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The Ghosts of Who You Were
In this chilling new collection from Bram Stoker Award-winner Christopher Golden, the author takes you on a tour of his darkest nightmares. From a little door inside an elevator to a hellish prison for stolen children, from a terrifying future where nightfall means death to a fairy tale past in which lies and illusion enrage the ghosts all around us. The Ghosts of Who You Were collects some of Golden's finest stories, tales of bad fathers and ancient monsters, the promises of strangers, parties that never end, and a collection of Hollywood curses. Featuring the Bram Stoker Award-nominated story "The Bad Hour," The Ghosts of Who You Were is Golden's finest collection yet.
354 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2021
About the author
Christopher Golden
767 books3,084 followersCHRISTOPHER GOLDEN has been called “the king of the horror-thriller.” The New York Times bestselling, multi-award-winning storyteller has made his mark in many mediums, as a writer of novels, screenplays, animation, audio dramas, and comics, and as an editor of landmark horror anthologies. His work has been published in dozens of languages around the world. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Audie Award, he has been nominated for others, including the British Fantasy Award. His best-known novels include Road of Bones, The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, and his latest, Carry Me to My Grave. He lives in Massachusetts, where he watches too many movies and eats too much chocolate.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 29, 2021
"Even heaven could become hell if you were a prisoner there."
What a kick ass collection of a broad range of stories!! There is something here for everyone and they are all original and uniquely creepy.
What a kick ass collection of a broad range of stories!! There is something here for everyone and they are all original and uniquely creepy.
Want to Read
January 12, 2022Setting this aside right now, because I just can't seem to hit my stride with it. I'm sure it's a case of "It's me, not you." I'll try to come back to it in a month or two and see if it works better at that time.
October 10, 2021
Christopher Golden's The Ghosts of Who You Were nicely balances the strange and outright horrific across the 11 short stories (two of which are novella or nearly-novella length) collected here.
Golden wastes no time throwing readers into the thick of things with "The Abduction Door," a marvelous opener that forces readers to question what those smaller maintenance doors you sometimes see at the back of an elevator are really for. Or, more importantly, where they really, truly lead, and what might sometimes come through them. After his daughter is abducted through such a door, a determined father follows after, hellbent on rescuing her. "The Abduction Door" is a whopper of an opener, and a damn good portal story to boot!
Based on its title, I though for sure "Wendy, Darling," was going to be a riff on The Shining, but Golden's ambitions reach much farther back than King's classic. The more astute, and less King obsessed, among us will no doubt immediately recognize the play on a name from one of J.M. Barrie's most famous creations, Peter Pan. Golden delivers a deft twist on Barrie's characters, casting Wendy as the central figure in a story rife with madness and the ghosts of the past as the Lost Boys try to put a stop to her wedding.
Desperate to save her mother's life in "What Happens When the Heart Just Stops," Kayah and her friends venture out into the forbidden darkness of night. We get a wonderfully post-apocalyptic feel here, with Golden setting the stage and offering brief teases about what's happened to the world, but the focus is on a group of abandoned kids who have formed a gang, and a found-family, as they find themselves in a high-octane fight for survival. It's a terrific story, and one I would absolutely love to see Golden expand on, as there's so much potential story to be mined here. This is one of those works that practically begs to be reworked for a full-length novel.
"A Hole in the World," co-written with Tim Lebbon, hits on so many of my own personal horror sweet spots, and is so much goddamned fun, that it's impossible not to mention here. We get the icy climes of Siberia, combined with subterranean horrors, and Russian soldiers facing off against a whole lot of cool alien creepy-crawlies. Seriously, what's not to love? This story was awesome!
You can damn near smell the ocean and taste the salt on the air in "The Curious Allure of the Sea," as Jenny tries to make sense of her father's disappearance at sea and the strange stone discovered by police on his recovered fishing boat. Mesmerized by the imagery carved into the stone, and believing it held some significance for her father, Jenny has the symbols tattooed on her forearm. And then things get weird, even beyond being randomly attacked by sea gulls... This one's touching and bittersweet, and oh so wonderfully bizarre.
Like "A Hole in the World," there's a pair of stories in here featuring James Massarsky, a Hollywood movie producer and collector of cinematic rarities that immediately captivated me thanks to my own shared interests with cinema and film collecting. Massarsky's collections lean more toward the occult than my own burgeoning collection of 4K steelbooks, which makes for better, and certainly far more entertaining, stories. "It's A Wonderful Knife" is a Christmas-set piece revolving around Massarsky's collection of dark movie props, like the gun that killed Brandon Lee during the filming of The Crow. Golden puts a neat little spin on things, and even though the story itself isn't exactly surprising it is awfully neat. Better was "The Face Is A Mask," centering around a cursed mask worn during a purportedly-real sacrifice that was filmed during the production of an unfinished movie. This one gets nicely bonkers and even a bit trippy, and I hope we get to see more of Massarsky in the near-future.
Golden puts some neat twists on familiar horror tropes in "The Bad Hour" and his border revenge novella, "Pipers." In the former, a veteran heads to a backwoods town to reconnect with one of the men from her squad, but the locals don't react too well to her sudden appearance. The questions proliferate with each turn of the page - why are they trying to get rid of her? What are they hiding? Why is everyone in this town so damn weird? It's a fun piece and a neat play on some conventional horrors.
In "Pipers," a Texas ranching community seeks revenge against the cartel that attacked their community and murdered dozens of friends and family. They're aided in this cause by a man named Enoch, who lost his own daughter to the cartel in grotesque fashion, and offers the survivors a set of bone pipes to play and the promise of miracles to come. Golden crafts a nicely devious revenge story here, layering in manipulations and double-crosses with finesse.
Damn near every story in The Ghosts of Who You Were is a winner, and while Golden admits in his introduction that he's a novelist first and foremost, not a short story writer, it's clear that he does have some real chops as an author of short fiction. This isn't always the case, mind you. Short stories are their own peculiar and temperamental beast, and just because a writer can be a damn good novelist (and Golden most certainly is a damn good novelist - damn good!), that doesn't always mean they can juke and jive as adeptly with such small word counts. But given how insanely prolific Golden is, the man's had plenty of practice of the years. The Ghosts of Who You Were charts the author's journey as a short story writer, collecting his previously published short works from 2013 - 2020, and while he may be a damn good novelist first, he's also a very adept, and sometimes very surprising, short story writer.
Golden wastes no time throwing readers into the thick of things with "The Abduction Door," a marvelous opener that forces readers to question what those smaller maintenance doors you sometimes see at the back of an elevator are really for. Or, more importantly, where they really, truly lead, and what might sometimes come through them. After his daughter is abducted through such a door, a determined father follows after, hellbent on rescuing her. "The Abduction Door" is a whopper of an opener, and a damn good portal story to boot!
Based on its title, I though for sure "Wendy, Darling," was going to be a riff on The Shining, but Golden's ambitions reach much farther back than King's classic. The more astute, and less King obsessed, among us will no doubt immediately recognize the play on a name from one of J.M. Barrie's most famous creations, Peter Pan. Golden delivers a deft twist on Barrie's characters, casting Wendy as the central figure in a story rife with madness and the ghosts of the past as the Lost Boys try to put a stop to her wedding.
Desperate to save her mother's life in "What Happens When the Heart Just Stops," Kayah and her friends venture out into the forbidden darkness of night. We get a wonderfully post-apocalyptic feel here, with Golden setting the stage and offering brief teases about what's happened to the world, but the focus is on a group of abandoned kids who have formed a gang, and a found-family, as they find themselves in a high-octane fight for survival. It's a terrific story, and one I would absolutely love to see Golden expand on, as there's so much potential story to be mined here. This is one of those works that practically begs to be reworked for a full-length novel.
"A Hole in the World," co-written with Tim Lebbon, hits on so many of my own personal horror sweet spots, and is so much goddamned fun, that it's impossible not to mention here. We get the icy climes of Siberia, combined with subterranean horrors, and Russian soldiers facing off against a whole lot of cool alien creepy-crawlies. Seriously, what's not to love? This story was awesome!
You can damn near smell the ocean and taste the salt on the air in "The Curious Allure of the Sea," as Jenny tries to make sense of her father's disappearance at sea and the strange stone discovered by police on his recovered fishing boat. Mesmerized by the imagery carved into the stone, and believing it held some significance for her father, Jenny has the symbols tattooed on her forearm. And then things get weird, even beyond being randomly attacked by sea gulls... This one's touching and bittersweet, and oh so wonderfully bizarre.
Like "A Hole in the World," there's a pair of stories in here featuring James Massarsky, a Hollywood movie producer and collector of cinematic rarities that immediately captivated me thanks to my own shared interests with cinema and film collecting. Massarsky's collections lean more toward the occult than my own burgeoning collection of 4K steelbooks, which makes for better, and certainly far more entertaining, stories. "It's A Wonderful Knife" is a Christmas-set piece revolving around Massarsky's collection of dark movie props, like the gun that killed Brandon Lee during the filming of The Crow. Golden puts a neat little spin on things, and even though the story itself isn't exactly surprising it is awfully neat. Better was "The Face Is A Mask," centering around a cursed mask worn during a purportedly-real sacrifice that was filmed during the production of an unfinished movie. This one gets nicely bonkers and even a bit trippy, and I hope we get to see more of Massarsky in the near-future.
Golden puts some neat twists on familiar horror tropes in "The Bad Hour" and his border revenge novella, "Pipers." In the former, a veteran heads to a backwoods town to reconnect with one of the men from her squad, but the locals don't react too well to her sudden appearance. The questions proliferate with each turn of the page - why are they trying to get rid of her? What are they hiding? Why is everyone in this town so damn weird? It's a fun piece and a neat play on some conventional horrors.
In "Pipers," a Texas ranching community seeks revenge against the cartel that attacked their community and murdered dozens of friends and family. They're aided in this cause by a man named Enoch, who lost his own daughter to the cartel in grotesque fashion, and offers the survivors a set of bone pipes to play and the promise of miracles to come. Golden crafts a nicely devious revenge story here, layering in manipulations and double-crosses with finesse.
Damn near every story in The Ghosts of Who You Were is a winner, and while Golden admits in his introduction that he's a novelist first and foremost, not a short story writer, it's clear that he does have some real chops as an author of short fiction. This isn't always the case, mind you. Short stories are their own peculiar and temperamental beast, and just because a writer can be a damn good novelist (and Golden most certainly is a damn good novelist - damn good!), that doesn't always mean they can juke and jive as adeptly with such small word counts. But given how insanely prolific Golden is, the man's had plenty of practice of the years. The Ghosts of Who You Were charts the author's journey as a short story writer, collecting his previously published short works from 2013 - 2020, and while he may be a damn good novelist first, he's also a very adept, and sometimes very surprising, short story writer.
November 21, 2021
Golden kicks things off by letting the reader know he's never thought of himself as a short story writer, always a novelist, but maybe, just maybe, he's getting somewhere. I think most readers will have trouble disagreeing with that sentiment.
TGOWYW kicks off with the first Golden story I ever read, "The Abduction Door" and I loved it as much, if not more, this time around. Golden's imagination runs amok in this one and despite the bleak subject matter, there's a sense of the author having the time of his life writing this one.
"Wendy, Darling" and "It's a Wonderful Knife" (worth the price for the title alone) complete an opening trifecta that suck the reader in while also offering variety, putting the author's chops on display. So to speak.
As with any collection, some stories hit harder than others, or resonate with certain readers. Some that I loved included topsy-turvy take on "The Revelers", the inherent beauty of "The Allure of the Sea", and Golden putting his interest/love of world mythology on display in "The Bad Hour."
Though it's difficult to lump in with short fiction, the collection concludes with "Pipers", quite possibly my favorite title contained within. Mixing cartel horror with a narrative focusing on how far a person would go to save someone they love, the beginning of this one is brutal and unexpected, a line Golden balances throughout the remainder. Golden doesn't shy away from getting a bit weird with this one, nor does he feel obligated to hold the reader's hand and explain every little thing. He simply allows the story to be the story, and it's probably stronger for it.
With a little bit for everyone, TGOWYW is one of the more consistent collections I've read in 2021 with hits far outnumbering misses.
TGOWYW kicks off with the first Golden story I ever read, "The Abduction Door" and I loved it as much, if not more, this time around. Golden's imagination runs amok in this one and despite the bleak subject matter, there's a sense of the author having the time of his life writing this one.
"Wendy, Darling" and "It's a Wonderful Knife" (worth the price for the title alone) complete an opening trifecta that suck the reader in while also offering variety, putting the author's chops on display. So to speak.
As with any collection, some stories hit harder than others, or resonate with certain readers. Some that I loved included topsy-turvy take on "The Revelers", the inherent beauty of "The Allure of the Sea", and Golden putting his interest/love of world mythology on display in "The Bad Hour."
Though it's difficult to lump in with short fiction, the collection concludes with "Pipers", quite possibly my favorite title contained within. Mixing cartel horror with a narrative focusing on how far a person would go to save someone they love, the beginning of this one is brutal and unexpected, a line Golden balances throughout the remainder. Golden doesn't shy away from getting a bit weird with this one, nor does he feel obligated to hold the reader's hand and explain every little thing. He simply allows the story to be the story, and it's probably stronger for it.
With a little bit for everyone, TGOWYW is one of the more consistent collections I've read in 2021 with hits far outnumbering misses.
January 19, 2022
For someone who doesn't regard himself as a short story writer, Christopher Golden has done a pretty great job here.
My absolute favourite in the collection is the first story THE ABDUCTION DOOR, and my second favourite would be THE BAD HOUR.
It's worth buying for those two alone, but there isn't a dud among them. Like most collections, I preferred some a little more than others. The lowest I'd score for any story here would be a three, but this deserves a solid four stars overall.
Good stuff.
My absolute favourite in the collection is the first story THE ABDUCTION DOOR, and my second favourite would be THE BAD HOUR.
It's worth buying for those two alone, but there isn't a dud among them. Like most collections, I preferred some a little more than others. The lowest I'd score for any story here would be a three, but this deserves a solid four stars overall.
Good stuff.
November 1, 2023
I really enjoy when an author that I know I enjoy releases short story collections. Christopher Golden is an author that I know I can always turn to when I want to read something entertaining. In the case of Golden, he writes in a very visual way which makes a collection of short stories feel like an anthology, much like Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone. The Rod Serling one.
As is the case with most short story collections, not every single story is a 5 star read but that's OK because the good stories in this collection outweigh the dud stories by a lot. There were a couple of real standouts that I would love to see adapted. As I said, he's a very visual writer so I believe his work would translate really well to being developed into some other form of media.
The stories are all over in terms of theme. Golden treats us to nearly everything the horror genre has to offer and it is an overall very enjoyable read. Even in the short story format, his writing flows well and is easy to read. He's able to define his characters with a certain amount of believability using only a few sentences. To me, Golden is a natural writer.
"A Hole in the World" was the stand-out story to me. It was SO much fun to read and really touched on a lot of science fiction/horror elements. "Pipers" was also a very interesting and touching story. "Wendy, Darling" had me in tears, which is not something you typically expect from a horror short story but I guess we all have our own personal triggers.
The only negative thing I have to say about this book is that I found at least 3 typos/formatting errors. I guess I don't know much about publishing a book but it seems logical that someone would read the book before printing and would hopefully catch things like that. Christopher Golden is not an amateur writer by any means so it's strange to come across things like that. I almost docked a star for it, but the stories were so entertaining that I just couldn't bring myself to.
Highly recommend!
As is the case with most short story collections, not every single story is a 5 star read but that's OK because the good stories in this collection outweigh the dud stories by a lot. There were a couple of real standouts that I would love to see adapted. As I said, he's a very visual writer so I believe his work would translate really well to being developed into some other form of media.
The stories are all over in terms of theme. Golden treats us to nearly everything the horror genre has to offer and it is an overall very enjoyable read. Even in the short story format, his writing flows well and is easy to read. He's able to define his characters with a certain amount of believability using only a few sentences. To me, Golden is a natural writer.
"A Hole in the World" was the stand-out story to me. It was SO much fun to read and really touched on a lot of science fiction/horror elements. "Pipers" was also a very interesting and touching story. "Wendy, Darling" had me in tears, which is not something you typically expect from a horror short story but I guess we all have our own personal triggers.
The only negative thing I have to say about this book is that I found at least 3 typos/formatting errors. I guess I don't know much about publishing a book but it seems logical that someone would read the book before printing and would hopefully catch things like that. Christopher Golden is not an amateur writer by any means so it's strange to come across things like that. I almost docked a star for it, but the stories were so entertaining that I just couldn't bring myself to.
Highly recommend!
December 31, 2021
I really wanted to dive fully into horror this year and scrolling through the goodreads list my eyes caught this gorgeous cover and I had to get it. I adore all kinds of short story collections and it wasn't until I read the second story that I realized I had read it before in another anthology and I loved reading it more the second time round. From these stories I've fallen in love with Christopher Golden's writing style and I can't wait to explore more of his work. This book start off with a bang and I didn't rate any one of them under a three star, it's one of the strongest short story books I've ever read. I will say that sometimes the page and punctuation layouts get a little awkward but didn't take away from my reading experience. Also, at the end of the book the author tells us some notes/background of how the ideas came to be and I absolutely loved that insight and I wish that other short story collections would do that. Below are my individual ratings and a couple of thoughts on them.
The Abduction Door - 4 stars:
Creepy as fuck and a brilliant introduction into Golden's writing style. Fathers protecting their daughters just connects with me a lot at the moment. I'd read a full novel about this concept.
Wendy, Darling - 4 stars:
I read this in titanbooks Cursed: Anthology and loved it just as much as the first time I read it. Peter Pan was never a huge favourite of mine but I got chills from this short 're-telling' and enjoyed the small twist and how it ended.
It's a Wonderful Knife - 5 stars:
I've read situations like this before but didn't see the twist coming at the end. This was so much fun, I wanted to know everything about the museum that we are toured through. This was in my opinion the best of the collection.
What Happens When the Heart Just Stops - 4 stars:
This was fast paced, in my head I pictured it out in the style of 'Sin City'. The author describes this as YA and I agree, these characters are unique and I enjoyed the development of them despite this being short. Also love this new take on the 'vampire.'
The Revellers - 3 stars:
The only why I didn't connect or enjoy this one more than the others is that drinking and partying are huge themes and I am not into that. I like the setting though and I thought it was well written and again it ends well.
A Hole in the World - 4.5 stars:
I would usually steer away from stories like this but wow I hella loved it. It put me in mind of Into the Rolling Deep by Mira Grant and films like The Thing. It's dark and had some disturbing moments that made my skin crawl.
The Curious Allure of the Sea - 3.5 stars:
There have been a lot of father/daughter dynamics in this collection and this one hit home for me. The loss of a parent is difficult and I connected to the protagonist and the grief. The attacks of seagulls is what really freaked me out more than anything.
The Face is a Mask - 4 stars:
I loved the connection with one of the previous stories. There is an element/trope that I love which happened in this story and the reveal was hella satisfying.
The Open Window - 3.25 stars:
This was short, fun and horrifying. I guessed what was going to happen but it didn't make it any less scary.
The Bad Hour - 3 stars:
I liked the whole village/town in the middle of nowhere stories that have secrets. I thought this was fine, I think that it could have been longer and developed more. I personally don't like to read anything that mentions anything to do with military/soldiers, although it's such a small aspect of the story but I still found it interesting.
Pipers - 3.25 stars:
This felt like a fitting story to end the collection. Again another strong father/daughter relationship and I loved how supportive they both are. I really liked Zeke, there is a cast of village people that I sometimes mixed up and I found the middle part to be the slowest paced. Golden is fantastic at his endings, be it a cliff-hanger or a perfect short sentence that grabs you.
The Abduction Door - 4 stars:
Creepy as fuck and a brilliant introduction into Golden's writing style. Fathers protecting their daughters just connects with me a lot at the moment. I'd read a full novel about this concept.
Wendy, Darling - 4 stars:
I read this in titanbooks Cursed: Anthology and loved it just as much as the first time I read it. Peter Pan was never a huge favourite of mine but I got chills from this short 're-telling' and enjoyed the small twist and how it ended.
It's a Wonderful Knife - 5 stars:
I've read situations like this before but didn't see the twist coming at the end. This was so much fun, I wanted to know everything about the museum that we are toured through. This was in my opinion the best of the collection.
What Happens When the Heart Just Stops - 4 stars:
This was fast paced, in my head I pictured it out in the style of 'Sin City'. The author describes this as YA and I agree, these characters are unique and I enjoyed the development of them despite this being short. Also love this new take on the 'vampire.'
The Revellers - 3 stars:
The only why I didn't connect or enjoy this one more than the others is that drinking and partying are huge themes and I am not into that. I like the setting though and I thought it was well written and again it ends well.
A Hole in the World - 4.5 stars:
I would usually steer away from stories like this but wow I hella loved it. It put me in mind of Into the Rolling Deep by Mira Grant and films like The Thing. It's dark and had some disturbing moments that made my skin crawl.
The Curious Allure of the Sea - 3.5 stars:
There have been a lot of father/daughter dynamics in this collection and this one hit home for me. The loss of a parent is difficult and I connected to the protagonist and the grief. The attacks of seagulls is what really freaked me out more than anything.
The Face is a Mask - 4 stars:
I loved the connection with one of the previous stories. There is an element/trope that I love which happened in this story and the reveal was hella satisfying.
The Open Window - 3.25 stars:
This was short, fun and horrifying. I guessed what was going to happen but it didn't make it any less scary.
The Bad Hour - 3 stars:
I liked the whole village/town in the middle of nowhere stories that have secrets. I thought this was fine, I think that it could have been longer and developed more. I personally don't like to read anything that mentions anything to do with military/soldiers, although it's such a small aspect of the story but I still found it interesting.
Pipers - 3.25 stars:
This felt like a fitting story to end the collection. Again another strong father/daughter relationship and I loved how supportive they both are. I really liked Zeke, there is a cast of village people that I sometimes mixed up and I found the middle part to be the slowest paced. Golden is fantastic at his endings, be it a cliff-hanger or a perfect short sentence that grabs you.
November 22, 2023
This is a recently released collection of 11 short stories from Christopher Golden. However, all of the titles have appeared in other works, some going back as much as 10 years. There really is nothing "new" included. I'm surprised he didn't at least include one new story, but nobody asked me for my input, and these have held up extremely well.
There are some absolutely astounding tales in this book, two of them actually being more novella (or novelette, as he calls them) length. A few titles didn't make a lot of sense to me and the endings left me puzzled, but that's pretty common with short stories, especially in the horror or supernatural realm.
Golden obviously writes in a very visual style and it's easy to imagine the characters and plots, including the more gruesome, vivid ones - and there is no shortage here. The two longer stories I referenced are pretty much ready-made TV shows or movies.
I do have a couple of relatively minor complaints. There are far too many typos in this book, especially since all of the stories are essentially reprints. Were those errors not found and corrected in the original publications? Why years later do they still exist? Did the editor just copy and paste without actually reading anything?
And in probably the best story - A Hole in the World, co-written with Tim Lebbon, the two authors set their story in Russia using members of Spetsnaz as the main cast. Apparently they don't have much knowledge of how Russian names work other than maybe what they've seen in movies or on TV. The female captain is named Demidov and one of her female operators is named Yelagin. Nope. They would be Demidova and Yelagina...and it doesn't take much "research" to realize this. Not worth deducting a star, but I'm surprised no one at any time realized this error.
Good read, lots of fun - highly recommended.
There are some absolutely astounding tales in this book, two of them actually being more novella (or novelette, as he calls them) length. A few titles didn't make a lot of sense to me and the endings left me puzzled, but that's pretty common with short stories, especially in the horror or supernatural realm.
Golden obviously writes in a very visual style and it's easy to imagine the characters and plots, including the more gruesome, vivid ones - and there is no shortage here. The two longer stories I referenced are pretty much ready-made TV shows or movies.
I do have a couple of relatively minor complaints. There are far too many typos in this book, especially since all of the stories are essentially reprints. Were those errors not found and corrected in the original publications? Why years later do they still exist? Did the editor just copy and paste without actually reading anything?
And in probably the best story - A Hole in the World, co-written with Tim Lebbon, the two authors set their story in Russia using members of Spetsnaz as the main cast. Apparently they don't have much knowledge of how Russian names work other than maybe what they've seen in movies or on TV. The female captain is named Demidov and one of her female operators is named Yelagin. Nope. They would be Demidova and Yelagina...and it doesn't take much "research" to realize this. Not worth deducting a star, but I'm surprised no one at any time realized this error.
Good read, lots of fun - highly recommended.
July 4, 2025
Excellent collection of short stories (and one novella) from Golden ranging from an elevator door used to abduct children to s tale of resurrection and revenge at the Mexican border. Not a bad one in the bunch. Nice variety of ideas (although a couple of them share the same passages, which is odd) and well-written all the way through. Well worth a read if you're a Golden fan or just a fan of the short story format in general. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
November 18, 2025
3.5 rounded up
A collection of ten short stories and a novella all in the genre "horror". We see abducted children, fear of the things called "Cloaks", never-ending parties, anger as a virus, and what humans will do to assuage their grief. There are many sub-genres explored; sci-fi, grief, other planes of existence, hauntings, ghosts, and monsters, each given a place within these smaller stories.
I'm not usually a big fan of short story collections, of the many I've tried I've only made it through one or two cover-to-cover, this is one of them. Golden's ability to grip and charge with you in his worlds is brilliant. He swoops down, drops a few well-worded sentences, and almost at once you're trapped in the world of "well, now I need to know what happens".
There are some big hits in this collection for me; "A Hole In The World", "The Abduction Door", and the novella-length "Pipers", are probably my favourites. A few didn't quite land as strongly for me, and yet I still enjoyed them and appreciated their inclusion in the book. Each story twists something ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary and, while you're along for the ride, it's quite fun to try and figure out what might happen next (I guaranteed you'll be wrong at least once or twice). I really had a good time with this one, and will definitely check out more of Golden's work.
A collection of ten short stories and a novella all in the genre "horror". We see abducted children, fear of the things called "Cloaks", never-ending parties, anger as a virus, and what humans will do to assuage their grief. There are many sub-genres explored; sci-fi, grief, other planes of existence, hauntings, ghosts, and monsters, each given a place within these smaller stories.
I'm not usually a big fan of short story collections, of the many I've tried I've only made it through one or two cover-to-cover, this is one of them. Golden's ability to grip and charge with you in his worlds is brilliant. He swoops down, drops a few well-worded sentences, and almost at once you're trapped in the world of "well, now I need to know what happens".
There are some big hits in this collection for me; "A Hole In The World", "The Abduction Door", and the novella-length "Pipers", are probably my favourites. A few didn't quite land as strongly for me, and yet I still enjoyed them and appreciated their inclusion in the book. Each story twists something ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary and, while you're along for the ride, it's quite fun to try and figure out what might happen next (I guaranteed you'll be wrong at least once or twice). I really had a good time with this one, and will definitely check out more of Golden's work.
October 31, 2022
Solid Collection with a few standouts:
The Abduction Door was a wild idea and looks at the lengths a father would go for his child.
Wendy, Darling was a great take on Peter Pan...dark and different.
It's a Wonderful Knife was one of my faves, despite reading it before.
Pipers finished out the collection in style with a little border revenge tale.
Overall I really enjoyed the range of stories in here. I didn't love them all, but the standouts were unique and the collection gets my reco.
The Abduction Door was a wild idea and looks at the lengths a father would go for his child.
Wendy, Darling was a great take on Peter Pan...dark and different.
It's a Wonderful Knife was one of my faves, despite reading it before.
Pipers finished out the collection in style with a little border revenge tale.
Overall I really enjoyed the range of stories in here. I didn't love them all, but the standouts were unique and the collection gets my reco.
December 6, 2022
There were two stories in this that I really enjoyed - Pipers and It's a Wonderful Knife. The rest of the stories were okay, but they didn't stick with me as much as these two. I wish there had been a little bit more to Pipers, as it felt like it could have been longer.
October 19, 2021
The best short story collection I’ve read all year and I read a lot of short stories! Highly recommended!
April 18, 2024
A fantastic range of short stories ☺️
May 21, 2025
Felt the first half of stories were better than the latter half. Also had read some of them, or else very similar stories, but can't remember where.
June 7, 2025
“Pipers” was a helluva good story.
September 30, 2025
Didn’t really like it. Okay book
March 28, 2024
2 stars as I enjoyed about 40% of the stories, the rest weren't that captivating. Golden admits himself that short stories aren't his forte and unfortunately I have to agree.
Perhaps with slightly lengthier stories the suspense would be better built but in many of these stories it just didn't build enough to deliver an impact.
Perhaps with slightly lengthier stories the suspense would be better built but in many of these stories it just didn't build enough to deliver an impact.
November 9, 2021
Fantastic collection of haunts!
Golden's short story work has only improved over time. This latest collection is stellar - full of haunts and evil and ghosts and the weird. Not to be missed!
Golden's short story work has only improved over time. This latest collection is stellar - full of haunts and evil and ghosts and the weird. Not to be missed!
November 19, 2021
Solid stories with a brutally honest and upfront introduction from the author. Had a few favorites in this and for a guy that doesn't write a lot of short fiction, you'd never know it from this collection.
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