I Was Alive Here Once: Ghost Stories

Calico Series

by Sarah Coolidge (Editor)

A midwife is awoken one night to help a djinn give birth (Yemen). Ghosts of “loose-haired” women wander the newly erected border after the fall of the Soviet Union (Uzbekistan). A water ghost bound to a creek falls for the ghost of a girl wandering the surrounding forest, which is in danger of being destroyed (South Korea).


With an expansive view of our haunted world, I Was Alive Here Once breathes new life into familiar tropes and brings fresh perspectives to the borderlands between life and death. In eight contemporary stories from eight different countries, this collection embraces the paradoxical nature of ghosts: as specters of collective memory or collective amnesia, as traces of our past or future, as vengeful or protective, victims or monsters.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction

216 pages, Paperback

Published March 10, 2026

Reviews

[Erin Talamantes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me wayyy too long to read.
My favorite story was A Swamp’s Love. I didn’t feel like any of the other stories really stood out.

[Emilie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A diverse collection of modern spooky tales from all over the world—not quite like anything I have ever read before. An interesting way to get a small peek into other cultures and how they engage with the subject. I am not a horror person at all but these were more eerie and surreal rather than frightening. Perfect read for Halloween time. I wish it was out already for me to recommend for spooky season!

[mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost stories are relevant again! I'm a big fan of the re-emerging ghost story trend and I loved this collection. It presents refreshing takes on the genre that also illustrate the cultural differences in how the line between life and death is viewed around the world. A gem. Two lines press, I love you.

[nasim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting collection. I think these could have been introduced with a paragraph of contextualization for the reader or even an introduction. Worth reading, wonderfully creative stories

[lee_readsbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book on a whim and ended up loving it far more than I expected. What began as a collection of ghost stories became a journey through different cultures, voices, and also ways of understanding grief, memory, loneliness, and the supernatural.
The Japanese and Korean stories reminded me of why I love reading translated fiction so much, but what really surprised me were the Swahili and Thai stories (the last two stories). I think it was my first time reading anything originally written in Swahili, and both stories have left me wanting to explore more from these cultures.
These aren’t horror stories in the traditional sense. They’re quiet, atmospheric, and melancholic. Many of them felt more haunting emotionally than frightening or scary.
This is one of those rare collections that doesn’t just give you great stories, it opens doors to entirely new reading paths.

[Misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘I Was Alive Here Once’ breaks from the traditional ghost stories of the English-speaking world. The stories here, from Thailand, Uzbekistan, Tanzania, Iceland, Korea, etc., are very much rooted in their own cultures, with manifestations of spirits that are often unrecognizable to those used to the usual tropes and archetypes of Western ghost stories. And that’s what I appreciate most about this collection, that it’s not trying to fit into the genre as defined by the West.

These tales are not spooky as much as they are melancholic, and I enjoyed some more than others. On a personal level, these stories are riddled with grief and loss of identity. On a political level, they explore ecological loss, gender violence, and militarized borders; laced with anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism. These stories make one feel horrified, yes, but more at what we are seeing unfold across the world now than at anything supernatural. For what is crueller than mankind?

[Shaurya Chauhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some gas some ass

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atmospheric and structurally innovative ghost stories from all over the world. This is another great entry from the Calico series at Two Lines Press.

[Slestein]

it's a g-g-g-ghost!