The Black Phone and Other Stories: Previously published as 20th Century Ghosts

Description

Imogene is young, beautiful, kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead, the legendary ghost of the Rosebud Theater. Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with a head full of big ideas and a gift for getting his ass kicked. It's hard to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town. Francis is unhappy, picked on; he doesn't have a life, a hope, a chance. Francis was human once, but that's behind him now. John Finney is in trouble. The kidnapper locked him in a basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. With him, in his subterranean cell, is an antique phone, long since disconnected...but it rings at night, anyway, with calls from the dead... Meet these and a dozen more, in 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS, irresistible, addictive fun showcasing a dazzling new talent.

Joe Hill is a recipient of the Ray Bradbury Fellowship and the winner of the A.E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize, William Crawford, World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild Awards. His short fiction has appeared in literary, mystery and horror collections and magazines in Britain and America. For more information, visit www.joehillfiction.com, visit joehillsthrills.tumblr.com, or follow @Joe_Hill on twitter.

Each of these chilling tales arrests you from the opening sentence and leads you - trustingly, thanks to the simple mastery of the story-teller - into a place of gulping fear. * DAILY MAIL * [An] inventive collection . . . brave and astute. * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW * 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. * WASHINGTON POST * Hill's stories are visceral and nasty in places, but never gratuitous. The collection as a whole is polished and well written. Even the most macabre themes are handled exceptionally well, so one story ever feels exploitative or trashy. Joe Hill is definitely one to watch. -- Ross Sutcliffe * SCI-FI NOW * Fully developed characters with complex emotional lives enhance the 14 stories in Joe Hill's extraordinary collection ... There's not a false note or disappointing effort in this volume. * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * The collection of short stories ranges from creepy to sweet, with an impressive arsenal of tactics to attack your psyche. * BOSTON GLOBE * [Hill] displays consummate skill in a variety of genres . . . Amusing, moving, horrifying-Ghosts runs the full spectrum. * USA TODAY * Alternately sad, scary, strange and at times even sweet, these tales will haunt you long after you've read them. * PARADE * One of the best [horror] collections of the year. Hill is a relative newcomer who consistently creates creepy, very disturbing stories * LOCUS * 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. * SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE * Hill's stories are visceral and nasty in places, but never gratuitous. The collection as a whole is polished and well written. Even the most macabre themes are handled exceptionally well, so one story ever feels exploitative or trashy. Joe Hill is definitely one to watch. -- SCI-FI NOW * Ross Sutcliffe * 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. * Washington Post * [An] inventive collection . . . brave and astute. * The New York Times Book 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. * Publishers Weekly * The collection of short stories ranges from creepy to sweet, with an impressive arsenal of tactics to attack your psyche. * Boston Globe * 20th Century Ghosts is Hill's first collection of short stories and displays consummate skill in a variety of genres . . . Amusing, moving, horrifying-Ghosts runs the full spectrum. * USA Today * Alternately sad, scary, strange and at times even sweet, these tales will haunt you long after you've read them. * Parade * [A] lovely, earnest collection of short fiction * Village Voice * One of the best [horror] collections of the year. Hill is a relative newcomer who consistently creates creepy, very disturbing stories * Locus * Each tale is unique, and the collection proves that Hill's talent is not limited to horror, but extends well into the mainstream. * Denver Rocky Mountain News * "[A] new take on the fantasy-horror genre...Highly recommended. * The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia) * 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. * San Francisco Chronicle * Each of these chilling tales arrests you from the opening sentence and leads you - trustingly, thanks to the simple mastery of the story-teller - into a place of gulping fear. * Daily Mail * Subtle and disturbing in equal measure. * Coventry Telegraph *