20th Century Ghosts

From the New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Horns comes this award-winning collection of short fiction.Imogene is young, beautiful . . . and dead, waiting in the Rosebud Theater one afternoon in 1945. . . . Francis was human once, but now he's an eight-foot-tall locust, and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. . . . John is locked in a basement stained with the blood of half a dozen murdered children, and an antique telephone, long since disconnected, rings at night with calls from the dead. . . .Nolan knows but can never tell what really happened in the summer of '77, when his idiot savant younger brother built a vast cardboard fort with secret doors leading into other worlds. . . .The past isn't dead. It isn't even past. . . .

Washington Post

“Hill’s best stories veer away from the well-trodden creep shows and back alleys of genre writing into more dangerous territory: suburban basements, ball fields and schoolyards.”

New York Times Book Review

“[An] inventive collection . . . brave and astute.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Fully developed characters with complex emotional lives enhance the 14 stories in Joe Hill’s extraordinary collection,20th Century Ghosts. There’s not a false note or disappointing effort in this volume.”

Boston Globe

“The collection of short stories ranges from creepy to sweet, with an impressive arsenal of tactics to attack your psyche.”

Ghosts runs the full spectrum.”

“20th Century Ghosts is Hill’s first collection of short stories and displays consummate skill in a variety of genres . . . Amusing, moving, horrifying

Parade

“Alternately sad, scary, strange and at times even sweet, these tales will haunt you long after you’ve read them.”

Village Voice

“[A] lovely, earnest collection of short fiction.”

Locus

“[O]ne of the best [horror] collections of the year. Hill is a relative newcomer who consistently creates creepy, very disturbing stories.”

Denver Rocky Mountain News

“Each tale is unique, and the collection proves that Hill’s talent is not limited to horror, but extends well into the mainstream.”

The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia)

“[A] new take on the fantasy-horror genre...Highly recommended.”

San Francisco Chronicle

“The selections range from the mundane to the surreal, with a strong emphasis on the kind of horror tale perfected by Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub and Stephen King.”

New York Times on 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS

“This solid, inventive, scary collection of stories reveals a writer who has thought hard about the problematics of horror.”

into a place of gulping fear.”

“Each of these chilling tales arrests you from the opening sentence and leads you ― trustingly, thanks to the simple mastery of the story-teller

Coventry Telegraph on 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS

“Subtle and disturbing in equal measure.”

Evening Herald (Ireland)

“Irresistible stories.”

From the Back Cover

Imogene is young and beautiful. She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945. . . .Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town. . . .Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. . . .John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead. . . .

About the Author

Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Fireman, NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box; Strange Weather, a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections Full Throttle and 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the Eisner Award–winning writer of a seven-volume comic book series, Locke & Key. Much of his work has been adapted for film and TV, including NOS4A2 (AMC), Locke & Key (Netflix), In the Tall Grass (Netflix), and The Black Phone (Blumhouse).

Reviews

News