The Horror Writers Association Presents Peter Straub's Ghosts [Paperback]

Peter Straub (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

They beckon you to a twilight world of flesh and spirit...

They are dream-spinners weaving macabre nightmares... phantasmic voices whispering words of dread... spectral visions taunting you into an early grave. They are ghosts, young and ancient, mischievous and maniacal, glimmering and ghoulish. Now, journey with Peter Straub, one of today's best ghost storytellers, as he and fourteen other premier peddlers of gooseflesh take you into the shivery haunts of "Ghosts."

Beginning with Straub's "Hunger", a magnificent story about the cravings of the restless dead, here are stories never to be read past nightfall. Stories of an unholy seductress gorging on men's souls... a Hollywood B moviemaker unexpectedly cast in the role of ghostwriter... a psychic investigator who unearths far more than he bargained for... and a burned out novelist desperately seeking the phantom muses of his childhood...

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671885995
• ISBN-13: 978-0671885991
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,628,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ghosts and Spirits and Shades ... Oh My!, April 9, 2007

By 

Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Horror Writers Association Presents Peter Straub's Ghosts (Paperback)

After a lengthy (41 page) Introduction by Peter Straub (worth the read, its actually a story), the shivering tales begin. The book is divided into five separate categories: Dark, The Kids, Mom And Dad, Cold, and Our Work. Like many of the collections from Horror Writer's Association, the stories here may introduce you to a new favorite talent or give you a fresh tale from a chosen author.

Table Of Contents:
Hunger: An Introduction by Peter Straub
DARK:
Styx by Norman Partridge
Jubilee by Kathe Koja
Not Far From Here by Tim Smith
THE KIDS:
Momma Ghost by Alan Rodgers
Daddy's Girl by Gordon R. Ross
Coventry Carol by Chet Williamson
MOM AND DAD:
And He Who Mourns by David B. Silva
His Mother's Hands by Clark Perry
COLD:
Bill Smith's Sleigh Ride by Tyson Blue
Sotto Voce by Lawrence Greenberg
A Real Babe by Brad Linaweaver
OUR WORK:
Looking For Mr. Flip by Thomas F. Monteleone
Present In Spirit by Don D'Ammassa
The Wedding Party by Paul M. Sammon

My favorites include 'Not Far From Here' by Tim Smith, a tale of ghostly, ghastly psychopaths with a strange tie-in to the ether world; the strange haunting of young parents by their lost child in 'Coventry Carol' by Chet Williamson; who is haunting who in Clark Perry's 'His Mothers Hands'; a childhood terror-toy haunts Jack in 'Looking For Mr. Flip' written by Thomas F. Monteleon; the corporate downfall of James Nicholson as the people he's stepped on in the past come back to him in 'Present In Spirit' by Don D'Ammassa; will you recognize mysterious Albert and Mr. Z. in Paul M. Sammon's nineteenth century horror tale called 'The Wedding Party'?

What I love about the collections from Horror Writers Association is that your often get the unexpected in their stories. Though telling of ghosts or witches or vampires, there's always one or two that will stretch your imagination to its limits while still molding to the form of the theme. Many authors mean many views, and Ghosts doesn't disappoint in bringing us ghosts from the early 1900's to the most modern of hauntings. If you like a good ghost collection, be sure to pick this one up. Enjoy!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ghosts of the mind, April 24, 2003

By 

Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Horror Writers Association Presents Peter Straub's Ghosts (Paperback)

Peter Straub has selected some extremely interesting ghost stories in this book. Very systematically he looked for stories that depict a deranged mind more than real paranormal phenomena. The ghosts are living in the minds of the main characters and that gives a real twang to the book. No special effects, no monsters with a zipper in the back but phantasms, imaginary beings, delusions, all the result of a mind that does not know where to stand any more. And when you lose your footing, you have the tendency to see the ground floating over your head and the air harbouring a lot of incredible beings and creatures. In other words these stories are perfectly plausible, most of them, and they give you a real feeling of unease because you know you could experience the same thing under some circumstances.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Gross, but not very scary, July 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Horror Writers Association Presents Peter Straub's Ghosts (Paperback)

I thought the stories in this collection were well-written, in some cases sliding over into the realm of 'pretentious'. Lots of blood and gore, which I don't particularly care for in a ghost story (in fact, I hurled the book into the wastebasket after reading one particularly bloody specimen). My main objection to the stories is that none of them were particularly scary.