Isaac Asimov's Ghosts

by Gardner Dozois, Sheila Williams (Editor), Esther M. Friesner (Contributor)

Contents
1 • Death on the Nile • (1993) • novelette by Connie Willis
28 • Deathbinder • (1988) • novelette by Alexander Jablokov
52 • Hauntings • (1985) • shortstory by Kim Antieau
66 • Dead Man's Curve • (1994) • shortstory by Terry Bisson
89 • Visitors • (1987) • shortstory by Jack Dann
103 • The July Ward • (1991) • novelette by Sharon N. Farber [as by S. N. Dyer ]
127 • The Rainses' • (1995) • shortstory by Nisi Shawl
147 • Some Old Lover's Ghost • (1993) • shortstory by Ian McDowell
162 • Death and the Librarian • (1994) • shortstory by Esther M. Friesner
177 • And Ghost Stories • (1990) • shortstory by R. V. Branham
186 • Alfred • (1992) • shortstory by Lisa Goldstein
201 • The House on Cemetery Street • (1988) • novelette by Cherry Wilder

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction

1 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

About the author

Gardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004. He won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, both as an editor and a writer of short fiction.
Wikipedia entry: Gardner Dozois

http://us.macmillan.com/author/gardne...

Reviews

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Asimov did Ghosts too. And did it well, too. Not that he actually wrote any of these, but the fact that he allowed his name to headline the book should account for superior, if not quality work. (Of course, credit goes to editor Gardner Dozois.)

Since Ghosts is bannered on the book cover, not much guesswork is required of the reader--here be ghosts, count on it. But it takes a deft storyteller to put a distinct spin on the ghost story. My takes on the twelve stories:

1) Death on the Nile by Connie Willis - This one was a dud. I was apprehensive to continue after reading this first. No stars.
2) Deathbinder by Alexander Jablokov - This should in one of the books collections I read last year, The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. Because this is the most disturbing, hence the scariest story, in the bunch. Life support equals a soul lost in limbo till judgment day. Process that, all ye next of kin. Among the stories here, this one's the strongest candidate for a conversation piece. Or stopper. Four stars.
3) Hauntings by Kim Antieau - A house that holds a portal through time is a tale that's been explored one too many times. So what's one more? Two stars.
4) Dead Man's Curve by Terry Bisson - A fun, if predictable enough romp to another dimension. Take a clunky Cavalier, add headlights and a couple of road posts. Then hit 42 mph along said Dead Man's Curve and voila--you're in! A mix of science fiction and the supernatural, this read like an early Stephen King short story. Two and a half stars.
5) Visitors by Jack Dann - The plot is overly familiar. We know the pitch, we see what's coming. But the delivery is smooth, narration almost unsentimental. And like most superior short stories, the conclusion leaves us wondering, hoping. Two and a half stars.
6) The July Ward by S. N. Dyer - One of the longer entries, which I felt wasted too much ink on material which contributed nothing imaginative to fire the reader's interest. Reminds me of some Philippine shebangs, where the spiel introducing the guest speaker takes longer than the speaker's actual speech. No star.
7) The Rainses' by Nisi Shawl - Mediocre storytelling. Not much to see here. (No pun intended.) One star.
8) Some Old Lover's Ghost by Ian McDowell - Small town university prof/Romantic Lit student meets token resident ghost-cum auditor. Most fans of this particular genre should be able to predict how it ends early on. Which only made me appreciate the storytelling more. Three stars.
9) Death and the Librarian by Esther M. Friesner -The best in the bunch. The narration is captivating, almost musical. It does go for the jugular, but it's a story with heart. The plot involving an erudite, chameleonic, charming Death, as he always seems to be in short, tall tales, starts off seemingly cliched, only to reveal a different layer to this immensely moving gem of a story. I look forward to reading more stories by Ms Friesner. Five stars!
10) And Ghost Stories by R. V. Branham - Another mediocre plot, this time about the prescience of death. Best forgotten. No star.
11) Alfred by Lisa Goldstein - I wanted to like this. It started out well, but the storytelling felt hackneyed, and the plot too predictable. Two stars.
12) The House on Cemetery Street by Cherry Wilder - This is bleak movie, possibly award-winning material. It is 1948, and Germany is in the throes of postwar limbo. German intellectual/novelist/husband/father/brother August is a queer, if decent bird who lives in a crumbling house than has seen better, oh so much better days. His family coddles him, dotes on him. Lionizes him. The chilling ending has nothing to do with the fact that the house lives beside a cemetery. Disturbingly three stars.

[Cameron Trost · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with ghost story collections is that the reader knows that every story is going to have something ghostly about it. In order to compensate for this disadvantage in the "surprise department", the stories need to have a really clever twist and lead the reader down unexpected passages. Failing this, they need to be examples of beautifully chilling prose.

With this in mind, only two of the tales in this collection stood out for me and sent a shiver up my spine. The Visitors by Jack Dann and The July Ward by Sharon N. Farber.