not so much. It contained a few memorable stories like "Abraham's Sons" and "The Inflatable Boy". As much as I enjoyed them, even they were not true ghost stories. But, that is the nature of a book of short stories, something for everyone.
I really enjoyed this short story collection. As with most collections, I liked some stories better than others - but I have to give props to the author for his creativity/originality with all of them. Personally, my favorites include: Best New Horror - an editor trying to track down the author of a unique horror story. I particularly enjoyed the way it ended.20th Century Ghosts - a somewhat sad story about a haunted movie theater Pop Art - a unique tale about a boy and his best friend, who happens to be inflatedLast Breath - a museum of last breaths (predictable ending, but a unique concept!)Voluntary Committal - what might happen when a cardboard fort becomes something more... Many of the stories do not actually fit the horror genre, so if you aren't big into horror, this is still a worthwhile gem to pick up. I admit, I did notice that all of the stories in the edition I checked out were all male narratives, if that sort of thing bothers you.
After reading Heart Shaped Box, I really wanted to pick this book up as well.The short stories included are:Best New Horror, 20th Century Ghost, Pop Art, You Will Hear The Locust Sing, Abraham's Boys, Better Than Home, The Black Phone, In The Rundown, The Cape, Last Breath, Dead-Wood, The Widow's Breakfast, Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead, My Father's Mask and Voluntary Committal.I enjoyed reading 20th Century Ghosts. Not all the stories were scary, some were just strange...kind of like something you might see on the The Twilight Zone.
Creepy stories! Favorites are; "You Will Hear the Locusts Sing", in which a teenage boy wakes up as a giant locust; "The Cape", where a child's blanket becomes more than a comforter; and "Last Breath", about an unusual museum holding nothing but bottles of dying people's last breaths.
A collection of short stories.
Although none of the stories can be considered full-blown horror, all have disturbing or scary elements. Although some of the stories have gore all still feel they are scary and disturbing more by suggestion than because of the outright gore. Also, the setting of the stories are every-day and normal which might contribute to making them even more disturbing.
I liked most of the stories, some could be better if they would have been longer. Many end abrupt, which I don't really like.
Although none of the stories can be considered full-blown horror, all have disturbing or scary elements. Although some of the stories have gore all still feel they are scary and disturbing more by suggestion than because of the outright gore. Also, the setting of the stories are every-day and normal which might contribute to making them even more disturbing.
I liked most of the stories, some could be better if they would have been longer. Many end abrupt, which I don't really like.
If it was possible, I would give this 4.5 stars! It has a nice mix of sad, bittersweet and deliciously dark and creepy stories. Not every tale was a hit but overall I think it's a great collection.
Definitely like the longer novels better, but the story "Pop Art" makes the entire collection worth checking out.
Good enough, just not that in to short stories. If you like them, then this is a solid collection.
I first heard of Joe Hill after winning a bundle of used hardcovers on Ebay. Among the books in the lot were several King, some limited edition Laymon, a Straub or two, and two first editions by an author of which I had never heard. Heart Shaped Box and 20th Century Ghosts were in fantastic condition, and seemed to have never been read. I threw these two books on my shelf and forgot all about them. Later that year, I found a book at my local BAM entitled Horns. The premise piqued my interest, so I bought the hardcover, devoured it over the course of three days, and then went to place the book on my shelf in alphabetic order by author. Low and behold, I laid eyes on two other books by the same writer, the aforementioned ones I'd won in the bundle, which I had forgotten all about. It wasn't until I finished Heart Shaped Box (which was in slightly less perfect condition in comparison to 20th Century Ghosts) and went in search of more Joe Hill goodness on Amazon that I found out that Hill is Stephen King's son. Surprise, surprise! The following year, Hill released NOS4A2 and cemented his place as one of my new favorite authors. Still, I hadn't read 20th Century Ghosts. You may be asking yourself why, and the answer is one that all book collectors can sympathize with: my hardcover copy is a first edition AND it is in pristine condition. I wouldn't crack that book open if you put a gun to my head. But I had to read it, of course I did, so I bought the ebook and added the audio book as a companion purchase. And let me tell you, the audio book is the way to go.
Notes on the Audible Edition: David Ledoux has a unique narrative voice. Every story herein is worth a read, but David's narration gives them that little something extra that just makes 'em pop. On the down side, the music, while thoroughly creepy, was produced at an entirely different volume than the spoken word. I had to turn down my device every time a story ended for fear of rupturing my ear drums when the musical intro for the next story began. Other than that, I recommend the Audible version.
Now, I will not be reviewing each and every story because they're all above average. I will warn that some of these tales have no ending. They are not open endings, or bad ending, but the stories of which I speak are completely devoid of any closing scene. They simply STOP. A perfect example of this is the opener, "Best New Horror", which is also one of the best stories in the collection. My absolute favorite story in the collection is "Pop Art", and that's because of the sheer originality of the tale. Going into 20th Century Ghosts, I knew nothing about "Pop Art", and I hope you have the same option. Even giving you a brief, vague synopsis would ruin the experience, so I will move on. Other notable tales are "20th Century Ghost", "The Black Phone", "The Cape" (which has one of the best endings I've ever read where short stories are concerned), and the uber imaginative "Voluntary Committal". The only story I disliked was "Abraham's Boys". Hill tried too damn hard to breathe new life into overused, out-of-date characters, and it resulted in the book's only failure. That one story slowed the book down and gummed up the collection's works so badly I was compelled to knock off a full star from the overall rating. Yes, it was that bad. If I had to rate "Abraham's Boys" on its own, I would give it two stars. Everything else gets fours and fives.
You should know that these are not short stories; not technically anyway. Hill suffers the same what-ails-him as his father. Neither man seems to grasp the concept of "short", but they write so damn well that you barely notice that their outings are more along the line of novelettes and novellas than they are short stories.
In summation: A terrific collection of longer short stories, and far more literary in scope than your average horror anthology. If you're a fan of Stephen King's Skeleton Crew or Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors, you should enjoy 20th Century Ghosts.
(A Note to Completionists: Hill hides a short story in the afterward, so make sure you don't skip the acknowledgment section. You're welcome.)
Notes on the Audible Edition: David Ledoux has a unique narrative voice. Every story herein is worth a read, but David's narration gives them that little something extra that just makes 'em pop. On the down side, the music, while thoroughly creepy, was produced at an entirely different volume than the spoken word. I had to turn down my device every time a story ended for fear of rupturing my ear drums when the musical intro for the next story began. Other than that, I recommend the Audible version.
Now, I will not be reviewing each and every story because they're all above average. I will warn that some of these tales have no ending. They are not open endings, or bad ending, but the stories of which I speak are completely devoid of any closing scene. They simply STOP. A perfect example of this is the opener, "Best New Horror", which is also one of the best stories in the collection. My absolute favorite story in the collection is "Pop Art", and that's because of the sheer originality of the tale. Going into 20th Century Ghosts, I knew nothing about "Pop Art", and I hope you have the same option. Even giving you a brief, vague synopsis would ruin the experience, so I will move on. Other notable tales are "20th Century Ghost", "The Black Phone", "The Cape" (which has one of the best endings I've ever read where short stories are concerned), and the uber imaginative "Voluntary Committal". The only story I disliked was "Abraham's Boys". Hill tried too damn hard to breathe new life into overused, out-of-date characters, and it resulted in the book's only failure. That one story slowed the book down and gummed up the collection's works so badly I was compelled to knock off a full star from the overall rating. Yes, it was that bad. If I had to rate "Abraham's Boys" on its own, I would give it two stars. Everything else gets fours and fives.
You should know that these are not short stories; not technically anyway. Hill suffers the same what-ails-him as his father. Neither man seems to grasp the concept of "short", but they write so damn well that you barely notice that their outings are more along the line of novelettes and novellas than they are short stories.
In summation: A terrific collection of longer short stories, and far more literary in scope than your average horror anthology. If you're a fan of Stephen King's Skeleton Crew or Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors, you should enjoy 20th Century Ghosts.
(A Note to Completionists: Hill hides a short story in the afterward, so make sure you don't skip the acknowledgment section. You're welcome.)
The King's have began a true literary dynasty. Stephen, Tabitha, and their son Joe Hill are the king, queen and prince of horror and this book proves that claim.
The title couldn't be more accurate, because these stories all feature characters that are haunted--haunted by their pasts, by inner demons, by troubled childhoods, and horrible secrets. Identity seems to be the common theme that connects these stories--how do we decide who we are? Is it a gift (or a curse) from our families? Do we decide ourselves who we are? Do we embrace our secret self (You Will Hear the Locust Sing, The Cape), do we run from it (Best New Horror), do we hide from it (Voluntary Committal)? Are we predetermined to become our parents (My Father's Mask)?
Joe Hill displays incredible talent in this book. NOTE: Many of the stories feature threatened children. If this sort of thing bothers you, stay away.
Joe Hill displays incredible talent in this book. NOTE: Many of the stories feature threatened children. If this sort of thing bothers you, stay away.
Joe Hill is without a doubt one of the best Dark Fiction authors. And 20th Century Ghosts is really a showcase for just how much talent Hill has as a writer. I wouldn?t call this collection of short stories Horror per se, the stories are much too bizarre for that label. I would characterize this more abstractly as a short story collection from a macabre and twisted imagination that makes Stephen King?s work down right normal. With Hill perfectly ordinary events and people are twisted to elicit a reaction. Very few supernatural elements are used to set up the moment of shock. Hill isn?t the first author to try this in the Horror genre but he has quickly mastered the technique. He has a way of twisting the mundane into the surreal without going too far with the premise to make it an outlandish parody. My one knock on the collection of stories, and it?s a pretty big knock, is that the endings are so flat. Really great writing is rendered dull by some of the most predictable and uninspired closings I?ve ever read in the horror genre. It?s really too bad because Joe Hill can do so much better. My advice is to buy the Kindle singles with the highest ratings to get a taste of the very best Joe Hill has to offer. It?ll be less expensive than buying the collection.
This was a high 3 for me, almost a 4 but I just felt too let down by a couple of the stories in here to go full 4. It was a good collection though.
I actually finished a book. My god, that was one hell of a reading slump and hope it's over for good.
This was a good read, thanks for getting me to read it Rusty! There were a couple of stories in here that I really loved, and then several that I was just meh about, only one I actively disliked. Some of the stories felt like sketches more than full blown stories. I appreciated the variety though, sometimes a single author anthology can be too much of a muchness, you start to feel like you are reading the same story over and over. Definitely didn't happen here.
Warning for those who are sensitive to violence and body parts, there are some. Also some of the protagonists are pretty mysogynistic, although I don't think the author could write about them with such clear eyed observation if he was so himself.
Warning for those who are sensitive to violence and body parts, there are some. Also some of the protagonists are pretty mysogynistic, although I don't think the author could write about them with such clear eyed observation if he was so himself.
I find that short story collections are difficult for me to get into because the presence of ?awesomeness? has a habit of being severely lacking in at least half of the content, making the overall reading experience a not-so-great one. Not the case with 20th Century Ghosts! This collection was great in that every story was unique and completely enjoyable. All the stories have a supernatural, almost Twlight Zone-y element and a tone of childhood/teen angst- and I?m a big one for angst. Some of the stories were also surprisingly touching, pulling a bit on the heart strings but without over doing it. I am definitely going to be reading more by Mr. Hill. I wish the book was 5 times longer. I laughed, I cried, it was better than CATS.