From the New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Horns comes this e-short story--from Joe Hill's award-winning collection 20th Century Ghosts.
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. . . .
About the Author :
Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels (King Sorrow, The Fireman, NOS4A2, Horns, Heart-Shaped Box), fiction collections (Strange Weather, Full Throttle, 20th Century Ghosts), and a comic-book series (Locke & Key). Much of his work has been adapted for film and TV.
Review :
"Fully developed characters with complex emotional lives enhance the 14 stories in Joe Hill's extraordinary collection, 20th Century Ghosts. There's not a false note or disappointing effort in this volume." - Publishers Weekly (starred 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
"The collection of short stories ranges from creepy to sweet, with an impressive arsenal of tactics to attack your psyche." - Boston Globe
"Subtle and disturbing in equal measure." - Coventry Telegraph on 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS
"This solid, inventive, scary collection of stories reveals a writer who has thought hard about the problematics of horror." - New York Times on 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS
"Each 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 (London) on 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS
"Irresistible stories." - Evening Herald (Ireland)
"Alternately sad, scary, strange and at times even sweet, these tales will haunt you long after you've read them." - Parade
"[An] inventive collection . . . brave and astute." - New York Times Book Review
"[A] new take on the fantasy-horror genre...Highly recommended." - The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia)
"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
"[O]ne of the best [horror] collections of the year. Hill is a relative newcomer who consistently creates creepy, very disturbing stories." - Locus
"Each tale is unique, and the collection proves that Hill's talent is not limited to horror, but extends well into the mainstream." - Denver Rocky Mountain News
"20th Century Ghosts is Hill's first collection of short stories and displays consummate skill in a variety of genres . . . Amusing, moving, horrifying--Ghosts runs the full spectrum." - USA Today
"[A] lovely, earnest collection of short fiction." - Village Voice
