Title: Ghosts of Christmas Past Writer: Various edited by Tim Martin Publishing House: John Murray Date of Publication: October 19th 2017 Rating: 5 stars ”And what a long night it is, out there beyond the warm rooms and the firelight. Don’t worry about the noises. Ignore the moving shapes. It’s time to step out. Turn…
Tag: Horror Fiction
Spectral Sounds
Title: Spectral Sounds: Unquiet Tales of Acoustic Weird Writer: Various edited by Manon Burz-Labrande Publishing House: British Library Publishing Date of Publication: September 22nd 2022 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Don’t you want to hear me speak my piece?’’ The Invisible Tenants of Rushmere (Florence Marryat): The young couple who rented Rushmere thought they had found the…
Minor Hauntings (Chilling Tales of Spectral Youth)
Title: Minor Hauntings: Chilling Tales of Spectral Youth Writer: Various edited by Jen Baker Publishing House: British Library Publishing Date of Publication: April 29th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Many years ago there stood at the corner of the street leading out of Upper Kennington – lane a great red-brick mansion, which one very wet evening,…
Classic Ghost Stories
Title: Classic Ghost Stories Writer: Various Publishing House: Vintage Classics Date of Publication: October 12th 2017 Rating: 5 stars ‘’If the picture within was bright and cheerful, the prospect was dreary enough without. The fairy forest of snow-wreathed trees, the white valleys and undulating banks of snow had vanished, and the rain dropped slowly and…
To Be Read at Dusk
Title: To Be Read at Dusk Writer: Charles Dickens Publishing House: Penguin Little Black Classics Date of Publication: March 3rd 2016 (first published 1852) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Τhe monstrous thought came into my mind as I perused the fixed eyes and the saturnine face, that this was a spirit, not a man.’’ Charles Dickens. The…
American Midnight
Title: American Midnight: Tales of the Dark Writer: Various, selected and introduced by Laird Hunt Publishing House: Pushkin Press Date of Publication: August 25th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’We have been put in the mood for ghosts, that evening.’’ The Eyes, Edith Wharton As this year’s summer approaches with remarkable hesitation, a different time for ghost stories begins. Ghost stories…
The Book Collector
Title: The Book Collector Writer: Alice Thompson Publishing House: Salt Publishing Date of Publication:November 5th 2015 Rating:5 stars ”Once I have owned a book I am longing for the next one. Collecting is a creative act. One of perpetual longing and desire. One is never fully fulfilled. Collections live in dread of satisfaction. There is that brief,…
Christmas Ghost Stories
Title: Christmas Ghost Stories Writer: Various Publishing House:The Folio Society Date of Publication: 2005 ”This ae nighte, this ae nighte, Every nighte and alle, Fire and fleet and candle-lighte, And Christe receive thy saule.” Lyke Wake Drige Lament Christmas is arguably the jolliest time of the year. Lights everywhere, bright ornaments, laughing children singing beautiful carols. Ages-old traditions…
Halloween Reads
Oh, it’s THAT time of the year again! Carved pumpkins staring at us with their mischievous smiles shining in the dark, orange-gold and red leaves and lights, children dressed as ghosts and witches, super exciting decorations providing excuses for us lovers of the Gothic aesthetics to fill our house with skulls and brooms and coffins….
The Exorcist
Title: The Exorcist Writer: William Peter Blatty Publishing House: HarperTorch Date of Publication: February 1st 1994 (first published June 1971) Rating: 5 stars Obligatory classic poster -best in the History of cinema- photo is coming: The trip may be disturbing…Ye have been warned… Strange as it may seem, the first time I watched the film version of ”The Exorcist” was three years…
Chinese Ghost Stories
Title: Chinese Ghost Stories: Curious Tales of the Supernatural Writer: Lafcadio Hearn Publishing House: Tuttle Publishing Date of Publication: September 10th 2011 (first published 1887) Rating: 4 stars “You will ask me who she was-beautiful Xue Tao…Gor thousands of years and even longer, the trees have been whispering over her stony bed. And the syllables of her name reach…
The Ghosts (The Amazing Mr Blunden)
Title: The Ghosts (The Amazing Mr Blunden) Writer: Antonia Barber Publishing House: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Date of Publication: January 1st 1969 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Perhaps the strangest thing about the old gentleman was his upright walking, unbothered by the freezing raindrops.’’ Every summer, I revisit favourite books of my childhood. Most of them are children’s mysteries or…
Dead Ends: Stories from the Gothic South
Title:Dead Ends: Stories from the Gothic South Writer: Edite by J.T. Ellison Publishing House: Two Tales Press Date of Publication: September 28th 2017 Rating: 4 stars “It had been during the Autumn Awakening, a yearly festival when the town sets out candles and candy corn, filling the air with the scents of burning leaves and pumpkin-spiced everything. A…
Burnt Offerings
Title: Burnt Offerings Writer: Robert Marasco Publishing House: Valancourt Books Date of Publication: March 17th 2015 (first published 1973) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Drive by the house you’re interested in at night, I say. Watch the windows. See if anybody’s watching for you there. And then drive home with the dome light on, and check that back seat as often…
Fir
Title: Fir Writer: Sharon Gosling Publishing House: Stripes Publishing Date of Publication: February 9th 2017 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Once you’ve been out here for a while, you can see them. You can see them all. We have been out here for a long, long while.’’ The fir tree is a symbol in a distinctive array of cultures. In Celtic Mythology,…
The Winter People
Title: The Winter People Writer: Jennifer McMahon Publishing House: Anchor Date of Publication: February 11th 2014 Rating: 3 stars “Sometimes they’re angry. They hate being stuck.” This was one of my most anticipated scheduled reads for the year. It felt appropriate for the beginning of the winter, since November calls for stories with supernatural twists. The title and…
The Daylight Gate
Title: The Daylight Gate Writer: Jeanette Winterson Publishing House: Hammer Date of Publication: August 16th 2012 Rating: 5 stars (The beautiful city of Lancaster -image source: https://www.ilh.com/countries/england/lancashire) ‘’Stand on the flat top of Pendle Hill and you can see everything of the county of Lancashire. Some say you can see other things too. This is a haunted place. The living and…
The Halloween Children
Title: The Halloween Children Writer: Brian James Freeman & Norman Prentiss Publishing House: Earthling Publications Date of Publication: October 2014 Rating: 3 stars “If my jokes had anything to do with what happened to our family that Halloween, I’m really sorry. I wish I could take it all back.” When you behave as if your children are idiots, when you…
Haunted Nights…
Title: Haunted Nights Writer: A Horror Writers Association Anthology edited by Elen Datlow and Lisa Morton Publishing House: Anchor Books Publication Date: October 3rd 2017 Rating: 5 stars “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?” “With graveyard weeds and wolfsbane seeds, and empty graves all in a row.” Who would pass a book entitled Haunted Nights? Would you…
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