Ghost Hedgehog

by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Goni Montes (Illustrator)

With all the places ghosts could go, why do they keep hanging around me?At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Ghosts, Paranormal, Fiction, Adult, Urban Fantasy

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 16, 2011

About the author

Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s first solo novel, The Thread That Binds the Bones (1993), won the Bram Stoker Award for first novel; her second novel, The Silent Strength of Stones (1995) was a finalist for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. A Red Heart of Memories (1999, part of her “Matt Black” series), nominated for a World Fantasy Award, was followed by sequel Past the Size of Dreaming in 2001. Much of her work to date is short fiction, including “Matt Black” novella “Unmasking” (1992), nominated for a World Fantasy Award; and “Matt Black” novelette “Home for Christmas” (1995), nominated for the Nebula, World Fantasy, and Sturgeon awards. In addition to writing, Hoffman has taught, worked part-time at a B. Dalton bookstore, and done production work on The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. An accomplished fiddle player, she has played regularly at various granges near her home in Eugene, Oregon.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the shades had colors in them and looked more like people. Those were the ones I’d been ducking since I learned to walk.

Although I remembered one shady fady lady who had hovered near my bed when I was really little and told me all kinds of strange stories I couldn’t understand at first, and later when I could, I realized they were kind of scary, although the kids in the stories sometimes survived. She wouldn’t come in my room if Mom or Dad were there reading me to sleep. Sometimes I preferred my parents’ stories, and sometimes I wanted Vo-Ma’s. She left, though, when I was about four, and I never knew why. Mom didn’t understand what I was crying about.

quick review for a quick short!

i loved this one - it's a story old as time - a young boy plagued by ghosts and the demands they make on him just cuz he can see them and they can't do anything with their incorporeal fingies and vocal cords, but hoffman makes it fresh and fun and funny and i liked it even though there was not a single hedgehog to be seen. figure of speech-hedgehogs, pppbbbbllltttt to you!

i've never read hoffman before, but i just discovered how many free shorts she has available on various sites, so i am going to be peppering my 2018 short story advent calendar with those, for sure.

in the comments section to this story on the tor page, time-stamped 2011, hoffman pops on to graciously accept all the praise from fans, and says:

I read this aloud at World Fantasy and people liked it, so I am working on a book about Jack...Thanks for the enthusiasm!

WHERE THIS BOOK AT, HOFFMAN??

i mean, i couldn't find a listing for it, but i might have just missed it. if anyone knows anything, let me know, please, because i would like to read it!

read it for yourself here:

https://www.tor.com/2011/11/16/ghost-...

come to my blog!

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disappointingly absent any actual hedgehogs, living or dead, but otherwise an excellent (if not particularly novel) story. I'd be open to reading a longer book or collection about Jack and Mrs. J.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

No true hedgehogs unfortunately, but rather a tale of unfinished business after death and a boy called Jack who can see dead people. Unfortunately one of those dead people is his mean old teacher who has a habit of complaining and making Jack stand up straight.

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Day 17 in my 24 Days of Shorts

Mrs. Jernigan, my fifth-grade teacher, was the first ghost who hooked on to me.

My best friend Mike and I were sitting in the back corner of the classroom like always, near the window and a little beyond the range of Mrs. Jernigan’s chalk-throwing accuracy. We were sitting behind tall girls, so we could duck, too. The old radiator ticked beside me without letting out much heat, and the fluorescent lights buzzed and flickered. Mrs. Jernigan, a brown mountain behind her desk up front, stood and read to us from an account of the Battle of Concord; her voice droned. Spring was waiting just outside the window, but the day was rainy, so I wasn’t totally longing to be outside the way I usually did.

This was so so good. It has all the warmth and complexity of a full-length novel.

The last line is:

”Lesson one,” she said.

and I hope that Hoffman is hard at work finishing the novel that this wants to become. I want to read all the lessons.



read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2011/11/16/ghost-...



My 24 Days of Shorts
1. File N°002 by Sylvain Neuvel
2. File N°247 by Sylvain Neuvel
3. Skinner Box by Carole Johnstone
4. The Weight of Memories by Liu Cixin
5. A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong
6. If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho
7. Meat And Salt And Sparks by Rich Larson
8. Seven Birthdays by Ken Liu
9. Where Would You Be Now? by Carrie Vaughn
10. Old Media by Annalee Newitz
11. Nine Last Days on Planet Earth by Daryl Gregory
12. Sweetlings by Lucy Taylor
13. An Unexpected Honor by Ursula Vernon
14. Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang
15. A Love Story by Samantha Hunt
16. The Lake by Tananarive Due
17. Ghost Hedgehog by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
18. Finnegan's Field by Angela Slatter
19. Among the Thorns by Veronica Schanoes
20. Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma
21. The Mothers of Voorhisville by Mary Rickert
22. As Good as New by Charlie Jane Anders
23. Twixt Firelight and Water by Juliet Marillier
24. The Christmas Show by Pat Cadigan

[Jannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 Tor Short Story

The absolutely sucked me in right till the end and I dont want to let go yet. I hope theres sequels T_T

Since its a short story all I will say is its about 11 year old Jack who can see shades of dead people and ghosts also decide to stick to him like glue. Weird, and different with a sympathetic bent.
(Read online here: https://www.tor.com/2011/11/16/ghost-...)

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

#23 short story from tor.com.

Really liked this ghost story, and enjoyed spending time with Jack, the main character. His ghostly teacher as a hoot: "Stand up straight!"

I want to read more about Jack.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

re-read again in Dec 2012 -- VERY cool story ... hell, it's Nina, what to expect?

read 12/28/2012
re-read 3/28/2013
re-read 5/6/2014
re-read 2/24/2015

[Chaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good! I was very impressed with this story, especially with how short it is.

[Quỳnh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghost Hedgehog (Con nhím ma): Nếu người chết có thể tới bất cứ đâu, tại sao họ cứ quanh quẩn bên Jack thế?

Một câu chuyện Tôi nhìn thấy người chết và giải quyết rắc rối giúp họ điển hình, một tập pilot cho series “Lời thì thầm của những bóng ma” - đúng kiểu nội dung mà mình thích đọc. Và đúng như kỳ vọng, truyện có một chút hài hước, một ít triết lý và đôi chỗ cảm động, hơi tiếc là không có miếng kinh dị nào.

Vậy vấn đề lớn nhất của Nhím Ma là gì? Tuy là chương mở đầu phù hợp cho một cuốn tiểu thuyết, nhưng nếu chỉ xem xét với tư cách một truyện ngắn độc lập, thì nó không có gì mới mẻ đặc sắc cả. Trong lúc đọc, mình đã mong chờ một ngã rẽ nơi cốt truyện, một nhân vật thật đáng nhớ, một dấu ấn riêng của tác giả giữa câu chuyện ma dễ chịu nhưng bám chặt kịch bản này. Song đến tận cuối thì nó vẫn chưa thể bứt phá khỏi vòng an toàn của mình.

“Mặc dù tôi nhớ rằng khi mình còn rất nhỏ, có một cái bóng phụ nữ mờ mờ hay lảng vảng gần giường tôi và kể cho tôi nghe đủ loại câu chuyện kỳ dị mà lúc đầu tôi không hiểu được, và sau này khi hiểu ra, tôi nhận thấy chúng khá đáng sợ, dù đôi lúc những đứa trẻ trong truyện cũng sống sót. Bà ta sẽ không vào phòng tôi nếu có bố mẹ ở đó đọc sách ru tôi ngủ. Đôi khi tôi thích những câu chuyện của bố mẹ, đôi khi tôi muốn những câu chuyện của bà ma. Dù vậy, bà ta đã rời đi lúc tôi khoảng bốn tuổi, vì lý do gì tôi không biết. Mẹ đã không hiểu tôi khóc vì điều gì.”

[surfmadpig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fresh retelling of the Sixth Sense story (which I bet was a deliberate or not retelling of another story). Short and sweet and fun.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A middle schooler with the unfortunate ability to speak to and see ghosts describe the experience as being like having quills the ghosts hang onto. After witnessing his teacher die in class, she becomes one of his ghosts. Heart-tugging, especially if you know and love someone, as I have, with Altzhimer's or dementia, and written with compassion and a touch of the shivers, if you want to spend a little time with a couple of ghosts, this is a solid story.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short story about a boy who can communicate with ghosts. His teacher dies in class, and she becomes a mentor for him and for the ghosts that are attached to him. I know it has been done before but this was was especially engaging. I have to look up more by Ms. Hoffman.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I want is more...

[Sas astro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not many authors can draw me into a short story (I prefer novel length books) however Nina Kiri Hoffman can and did with this story

[Jeremy Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good short story. Well written, decent character development, a little bit of teary eyes, and hints of a much bigger world. Well done.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whereas some authors write twenty books based on one idea until it's flogged and completely ran into the ground, Nina Kiriki Hoffman has become notorious to me for crafting fascinating short stories, with fully-realized characters, and never giving them a novel of their own. Ghost Hedgehog was one of the stories I would definitely like continued. Sometimes she does write interconnected stories. Hopefully the creative muse will bring her back this way for more.

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been in love with Nina Kiriki Hoffman's work like seemingly forever... and I believe that I read this book when Tor first released it in 2011... And it's still available free at Tor.com or you can purchase it wherever ebook are sold...
Jack has a Ghost Problem... get the story and find your next favorite fantasy author!

[Keyreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea why, but all I could think about was the movie "GhostBusters" while reading this one. Yes, Slimer was on the brain the whole time!
And,this is nothing like that movie. It's more relate-able to the movie "The Sixth Sense." "I see dead people..."

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story. And I even teared up a little at the end.
I think I'm ready to read more about these characters, if there are any follow-up stories (or maybe a novel).

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good read, as expected of Ms. Hoffman's work(s). I'd be interested in reading more stories of this character with an affinity for ghosts either as shorts or full novels.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not normally read books about ghosts, but this short story caught my eye on Tor.com and it was really interesting. When I finished it, I found myself wishing she had written more.

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's only problem is being too short

[Nathanael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humorous and surprisingly poignant short story about a boy who sees ghosts. I'd love to read more about these characters, especially with the sequel hook of sorts that appears at the end.