The Ghost Quartet
An Anthology
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Do you believe in ghosts?
You will after reading these original short novels from four of today's best writers of the fantastic.
Brian Lumley, a Grand Master of Horror and author of the popular Necroscope series, opens the collection with the tense "A Place of Waiting." The moors of Devon, England, are home to many ghosts, but none as fearsome as the red-eyed specter that refuses to accept his death. His only chance of release, however, comes at a terrible cost.
Orson Scott Card puts a new spin on one of literature's most famous ghosts in "Hamlet's Father." What if the former King of Denmark was not killed by his treacherous brother for his crown, but by someone entirely unexpected as punishment for the darkest of crimes? Would his troubled son still seek revenge?
The patrons of an Edinburgh tavern are introduced to a beverage with an unusual history in "The Haunted Single Malt" by Marvin Kaye, a clever and spooky story about ghost stories and the people who love them.
Tanith Lee offers "Strindberg's Ghost Sonata," a chilling tale set in an alternate Russia. When a poor man is rescued from certain death by hospitable strangers, he discovers that he is not a guest in their haunted tenement building--he is a prisoner destined to become a sacrifice.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kaye's anthology of four new ghost novellas is a mixed bag at best. Brian Lumley builds suspense in the first half of "A Place of No Ending," but in the end, a garrulous ghost nearly talks the protagonist to death. Orson Scott Card, in "Hamlet's Father," recasts Shakespeare's tragedy as a gothic ghost thriller, but hobbles it with an anachronistic and absurd revisionist ending. Kaye (The Fair Folk) represents himself with "The Haunted Single Malt," a story that perhaps unwisely references ghost story master M.R. James while never rising to James's level. Only Tanith Lee, in "Strindberg's Ghost," strikes the balance of atmosphere and romance crucial for the effective telling of her tale of betrayal and sacrifice. Though each story has its merits, readers will find them mostly dispiriting.
