Bill Bragg (2)

I received a copy of this short story collection from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ghostly Tales is a collection of classic, and often analogized, stories. While it is true that occasionally one runs across a classic that, for whatever reason, escaped your attention, most fans of classic horror have read or at least heard of these stories. That doesn’t make them any less great, just familiar.

Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come for You, My Lad
M.R. James is one of the pillars of the modern tale of the supernatural. Most of our plot mechanics and story lines come from him. As influential, albeit perhaps not as literary, as Poe, the included story is one of his best and for my money one of the top 5 ghost stories ever. And it is actually still scary after all these years.

The Old Nurse’s Story
Creepy story about a malevolent spirit of a murdered child. Very good form of a tale that is still being retold today in modern stories and movies.

The Signalman
Dickens, like most Victorians, loved his stories of phantoms, ghosts, and communications from the other side of death. Classic and atmospheric if not particularly scary. I don’t know if he created the concept of the story of the dead warning the living, but this is certainly one of the true classics of its type.

The Body Snatcher
Stevenson’s story is dripping in atmosphere of fog and damp and one can’t help but think of the glorious Hammer Films that sprang from this story and others like them. More fun and gruesome than scary.

The Captain of the Pole-Star
I guess I will just say it---Doyle’s best work was the Sherlock Holmes canon. Everything else is interesting, especially for the time, but the concepts were done better by other writers. This story is no exception. A play on The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner this story was well written by not particularly riveting.
The Phantom Coach
I had not read this one but was very glad that I did. Absolutely fantastic with a chilling ending. This story was so well done and so chilling I could place myself in that coach with our narrator. One of my favorite classic horror stories.

The Screaming Skull
One of several famous stories about severed body parts that attack the living, this one has the added fun of a mad narrator. I found it a bit overdone, but still entertaining.

I do have one complaint about this book and it was a reason that I was quite disappointed in the book. The illustrations are wonderful. However, there is just one per story. If you are selling this as an illustrated book I would expect at least 2 or 3 illustrations per story.

4 stars. Needs more illustrations.… (mais)