Great Ghost Stories [Paperback]

John Grafton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1992

Ten classics of supernatural fiction by masters of the macabre: Bram Stoker's "The Judge's House," "The Moonlit Road" by Ambrose Bierce, M. R. James' "The Rose Garden," Charles Dickens' "To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt," "Dickon the Devil" by J. S. LeFanu, E. G. Swain's "Bone to His Bone" and 5 others.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; 3rd Edition edition (September 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486272702
• ISBN-13: 978-0486272702
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Anthologies
  • #89 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories > Anthologies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some well-known, others off the beaten path, August 16, 2000

By 

Patrick A Daley (Fredericton, New Brunswick) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Ghost Stories (Paperback)

This is quite a nice collection of ghost stories, very cheap in the Dover Thrift Editions.

Some of the selections are classic, such as Amelia B. Edwards' "The Phantom Coach," and W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw," which is an excellent story to be told around a campfire at night. A story by J. Sheridan Lefanu is almost obligatory, of course, in this case, "Dickon the Devil," and one may also expect a story by Ambrose Bierce, "The Moonlit Road," which appears in a Bierce anthology, as well.

Others, such as Charles Dickens' "To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt," Bram Stoker's chilling, "The Judge's House," and E. F. Benson's "The Confession of Charles Linkworth," are more unusual.

These stories are from the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century, and provide and interesting insight into many of the moral values of the time.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to classic ghost stories...., July 22, 2001

By 

Jeffrey Leeper "kem2070" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Ghost Stories (Paperback)

Why an "introduction"? If you are a fan of ghost stories and have a collection of books on the subject, you probably already have all the stories in this book. I will not list them all since another reviewer has already done so.

Although all of the stories deal with ghosts (well, "The Monkey's Paw" is arguably not a ghost story, but spooky nonetheless), most of them do not deal with a malevolent spirit bent on our destruction. Only "The Judge's House" and "A Ghost Story" deal with an angry spirit. The rest are tales of ghostly happenings, but nothing like you might find in a horror movie.

Given the price, I would recommend this to someone who does not normally read a lot of ghost stories. Otherwise, you probably have these in your collection already.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great selections of ghost stories...at an unbeatable price!, November 14, 2002

By 

meiringen "meiringen" (the Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Ghost Stories (Paperback)

Ten classic horror tales that will have you keeping the lights on at night! These tales were published between 1864 and 1912, which is considered by some to be the "golden age" of horror and supernatural fiction. These stories are a great cross-section of the genre, and at this low price, it makes a wonderful introduction to the classic ghost stories.