Scattered Thoughts

Gregory Fisher

For the premier issue of Scattered Things, the editor-in-chief (my wife) decided to go with a ghost theme. In keeping with the theme, I collected a sampling of ghost stories and made sure they were all available at Fictionwise (although most are available elsewhere too). Most of these books were also published in hardcover or paperback form, although they may be darn difficult to get a hold of these days. The stories included here offer a wide variety of ghost stories, in length and subject matter, so there should be something here for everyone.

For those who are wondering, yes this column is nepotism. But that doesn’t make it any less worth while. Also, neither I nor Scattered Things has any affiliation with Fictionwise. Purchasing from them will not give us any money and purchasing from other sources, such as Books on Board, will not deprive us of anything. The links are merely a convenience, and Fictionwise offers a fuller description of the book than is presented here.

A Ghost in the eBook: A Book List of Ghost Stories

1.) Bag of Bones by Stephen King

Still grieving for his wife, novelist Mike Noonan escapes to his summer home in Sara Laughs only to be confronted by a mother desperate to keep her daughter and a cluster of ghosts that haunt to town and now haunts him.

2.) Kachima Spirit by Marilyn Meredith

A widow and her two children move into a house haunted by several ghosts.

3.) The Ghost Pirates by William Hope Hodgson

Three weeks into their voyage, the crew of the Mortzestus fear she is haunted. A mist has fallen around the Mortzestus, causing it to flicker between dimensions, and there is no way out.

4.) Hell House by Richard Matheson

Deutsch, a wealthy magazine and newpaper publisher, offers to pay a physicist and two mediums, $100,000 each to establish the facts of life after death.

5.) In the Night Room by Peter Straub

Author Timothy Underhill is confronted with the ghost of his nine-year-old sister, April. A 2004 Bram Stoker Award winner.

6.) Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli

A lyrical tale of evil, loss, ghosts and redemption in the Southern gothic tradition

7.) Joplin’s Ghost by Tananarive Due

Phoenix Smalls is haunted by what may be the ghost of music legend Scott Joplin but is she doomed to relive his tragic past?

8.) Unholy Whispers by Joe DiFrancesco

The ghost of a murdered twelve-year-old child has waited centuries for her revenge.

9.) Ghostland by Jack Cady

A collection of ghostly short stories by horror author Jack Cady.

10.) The White Room by A. J. Matthews

Polly hears whispers no one else can hear. She sees a young girl no one else can see. And Polly’s been warned. Something else lives in the Harris house.

11.) The Cold Embrace and Other Classic Ghost Stories

A new collection of classic ghost stories, some well known and some long forgotten, by the masters of the genre.

12.) The Endless Place by W. J. Calabrese

Kevin Shaw inherited a haunted also possessed by demons. Then he falls in love with one of the ghosts.

13.) Prodigal by Melanie Tem

A girl is haunted by her ne’er-do-well dead brother who slowly steals her away.

14.) Revenant by Melanie Tem

Regret and denial haunt the ghost town of Revenant. It is the last chance for the living to give the dead the gift of freedom.

15.) Angelica by Arthur Phillips

Angelica is a spellbinding Victorian ghost story, an intriguing literary and psychological puzzle, and a meditation on marriage, childhood, memory, and fear.