Monday, October 27, 2014

The Times Anthology of Ghost Stories

Found this collection of short stories a couple years ago on my office's book exchange shelves, and thought it would be a perfect October read. I finally managed to make that happen!

Apparently The Times (presumably of London; this book is a UK edition) held a contest for the best previously unpublished ghost story in 1974. The impressive judging panel consisted of Kingsley Amis, Patricia Highsmith, and Christopher Lee - well known names even now. The winning story, as well as many others that were highly regarded, were then published in this collection in 1975.

By the standards of our times, most of these stories were more on the "creepy" side than what passes for horror, e.g., gore and violence, these days. The winning story, "A Doll Named Silvio," was in fact incredibly creepy, while some of the other stories were almost more sad than scary. All in all this book was a perfect read for the days leading up to Halloween.

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