The Ghost Quartet

by Orson Scott Card (Editor/Contributor), Marvin Kaye (Editor), Tanith Lee

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.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Ghosts, Anthologies

303 pages, Hardcover

First published September 2, 2008

About the author

Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a general 'MEH' reaction to this book. It's unfortunate in the complete diversity of its contributions, which results in absolutely no common theme at all. I have to assume that Kaye was in a rush, or too starstruck (although that seems unlikely) to bother with more of a directive than 'GHOSTZZZ OK?'

Brian Lumley's The Place of Waiting was an incredibly generic "ghosts on the treacherous moors where The Hound of the Baskervilles was set" story. Which could have been fine - you pick up a ghost story book, you want some spooking, right? Except that the narrator was so distracting, making so many unnecessary asides and explanations and just generally not being good at telling a ghost story that I wasn't at all drawn in. Plus, the ghost was far too corporeal and matter of fact, walking up to our hero and monologuing like a champion, rather than remaining obtuse and terrifying. Good idea badly executed.

Orson Scott Card's Hamlet's Father was a fascinating story, especially to me who has no real grasp of the original. I enjoyed it thoroughly although its intent was pretty obvious. It was, however, barely what I would call a ghost story. It really belongs in a 'Shakespeare reimagined' anthology, rather than here.

Marvin Kaye's The Haunted Single Malt started dully and predictably - I am so, so heartily sick of reading stories by old men with old man narrators making incredibly demeaning and just plain stupid comments about the VERY FEW women characters they managed to invent out of their old-man brain caves - but actually ended up being my favourite. A group of people telling ghost stories in the thick of a snowstorm in a crusty old Edinburgh pub, although somewhat confused and finally unsatisfying (the story that ended up threading through all of them wasn't really clear enough to me) created a really good atmosphere. Fusty but satisfyingly traditional

Tanith Lee's Strindberg's Ghost Sonata was sort of confusing and ultimately draining. As the only woman in what is essentially a cigar club, I had higher hopes for this one, but it proves once again that the direction was not strong enough. A dying boy in alternate Russia (which sounds more interesting than it is...) is rescued by a kind group of people who live in a tenement slum, who want his youth, beauty and vitality to revive their resident ghost, a girl so beautiful it hurts to look at her. The tale is tiring to read, and segmented into boy - ghost - boy, without much in the way of interest and far too much in the way of rich verbosity. This is possibly why reading the Russians doesn't interest me very much. Too long and, once again, barely a ghost story.

I think that I have a very traditional idea of what a ghost story ought to be, so all of this is possibly my own parameters creating problems.
Either way, I wanted more out of this book, but I did finish it in just over a day, which must say something.

[rivka · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Place of Waiting is horrifying in its implications and disturbing in its delivery. 3.5 stars

Hamlet's Father seems ever-so-familiar . . . until it is terribly, horribly, and all-too-believably NOT familiar. 4 stars

[Andrew ✝️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

2022: Pretty much, ten years. I can't believe it took me pretty much ten years to finish this book. It took that long not because of incredibly slow reading, as I'm sure is obvious, but rather because I never actually finished this quartet. According to my notes (though admittedly I'm a little confused about the dates and their accuracy), I started this book sometime in 2012 and gave up on June 3, 2012. It is now 3-5-2022. I finally found this book at a reasonable price online (though a lot more than the $1.05 I spent on it at a 'Dollar Tree'), and finished it. I can honestly say I never actually thought I would be sitting at my desk typing out additions and final thoughts for this review.

2012:
"The Place Of Waiting," by Brian Lumley.
An interesting tale of a man who recently lost his mother. He happens upon an area of hills and encounters 3 people and the place of waiting. He begins questioning his sanity as events unfold. The only thing I didn't understand was the mention of the main characters' toddler son. The only mention of him is a brief one in the beginning that he was in some shallow pool and playing. After that, nothing. Did the main character just abandon the toddler as the story went on or what? If the mother and father had split custody and she picked up their son, it should have been mentioned. Otherwise, the toddler's presence in the story is completely random. 4/5 stars, though if the randomness hadn't been in the beginning or if it was better explained instead of leaving the reader questioning if he abandoned the child, then I would have given it a full 5-star rating. Despite that though, I'd say that the rest of the story was very compelling. I would read this one again (EDIT: 3/19/2020) I was told that there was an explanation of this on page 19. I don't how I missed it).

"Hamlet's Father" by Orson Scott Card.
Where to begin? After the story drug on and on, (which only felt like it did because I fail to see how this was a ghost story. It was more about revenge and betrayal. Wasn't eerie.) it became really messed up. I liked some parts enough to quote the author, but personally, had I been the editor, I wouldn't have included this one. Sure, there was a ghost, but this story seems out of place. Aside from that, I'd say this wasn't completely horrible. 2/5 stars. As a story of revenge and betrayal, I'd read this again, but not as a 'ghost' story.

"The Haunted Single Malt" by Marvin Kaye
I'm actually a tad in and out on my opinion. For the most part, I'd say I liked it. It begins in a pub with several people in Scotland. Two of which are yanks (Americans) on holiday and don't exactly have an intricate place in the story. One could deem this a story with 3 sub stories within it. The group welcomes guests for their ghost stories and then one of the congregants become part of a ghost story of their own. A borderline revenge ghost story (not like the previous Hamlet story) etched into the country's bloody history. 3 1/2 stars. I would read this one again.

"Strindberg's Ghost Sonata" Tanith Lee
From what I was getting out of the story (which wasn't much because most of what I actually accomplished reading made little to no sense), some guy with two first names (Blya & Blycha) was under some statue and these random people took him to their inn for the hopeless. It turns out that he is their prisoner of love, sighting that it's better to be a prisoner of people who love you than by people who hate you. Yeah...
When it finally got to the reason that the ghost was there, I couldn't even bear to read through it. It was just a barrage of horrible events including rape and punishments. As I said though, not much was making sense. During the descriptive fillers, even though I knew the words, I could almost feel my brain crunching from the horribleness within these paragraphs. In the end, I only made it to page 261 which, for this particular story in this Quartet is 33 out of 79 pages. I should've slapped the book shut when there was a most disgusting description of the hallway as the inside of a person's .... well ... backyard. Let's put it that way. I was like wth?
For this story in this Quartet, I give it 1/5 stars. I will never read this one again or attempt to finish it. No offense to the author.

2/5 stars for the entire Quartet because the other two stories really brought the rating down for the book overall.

2022:
"Strindberg's Ghost Sonata" by Tanith Lee.
Starting to read this story again 3 calendar days ago, it didn't take me long to remember why I originally gave up. This story is written in such a way that I can only describe it as "allegedly poetic." I can see where there are clever wordings, but they're buried within confusing, mostly cryptic description. Is it possible to like a story overall, but hate how it's written? That's what I thought I may say before I got to the ending, but the ending unfortunately ruined the possibility of a love/hate relationship between me and the text. I'm a reader that rates things as a whole, regardless if it's a compilation or not, and the ending of this one just really puts a damper on the entire book. Tanith Lee's afterward was more understandable than their story and that's a problem. In 2012, I admit I wondered if perhaps the problem was actually that I was a bit stupid, but here in 2022, I must disagree with my younger self. I'm afraid I must decree that I'm not stupid: this story is a bit dry, I'm sorry to say.

So..., 1 star for the entire quartet.

What follows are my notes from 2012 and 2020.

EDIT 3/19/2022: On April 23, 2012, I said: "I will never read this one again or attempt to finish it. No offense to the author." Today, I add to that: "Errr... so I thought." Since I never actually finished it, I made an exclusive folder called "Never Finished." That's where it will stay until I can finish it. I don't have it anymore, and last I checked, it costs a lot more than the dollar I spent on it at 'Dollar Tree.' lol (Original "finish" date was June 3, 2012)

MY NOTES:
May 22, 2012, 36.96%: "Oh bleh. The second story in this book is a Hamlet based story. It's dragging on and on and on. I did like a part in it enough to quote it on here but otherwise it's just dull so far. It was interesting at first but that was in the beginning."

May 23, 2012, 40.59%: "I wouldn't really call this a 'ghost' story. It's more of a story of karma and payback."

May 24, 2012, 42.9%: "There's so much dialogue in this story. I hope I can finish it. The word was not payback that I was looking form. This isn't much of a 'ghost' story. It's more of a story of karma and revenge."

46.2% "Story is finally picking up. Only 20 pages left."

May 28, 2012, "I'm actually a tad in and out on my opinion of this 3rd story. For the most part, i'd say I liked it."

In case there's a glitch: started on May 21, 2012.

Finished FINALLY on March 4th, 2022.

[Crystal Dawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first story was good. Slightly spooky and yet I knew that everything would work out all right.

The Hamlet story was a joke and shouldn't have been included. At first I thought it was a modern retelling in plain English of the original. Then I got to the end and was embarrassed and annoyed. This story was a mockery of the original and added a theme that was not needed nor in the original story. And it wasn't even remotely a ghost story.

I gave up after that.

[Chrystal Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up with some hesitation....the cover art made me think of teen and young adult books. Too often, bad cover art hides a good collection, though. And the art is not bad, but just does not look "serious" to my eyes.

It is a collection of four novellas, and I enjoyed all of them, although the Tanith Lee story did not seem very ghostly, more like a fantasy romance, to me. Tanith Lee is a good writer, and so it was hardly a waste of time, but I had hoped for something a little different, more edgy.

I have not has a single malt in years. The sense of smell is a huge component in the enjoyment of single malt scotch, and I lost mine in 1998. However, Marvin Kaye's story of "The Hunted Single Malt" made me want to try some new ones, and brought back memories of the exploration of that specialized, acquired love.

"Hamlet's Father" will either enrage or engage the Shakespeare fan. If you were forced to read "Hamlet" in school, you may really like this treatment. I think you can like both, and this one pleased me greatly.

Brian Lumley's "Place of Waiting" is also quite a pleasure to read, and might translate well into film. It reminds me a little of M.R.James' story "A View from a Hill" but is in no way derivative.

I would have liked this to be a full orchestra rather than a quartet.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvin Kaye has edited numerous original anthologies, most in the fantasy or horror genres, and The Ghost Quartet is the latest in the series. This consists of four novellas dealing with, obviously ghosts: Brian Lumley tells a wonderfully atmospheric tale set upon the Devon Moors in "The Place of Waiting"; Orson Scott Card takes Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and reimagines the causation of the events in "Hamlet's Father"; Kaye himself tells a humourous yet deadly story set in Scotland, where he reveals the history behind "The Haunted Single Malt"; and Tanith Lee gives us an alternative Russia in "Strindberg's Ghost Sonata." These are all wildly different takes on the idea of the ghost story, which is what one wants in an anthology - after all, who wants to read slight variations on a theme repeated over and over and over again? - and generally they all work, although I wasn't taken with Lee's tale, the final in the book, because it read more like a fantasy (even being set in a realm not quite of the Earth that we know) than a ghost story and so it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the anthology. Her writing was fine as always; it's just the story didn't work. For me, that is, you might have a different reaction. In any event, well worth searching out if you, like me, enjoy tales that are not quite as they seem; recommended!

[CasualDebris · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Ghost Quartet is latter part of a series of novella or longer short fiction anthologies that include The Vampire Sextet and The Dragon Quintet edited by Marvin Kaye and published by the Science Fiction Book Club and Tor Books. The anthology was not very well received, and copies quickly made their way to bargain bins and discount shelves (which is where i found mine). Having read it through I pretty much join the general consensus that the collection is forgettable, with the notable exception of Orson Scott Card's contribution.

For my review of each individual story, please visit Casual Debris.

[Becky Hoffman · Rating 1 out of 5]

A friend told me about this book and that Card's story was a very controversial piece. So I picked up this book and read the Orson Scott Card story and yes, I agree, it was very controversial. I mean it's a re-telling of Hamlet and it was incredibly dark and...well I guess the only way to phrase it is perverted.

I also read the Tanith Lee story because I really like Tanith Lee, but I was really disappointed with this story. It was so boring and the plot didn't seem to go anywhere.

Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book to anyone. Now I know why it was on the bargain table.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this group of eerie stories. Had never understood the story of Hamlet the way that Card portrayed it, and I will never look at the play again in the same way! It's always good to have a new perspective on a theme you think you know. I also enjoyed the 3 other stories, each with a different locale and different kind of spookiness, if you will. I hadn't read anything by Tanith Lee in ages, and was happy to find her particular blend of weird and lovely still intact. Stories to make you think, as well as bring the element of "what if..." that a good ghost story must have.

[Shadowcthuhlu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not all stories hold up equally well in this anthology. Card's story was definitely a weak spot, even without touching on the controversial elements in the story. Tanith Lee's story is a bit uneven. However, the "The Place of Waiting," and "The Haunted Single Malt" are excellent in my opinion, though that could be because of my weakness for Scottish and English ghost stories.

[Deedee · Rating 2 out of 5]

4 stories, 2 are pretty good, 2 are not.
The good ones:
"Hamlet's Father" by Orson Scott Card
"The Haunted Single Malt" by Marvin Kaye

The ones to skip:
"The Place of Waiting" by Brian Lumley
"Strindberg's Ghost" by Tanith Lee

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

First 3 stories held my attention. Last story was pretty unreadable. The first three would have received 4 stars. Last one got 1 star.

[Bcoghill Coghill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Orson Scott CArd's story was good. Going to read the rest now.

[Kevin Gallan · Rating 2 out of 5]

i just couldn't get into the stories in this one....marvin kaye's story was the best.

[Rebecca Mandrillorian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm so bummed! I really hated the story that I bought this for and the others were barely ok. The fourth had some loveliness and I should check out "The Ghost Sonata"