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The Ghost Quartet [Hardcover]

Marvin Kaye (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)


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Book Description

September 2, 2008

Do you believe in ghosts?

You will after reading these original short novels from four of today's best writers of the fantastic.

Brian Lumley, a Grand Master of Horror and author of the popular Necroscope series, opens the collection with the tense "A Place of Waiting." The moors of Devon, England, are home to many ghosts, but none as fearsome as the red-eyed specter that refuses to accept his death. His only chance of release, however, comes at a terrible cost.

Orson Scott Card puts a new spin on one of literature's most famous ghosts in "Hamlet's Father." What if the former King of Denmark was not killed by his treacherous brother for his crown, but by someone entirely unexpected as punishment for the darkest of crimes? Would his troubled son still seek revenge?

The patrons of an Edinburgh tavern are introduced to a beverage with an unusual history in "The Haunted Single Malt" by Marvin Kaye, a clever and spooky story about ghost stories and the people who love them.

Tanith Lee offers "Strindberg's Ghost Sonata," a chilling tale set in an alternate Russia. When a poor man is rescued from certain death by hospitable strangers, he discovers that he is not a guest in their haunted tenement building--he is a prisoner destined to become a sacrifice.  


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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kaye's anthology of four new ghost novellas is a mixed bag at best. Brian Lumley builds suspense in the first half of A Place of No Ending, but in the end, a garrulous ghost nearly talks the protagonist to death. Orson Scott Card, in Hamlet's Father, recasts Shakespeare's tragedy as a gothic ghost thriller, but hobbles it with an anachronistic and absurd revisionist ending. Kaye (The Fair Folk) represents himself with The Haunted Single Malt, a story that perhaps unwisely references ghost story master M.R. James while never rising to James's level. Only Tanith Lee, in Strindberg's Ghost, strikes the balance of atmosphere and romance crucial for the effective telling of her tale of betrayal and sacrifice. Though each story has its merits, readers will find them mostly dispiriting. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Kaye’s latest anthology adds another volume to an ongoing series that previously featured tales about vampires, dragons, and fairies. On offer here are a quartet of ghost stories by leading artisans of speculative fiction. Brian Lumley’s “Place of Waiting” recounts the fate of a painter who crosses paths with a tortured ghost on the desolate mounds of Dartmoor, England. Orson Scott Card’s “Hamlet’s Father” gives Shakespeare’s tragedy of the gloomy Dane an alternate ending wherein his father’s murderer turns out to be someone much closer to Hamlet than his uncle. Kaye himself serves up a chilling brew in “The Haunted Single Malt,” eavesdropping on an assembly of ghost-story buffs at an Edinburgh pub who experience their own odd haunting by imbibing a previously unknown liquor. The final contribution, by Tanith Lee, visits an alternate-universe Russia and the denizens of an accursed tenement. All four tales showcase the authors at the peak of their narrative powers and make for satisfyingly spine-tingling reading on a stormy night. --Carl Hays

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (September 2, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765312514
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765312518
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,903,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

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4 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The four tales are interesting ghost stories, September 3, 2008
This review is from: The Ghost Quartet (Hardcover)
"A Place of No Ending" by Brian Lumley. In Eastern Dartmoor Moor, Paul learns first hand the truth about ghosts.

"Hamlet's Father" by Orson Scott Card. Teenager Hamlet knows his father the Danish King thinks little of him so as he goes to university in Heidelberg he ponders whether his sire considers his offspring worthy to sit or not sit on the throne.

"The Haunted Single Malt" by Marvin Kaye. They meet once a month at the Tron to exchange ghost stories, but none of them expected to star in a spirit's latest saga.

"Strindberg's Ghost" by Tanith Lee. Blya and the Swan know they cannot be together until one joins the other in death.

The four tales are interesting ghost stories with Tanith Lee's being by far the strongest.

Harriet Klausner

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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
old tramp, wee dram
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tumble Tor, Old Joe, The Swan, Uncle Claudius, King Claudius, Blya Sovinen, The Tron, Brian Lumley, Andrew Quarry, Orson Scott Card, Simon Carlisle, Old Woman, Old Town, Bloody Baron, Orson Scott Curd, Tanith Lee, Night of the Dead, Prince Hamlet, North Vista, Marvin Kaye, Basil Rathbone, Paul Stanaaard, Number Thirteen, Christ's Eve, Heroic Vlova Bridge
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