Free Downloads Ghostly: A Collection Of Ghost Stories
Collected and introduced by the bestselling author of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry—including her own fabulous new illustrations for each piece, and a new story by Niffenegger—this is a unique and haunting anthology of some of the best ghost stories of all time.From Edgar Allen 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, with a particular bent toward 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. Niffenegger’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. 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.
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (October 6, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1501111191
ISBN-13: 978-1501111198
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.6 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #66,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #43 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Anthologies #388 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Ghosts #552 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories & Anthologies > Anthologies
Dark stormy nights. Creaky floorboards. Vampires. Werewolves. The Walking Dead. These are just some of the images we associate with Halloween season. Lovers of a good tale will fondly recall telling ghost stories while around a campfire or improvising at home with the lights out and only a flashlight for illumination. âTis the season for happy haunting and trying hard to scare each other.The literary equivalent of the Halloween season can be best experienced in the genre of short fiction. With GHOSTLY, author and illustrator Audrey Niffenegger (of THE TIME TRAVELERâS WIFE fame) has attempted to do her part by compiling a collection of classic and more recent short horror stories. Each tale shares a common theme: some sort of ghost or haunting at its heart."The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe is the first short story and has remained one of his most popular horror tales since its initial release in 1843. Using a cat as an agent of justice and a scourge of bullies ironically mirrors Poe's own life as he himself was the owner of a black cat as a pet. We spend time with other classic giants of horror and the unknown, like M.R. James and Edith Wharton. Niffenegger indicates that James wrote his stories with the intention that they be read aloud --- in classic campfire ghost story fashion.Authors more well known for classic literature are also included in this collection. Rudyard Kipling, Saki and P.G. Wodehouse are featured in contributions that range from the morose to the comical. Kipling's tale, "They," is a story he used to reflect his own feelings over the loss of his young daughter, Josephine.Modern writers also play a part in this creepy collection. Perhaps the best and one of the most effective tales here is Neil Gaiman's succinct short story, "Click Clack the Rattlebag," which does a nice job of sneaking up on you when you least expect it. A.S. Byatt's "The July Ghost" is a powerful story that was born of the grief she felt over the death of her 11-year-old son Charles, who was killed in a car accident.Other lesser known modern authors like Kelly Link and Amy Giacalone are featured here, and offer tales with a spooky babysitter and a group of odd miniature spirits, respectively. The book concludes with Bradbury's literal haunted house story, "August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains."Niffenegger provides a nice intro to each story, and her unique illustrations complete the package. GHOSTLY may not offer sleepless nights but definitely will creep into your psyche and go âbooâ as you move from one haunted tale to the next.Reviewed by Ray Palen
I received this ARC from NetGalley in return for a review.Audrey Niffenegger is an expert in the off-beat and creepy (see Her Fearful Symmetry), so it's only fitting that she bring together a collection a non-traditional ghost stories just in time for Halloween. Sure, it's got your standard work of Poe, but Niffenegger also includes stories from authors not normally known for hauntings, including P. G. Wodehouse, Edith Wharton and Ray Bradbury. This is a book that makes you rethink what constitutes a ghost stories, and whether hauntings are really scarier than what exists inside the human mind.
If you enjoy ghost stories, you will very much appreciate this collection. Audrey Niffenegger compiled this treasury, and each story contains an illustration and introduction by her, which is enough to make me love the book right there. However, it's also a wonderful collection of ghost stories from a wide variety of authors, some more modern and some quite old. Favorites include Niffenegger's own story, "A Secret Life with Cats," the classic Edgar Allen Pie tale "The Black Cat," and the delightful and whimsical "Honeysuckle Cottage" by P.G. Wodehouse (so fun!). If you are familiar with Niffenegger's love of the macabre and personal tastes, you will be prepared for a few selections that are REALLY out there, and this collection contains them, and a few of them and others are stories I could do without. Overall, though, this is a really great collection and a beautiful book in general. I love it and am so glad to have it to add to my Niffenegger collection.
The collection of stories are, for the most part, enjoyable. I read the entire book not skipping obscure stories that I found little interest in or in the end made absolutely no sense, even as fictionI think out of all the writings I found The Black Cat, Secret Life With Cats, Honeysuckle Cottage, Playmates, August 2026 and Kiplings "They" to be among the ones I enjoyed the most. Not sure why Ms Niffenegger should, in her introduction to Kiplings story, interject her ambivalence to Kiplings strong belief in empire and colonialism. Were it not for British colonislism we might not be here today and what does a writers convictions have to do with the quality of work presented to us?
I really enjoyed this collection of short spooky stories compiled by Audrey Niffenegger, one of my all time favorite authors. I loved that in addition to contemporary stories by both Audrey Niffenegger and the incomparable Neil Gaiman, there are also classic short stories as well. Short story collections can be kind of hit or miss for me, because it's hard to have a collection of short stories where every story hits it out of the park, but this one came close. It was a refreshing "break" from the more contemporary literary fiction I have been reading lately.
This collection contains stories old and new, with a mix of styles. Many are humorous; some dark. Few are actually scary. The stories are mostly low-key. I found the collection enjoyable on the whole, though my reactions to particular stories varied. A bonus of the collection is that it contains not only well-known authors, but also some people I'd never heard of, some of whose work I will look for in the future.
I'm not a huge horror buff. But I do enjoy stories that manage to be atmospheric and still manage to keep a clear story telling narrative at the forefront.This is a deft collection at exploring what is a scary story. Pushing boundaries some might say but for me delivering some solid entertaining reads that were also thoughtful. Even some of the classics here are chosen to fit a theme not just of the ghostly but what haunts the soul. Poignant and lingering at times.A good collection well worth adding to your shelves.
Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories True Ghost Stories & Tales of Hauntings. Stories of Ghosts & Demons.: True Ghost Stories True Ghost Stories and Hauntings: 10 Spine Chilling Accounts of True Ghost Stories and Hauntings, True Paranormal Reports and Haunted Houses The Haunted Ukulele: A Monster Collection of 59 Spooky Songs : Covering Disasters, Murder Ballads, Gruesome Tongue Twisters, Ghostly Rags, Depressing ... and more. (Ukulele Holiday) (Volume 1) A Ghostly Good Time: The Family Halloween Handbook Chicago Haunts: Ghostly Lore of the Windy City Ghostly Echoes: A Jackaby Novel Haunted Waverly Hills (Ghostly World Kids) How I Became A Ghost - A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story (Book 1 in the How I Became A Ghost Series) Ghost Racers (Secret Wars: Battleworld: Ghost Racers) Minecraft Kid's Stories, Book 2: A Collection of Great Minecraft Short Stories for Children, Minecraft Kid's Stories Scary Stories Box Set: Scary Stories, More Scary Stories, and Scary Stories 3 Magic Tree House Collection: Books 41-44: #41 Moonlight on the Magic Flute; #42 A Good Night for Ghosts; #43 Leprechaun in Late Winter; #44 A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time Foxfire 2: Ghost Stories, Spring Wild Plant Foods, Spinning and Weaving, Midwifing, Burial Customs, Corn Shuckin's, Wagon Making and More Affairs of Plain Living Collected Ghost Stories (Oxford World's Classics) The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories (Oxford Books of Prose & Verse) Ghost Summer: Stories The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories Ghost Stories of an Antiquary Ghost Stories of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Pinellas County:: Tales from a Haunted Peninsula (Haunted America)
