20th Century Ghosts, by Joe Hill
Here's the thing: I love Joe Hill. After reading Heart-Shaped Box, which is my favorite horror novel right now, I looked for other books of his and found nothing. And then along came 20th Century Ghosts. For someone like me, who wants horror to be more disquieting than disgusting, who appreciates being scared but prefers that this is accomplished by more than cheap shocks, who wants to see range . . . this book is perfect. I'm amazed at the depth and subtlety he brings to the genre, while also writing stories that are genuinely scary, spooky, unsettling, but also touching, poignant, sometimes even gentle. Of course, not all the stories are what I'd call horror, or at least standard horror: the ghosts are sometimes ghosts, but sometimes they are more (or also) metaphorical, the ghosts of lost childhoods, lost innocence, lost loves.
What I love the most about Hill is his people. Well, his people, and his weirdness. He writes very character-driven stories: beneath every monster, every horrible action, is a real person, with real feelings. He writes people you can connect with, people you can understand enough to like or, perhaps, enough to fear. And he writes weird stories, about weird people. My favorite story in the book -- "My Father's Mask" -- is so deeply, disturbingly, weird that I keep reading it again, trying to puzzle it out. I like that I can't get at all of it, and even though it's surreal, it's so unsettling and provocative that I keep thinking about it. The story resonates, for me, and perhaps it's because of all the layered-in fairy tale metaphors, what with the idea of sacrifice -- you can't get something without giving up something meaningful; and identity -- do we really know each other? ourselves?; and the masks and the woods both as metaphors of self; and whether it's better to know too much or too little, better to ask questions or just trust your parents. There's more but I don't want to write a pseudo-literary school paper like I used to be so good at. Heh. That's your job, Lakeside students!
In some of his stories, like "The Black Phone", "My Father's Mask", "Best New Horror", and "You Will Hear the Locust Sing", for example, he builds up a level of dread so intense that I was almost afraid to keep reading for fear of what will happen next. "Pop Art" and "Voluntary Committal", on the other hand, both made me shed a tear or two. "The Cape", "You Will Hear the Locust Sing", and "Abraham's Boys" made me understand and sympathize with the protagonist before he does something truly awful. And several of his stories, especially "20th Century Ghost" and "Bobby Conroy Comes Back From the Dead", have romantic themes -- these two both deal with lost chances, lost loves, though one lover is a ghost and one is not.
Hill does one of the things that I appreciate most and think is hardest to do in short stories -- he leads you right up to the edge of the ending, where you can sort of, almost, see it for yourself, and he leaves it to you to make the leap, complete the story. His stories continue on after you read the last word, because you have to think about many of them to capture the full import of What Happens Next. They're ambiguous, but powerful, and I think they stay with you long after you're done. This is definitely one for the horror lover, but also for those who just know how to appreciate a damn good story.
We have this book on display right now, but will have it available in the fiction section later. The call number is F Hill.