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Post Mortem: Tales of Ghostly Horror by Dale Hoover
This important collection features original stories from seventeen masters of modern horror and brings with it the fear, the exhilaration, the dark humour and the darkest horror of visitations from the dead. Powerful and stylish, haunting and terrifying, Post Mortem is a book to be savoured.
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First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 12, 2018
-Apela a muchos de los referentes generales mayoritarios del asunto central.-
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Post mortem (publicación original: Post Mortem. New Tales of Ghostly Horror, 1989) es una antología de relatos sobre fantasmas de diferente intensidad respecto al horror, desde nada hasta relativo según lectores, con selección a cargo de Paul F. Olson y David B. Silva, responsables de la introducción “falso verité”, con postfacio de Dean R. Koontz, que nos llevarán a conocer varias casas inquietantes, una huella temporal, una fiesta extraña, una armería de Kyoto en la época del shogunato y distintas clases de arrepentimiento, entre otros temas.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Post mortem (publicación original: Post Mortem. New Tales of Ghostly Horror, 1989) es una antología de relatos sobre fantasmas de diferente intensidad respecto al horror, desde nada hasta relativo según lectores, con selección a cargo de Paul F. Olson y David B. Silva, responsables de la introducción “falso verité”, con postfacio de Dean R. Koontz, que nos llevarán a conocer varias casas inquietantes, una huella temporal, una fiesta extraña, una armería de Kyoto en la época del shogunato y distintas clases de arrepentimiento, entre otros temas.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Want to read
July 23, 2011Stephen King endorsed the entire Dell Abyss Horror line. Here is his blurb:
"Thank you for introducing me to the remarkable line of novels currently being issued under Dell's Abyss imprint. I have given a great many blurbs over the last twelve years or so, but this one marks two firsts: first unsolicited blurb (I called you) and the first time I have blurbed a whole line of books. In terms of quality, production, and plain old story-telling reliability (that's the bottom line, isn't it), Dell's new line is amazingly satisfying...a rare and wonderful bargain for readers. I hope to be looking into the Abyss for a long time to come."
"Thank you for introducing me to the remarkable line of novels currently being issued under Dell's Abyss imprint. I have given a great many blurbs over the last twelve years or so, but this one marks two firsts: first unsolicited blurb (I called you) and the first time I have blurbed a whole line of books. In terms of quality, production, and plain old story-telling reliability (that's the bottom line, isn't it), Dell's new line is amazingly satisfying...a rare and wonderful bargain for readers. I hope to be looking into the Abyss for a long time to come."
July 5, 2018
The next book in my Abyss project is Post Mortem, an anthology of short stories. I'm not particularly fond of anthologies. I'll usually find a few gems, but, save for the rare exceptions like The Best of Pulphouse, I've never read an anthology where I find more good stories than bad ones. The good news is that ghost stories tend to work best as short stories, since they tend to leave off with the main character being haunted, and don't need lengthy conclusions.
The opening story, "Each Night, Each Year" by Kathryn Ptacek, is the perfect opener, as it was evocative and personal. Gary Brandner's "Mark of the Loser" follows, and it felt more gratuitous and pointless, and was too predictable. It didn't leave me with the kind of feeling Ptacek's story did, but it helped set the stage for what kinds of stories were to come.
Charles de Lint's "Timeskip" feels a little forced at first, but when I looked back on it, I found it was organic. De Lint defines his world, populates it, and sets the rules, and then lets the story play out as it will. That it's spooky is just the icing on the cake. Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem's "Resettling" follows, and was, of course, top notch. They understand horror well, and balance personal relationships with ghosts remarkably well, and not just with this story.
"Servitor" by Janet Fox was a bit more on the gratuitous side, but was more thematic. Thomas Tessier's "Blanca" was the same, though it's more brooding and cultural. It reminded me somewhat of "Ma Qui" by Alan Brennert. "Nine Gables" by James Howard Kunstler was another story where personal relationships parallelled the haunting, but I didn't find it to be as effective as the Tems' story.
Charles L. Grant's "The Last Cowboy Song" was the one I most wanted to read, and I wasn't disappointed. Aside from being a quiet horror story, it was more about the positivity of ghosts, instead of about being haunted. It runs counter to "The Ring of Truth" by Thomas F. Monteleone, where the ghosts are hunters with a vengeance.
"Eyes of the Swordmaker" by Gordon Linzer was the outcast of the book, for being set in ancient Japan, and for being the most evocative of all the stories. It's genuinely spooky, and it makes the hauting a personal choice. This might be my favorite of them all. Ramsey Campbell's "The Guide", on the other hand, just doesn't make sense to me. I feel like I should appreciate Campbell more, but I never can figure out what's happening in his stories, or what's supposed to make them frightening.
P.W. Sinclair's "Getting Back" was decent, but nothing spectacular. The same could be said about "Walkie-Talkie" by Donald R. Burleson, "Major Prevue Here Tonight" by William F. Nolan, and "Brothers" by David B. Silva, which is a shame, since these stories made up a large part of the end of the book. Melissa Mia Hall's "The Brush of Soft Wings" was a nice, moody respite, and the final story, Robert R. McCammon's "Haunted World", is a vivid, concerning story, even if it's not really about being haunted. I remember this story from the first time I read this anthology, and I think it also showed up in Blue World.
The book concludes with an essay by Dean Koontz about ghosts, which is a shame, since I don't consider Koontz to be an authority on horror. Yes, I know he got famous for writing it, but his horror fiction has never scared me, and never made much sense to me. He's a fine enough writer, but horror? Please. He's more a suspense writer than anything. I guess they couldn't get Stephen King to write it.
Post Mortem bucks the trend for me by being an anthology with more good stories than bad. Plus, considering how bad some of the other Abyss books are, the book also stands out for being one of the better books from the line. Overall, I'd recommend it to readers who like decent ghost stories, though it's still a bit of a mixed bag.
The opening story, "Each Night, Each Year" by Kathryn Ptacek, is the perfect opener, as it was evocative and personal. Gary Brandner's "Mark of the Loser" follows, and it felt more gratuitous and pointless, and was too predictable. It didn't leave me with the kind of feeling Ptacek's story did, but it helped set the stage for what kinds of stories were to come.
Charles de Lint's "Timeskip" feels a little forced at first, but when I looked back on it, I found it was organic. De Lint defines his world, populates it, and sets the rules, and then lets the story play out as it will. That it's spooky is just the icing on the cake. Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem's "Resettling" follows, and was, of course, top notch. They understand horror well, and balance personal relationships with ghosts remarkably well, and not just with this story.
"Servitor" by Janet Fox was a bit more on the gratuitous side, but was more thematic. Thomas Tessier's "Blanca" was the same, though it's more brooding and cultural. It reminded me somewhat of "Ma Qui" by Alan Brennert. "Nine Gables" by James Howard Kunstler was another story where personal relationships parallelled the haunting, but I didn't find it to be as effective as the Tems' story.
Charles L. Grant's "The Last Cowboy Song" was the one I most wanted to read, and I wasn't disappointed. Aside from being a quiet horror story, it was more about the positivity of ghosts, instead of about being haunted. It runs counter to "The Ring of Truth" by Thomas F. Monteleone, where the ghosts are hunters with a vengeance.
"Eyes of the Swordmaker" by Gordon Linzer was the outcast of the book, for being set in ancient Japan, and for being the most evocative of all the stories. It's genuinely spooky, and it makes the hauting a personal choice. This might be my favorite of them all. Ramsey Campbell's "The Guide", on the other hand, just doesn't make sense to me. I feel like I should appreciate Campbell more, but I never can figure out what's happening in his stories, or what's supposed to make them frightening.
P.W. Sinclair's "Getting Back" was decent, but nothing spectacular. The same could be said about "Walkie-Talkie" by Donald R. Burleson, "Major Prevue Here Tonight" by William F. Nolan, and "Brothers" by David B. Silva, which is a shame, since these stories made up a large part of the end of the book. Melissa Mia Hall's "The Brush of Soft Wings" was a nice, moody respite, and the final story, Robert R. McCammon's "Haunted World", is a vivid, concerning story, even if it's not really about being haunted. I remember this story from the first time I read this anthology, and I think it also showed up in Blue World.
The book concludes with an essay by Dean Koontz about ghosts, which is a shame, since I don't consider Koontz to be an authority on horror. Yes, I know he got famous for writing it, but his horror fiction has never scared me, and never made much sense to me. He's a fine enough writer, but horror? Please. He's more a suspense writer than anything. I guess they couldn't get Stephen King to write it.
Post Mortem bucks the trend for me by being an anthology with more good stories than bad. Plus, considering how bad some of the other Abyss books are, the book also stands out for being one of the better books from the line. Overall, I'd recommend it to readers who like decent ghost stories, though it's still a bit of a mixed bag.
May 18, 2010
Pretty good book of current ghost stories.I will definitely buy this book now that I have read it from the library.The stories are well written and there is really very little violence and grue in the book.A winner by Mr. Olson.
October 12, 2019
There weren't any amazing, gripping stories in this anthology, but there also weren't any that left me feeling bored or,worse, annoyed. It's a nice little collection and let me get a little taste of several authors I've never read. For the short story enthusiasts that like ghosts, I definitely recommend it. For the general horror reader, these stories can help pass the time, but you won't remember most of them a few days after you finish.
Read
September 16, 2020I wouldn't say there are enough good stories here to warrant reading the whole collection, but there are some interesting ideas. I somewhat liked: Timeskip; Blanca; and, Major Prevue - but most of all of the stories in this book have shades of what you've seen before in a hundred other stories. Still, most of the stories a quick enough read, so I guess you could do worse if you were looking for just 17 competent ghost stories.
January 26, 2021
Read in 1992. Horror anthology.
May 24, 2015
Honestly, I found the quality of this to take a sharp rise partway through, so much so that I'm wondering if it was more my mood than the quality of the stories--seems unlikely that all the less good stories were clumped in one section, you know?
That said: particularly fond of Ramsey Campbell's "The Guide" (with a shout-out to M. R. James), and P. W. Sinclair's "Getting Back" (apparently the author's only fiction credit at the time; they're listed as a humour columnist. I am saddened, as I would very much like to read more of their fiction). Worth at least checking out.
That said: particularly fond of Ramsey Campbell's "The Guide" (with a shout-out to M. R. James), and P. W. Sinclair's "Getting Back" (apparently the author's only fiction credit at the time; they're listed as a humour columnist. I am saddened, as I would very much like to read more of their fiction). Worth at least checking out.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews