City of the Dead

by Sharon Stewart

The Egyptian god of death lurks in neighborhood streets. The replica of a sphinx comes to life and takes vengeance on a predator of street kids. An ethereal presence types messages on a home computer screen. These are among the spirits that animate the stories in City of the Dead . Their spine-tingling tales lead to the hazy middle ground between reality and imagination, shadow and light, science and superstition. They explore a kind of twilight zone of people and events that defy explanation. They scratch at the surface of fear and challenge preconceptions about what is real. They are Rod Serling's response to the 21st century, and they are guaranteed to take you to edge of fear and back.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Short Stories, Fiction, Middle Grade, Supernatural

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

I grew up and was educated in Vancouver, British Columbia. I am a writer and editor, and spent most of my career in educational publishing. I have lived in Spain and also in China, where I taught English as a second language, and have published articles about my experiences in China in newspapers across Canada. I am the author of nine novels, several of them historical fiction. I have also published a book of short stories and biographies of Louis Riel and Norman Bethune. I currently live in Toronto, Canada.

Reviews

[Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this over 15 years ago and remembered really enjoying it and being creeped out by the stories. It popped into my head recently, but I could not think of the name of the book, just aspects of some of the stories. The Goodreads team helped me out with finding it (thanks!) and I ordered it.

This was still an enjoyable read. It wasn't as creepy as I remember it being (yay for getting old), but the stories were still a lot of fun. All of the them were good, the only one I was slightly less into was Flying Toasters. When I was younger I really liked the Trojan Horse story but I think now my favourite is City of the Dead (although I really liked the Anubis one too). Some of the language and descriptions are a bit outdated, but whatever.

[JackelinSanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book because it contained mini stories about different deaths. Not all were humans though, which in my opinion made this book even more interesting because it made me want to read even more and more. I would really recommend this book if you like mystery and crime books. It was interesting to see how the author used her imagination to come up with so many amazing short stories. Most of the stories will make want to read even more about what happens next but overall I can say it was a great book to read.

[Chrissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book off an online auction. Its a great collection of short stories sure to put a shiver up your spine. My favorite in this collection was Dingbat, a story of an awkward teen girl who is befriended and befriends, an online entity. Through this unlikely friendship, the girl breaks out of her shell and starts to love herself, even as Dingbat, her cyber-friend starts to fade.
Stewart brings a new look to ghost stories in this collection including computerized demons, a fishing trip gone wrong, virtual toasters interrupting the Canadian parliament and many others. Great read for YA.