Ghost: 100 Stories to Read with the Lights on (2021) Louise Welsh (Editor)

GHOST: 100 STORIES TO READ WITH THE LIGHTS ON

2/3/2022

Haunted houses, mysterious counts, weeping widows and restless souls, here is the definitive anthology of all that goes bump in the night. Hand-picked by award-winning author Louise Welsh, this beautiful collection of 100 ghost stories will delight, unnerve, and entertain any fiction lover brave enough...

Here are gothic classics, modern masters, Booker Prize-winners, ancient folk tales and stylish noirs, proving that every writer has a skeleton or two in their closet.
The all-star cast of authors include: Hilary Mantel, William Faulkner, Kate Atkinson, Henry James, Kazuo Ishiguro, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Franz Kafka, Ruth Rendell, Edgar Allan Poe, William Trevor, Helen Simpson, Haruki Murakami, Dylan Thomas, Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft, Lydia Davis, Sir Walter Scott, Annie Proulx, Bram Stoker, Angela Carter and Stephen King.

Before we go any further, I need to make a confession – I have not yet read each of the 100 stories in this anthology! However, I wanted to get this review out to spread the word and encourage people to treat themselves to a fantastic collection of ghost stories from across the ages. To be able to say that after not finishing the read is a testament to the content and curation with the volume. Knowing the content I have waiting for me, unread, I know I am not going to change my mind on this review.

There are classics here that you will know, and perhaps some you don’t. There are excerpts and poems, very short stories and longer, more involved tales, but the real treat is that there are 100 of them. At just under 800 pages, that’s and average of 8 pages per story and, at the RRP of £18, just 18p per tale!

You will be hard pressed to find a bargain like it!

And where else will you discover classics like The Canterville Ghost, alongside Stephen King’s The Mangler? Who cares if you have read Poe’s The Telltale Heart 100 times before, it deserves to be read again! And, despite what its title suggests, it is not just ghosts you will find within its pages; there are ghouls, vampires, monsters and mystery. What ghosts there are do not always appear as classic apparitions, impressions of the dead, come back to haunt us in their state of unrest; in some cases the ghosts are hidden within ourselves or perhaps WE are the ghosts. Stories such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper cleverly contemplate the fragility of the human mind and the ghosts we conjure to haunt ourselves. Sometimes the most frightening spectres are those we bring upon ourselves through our fear of the dark or from the deep darkness of depression.

To top it off, the book is beautifully designed, somewhere between a hardback and a paperback. Covered with fantastic artwork, it is a lovely collection that will look good on any coffee/bedside table and which just begs to be read.

The only reason I have not finished it before writing this review is because there are 100 damn stories, and I can’t read that fast! However, I don’t think anthologies like this necessarily need to be devoured in one sitting over a weekend. If you ate an expensive box of chocolates in one afternoon, you would probably regret it, so they are best savoured over time, much like this collection. Having flicked through and enjoyed some well-known and loved classics, as well as some new tales, I will now allow the book to age gracefully on my bedside table as I dip in and out of it over the next few months to finish my tour around all that is spooky.

As I have said in other anthology reviews, there will be some that miss for you, especially when you are working your way through 100 of them! But, you will also find many that you love. Going back to the chocolate analogy, occasionally you will hit a coconut crème and hurriedly move on to a smooth praline centre, but the taste of coconut doesn’t last long and is soon forgotten.

Thanks Forrest.

Ghost is a bumper, wonderful collection of spooky stories that would be a fantastic addition to anyone’s shelf/bedside table. Louise Welsh has pulled together an eclectic mix of varied and fantastic work. Reading Ghosts is like sitting around a campfire telling spooky stories, just from the comfort of your favourite armchair or your bed. With so many stories, there will be something for everyone and, at such a good price*, you can’t go wrong.

*at time of writing, Ghosts: 100 Stories to read with the lights on is on offer at Amazon for £11.99

Review by: Mark Walker

Ghost: 100 Stories to Read with the Lights On (Anthos)

A special reissue from Head of Zeus's bestselling anthology collection of 100 scary stories to read with the lights on, selected and introduced by award-winning author Louise Welsh.

Haunted houses, mysterious counts, weeping widows and restless souls, here is the definitive anthology of all that goes bump in the night. Hand-picked by award-winning author Louise Welsh, this beautiful collection of 100 ghost stories will delight, unnerve, and entertain any fiction lover brave enough...

Here are gothic classics, modern masters, Booker Prize-winners, ancient folk tales and stylish noirs, proving that every writer has a skeleton or two in their closet.

The all-star cast of authors inlude: Hilary Mantel, William Faulkner, Kate Atkinson, Henry James, Kazuo Ishiguro, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Franz Kafka, Ruth Rendell, Edgar Allan Poe, William Trevor, Helen Simpson, Haruki Murakami, Dylan Thomas, Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft, Lydia Davis, Sir Walter Scott, Annie Proulx, Bram Stoker, Angela Carter and Stephen King.