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Peripheral Visions: The Collected Ghost Stories
Peripheral Visions is a reference collection that includes all of Australian dark fantasy writer Robert Hood's 44 ghost stories to date, three of them especially written for this volume. It is divided into six thematic sections, each section featuring an evocative, disturbing illustration by noted artist, Nick Stathopoulos, who also designed the cover. It includes an introduction by World Fantasy Award-winning editor Danel Olson, a Preface from the author, detailed notes on each story and a complete bibliography of previous publications, awards and commendations. It is also available in trade paperback (in two volumes) and as an ebook.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
836 pages, Hardcover
First published April 6, 2015
20 people want to read
About the author
Robert Hood
112 books36 followersRobert Hood has been a published writer for several decades, with a long list of short stories and a few novels to his name. Though focused on Australia, he publishes anywhere he can and currently has books and stories in the US and UK. His books include the short story collections Day-dreaming on Company Time, Immaterial Ghost Stories, Creeping in Reptile Flesh and the career-spanning ghost story collection Peripheral Visions: The Collected Ghost Stories. Novels include Backstreets and the epic dark fantasy novel Fragments of a Broken Land Valarl Undead. He also co-edited the award-winning anthology Daikaiju Giant Monster Tales and its sequels.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 13, 2016
Peripheral Visions, Volume One, consists of three themed sections; Haunted Places, Haunted Families, and Haunted Minds. In this tome, Robert Hood offers us an array of ghost stories written between 1988 and 2015. There is an impressive degree of variation on show here, from hauntingly atmospheric works of prose to spooky plot-driven ghost stories to science-fiction of the spiritual kind. Robert Hood's writing is stylish, darkly poetic, and often deeply emotional, and the nature of the ghosts in his stories range from tangible apparitions to pure hallucination.
As I generally do when it comes to ghost stories, I found Robert's subtler tales to be his spookiest and most evocative. The only criticism of this collection would be that some of the twist endings won't come as a surprise to readers who are familiar with the genre.
The highlights for me are Necropolis, a doom-and-gloom tale with a punk edge to it from the 1980s, Nobody's Car, a haunting story about an abandoned automobile, Touched, a timeless haunted house story, Maculate Conception, a strange tale about a stained wall, Monstrous Bright Tomorrows, a work of prose rich in metaphor and symbolism, and Last Remains, a haunting tale about moths and human relationships.
As I generally do when it comes to ghost stories, I found Robert's subtler tales to be his spookiest and most evocative. The only criticism of this collection would be that some of the twist endings won't come as a surprise to readers who are familiar with the genre.
The highlights for me are Necropolis, a doom-and-gloom tale with a punk edge to it from the 1980s, Nobody's Car, a haunting story about an abandoned automobile, Touched, a timeless haunted house story, Maculate Conception, a strange tale about a stained wall, Monstrous Bright Tomorrows, a work of prose rich in metaphor and symbolism, and Last Remains, a haunting tale about moths and human relationships.
November 15, 2015
Ghost stories are a hard thing to get right. So many rely on cliques and movie-type scares and in the end are either to predictable or not scary at all. Then there's Peripheral Visions by Robert Hood. Not only is there a good ghost story in here, the whole book (which is quite hefty, mind you) is packed with amazing and well thought out stories. There are haunting ones, creepy ones and others that'll make you want to sleep with the light on. This is a book you'll want to read again and again.
June 21, 2020
In Peripheral Visions, Robert Hood displays his reputation as a master of disquiet and uncertainty. As the collection’s title suggests, these 44 short stories focus on the things that are almost out of sight—things not quite dead, not quite gone, and not quite harmless.
Some standout stories of the collection include time-travelling ghosts, the daughters of Gods, murderous cartoon characters, Dreamtime demons of the Outback and a post-organic future that can’t shake the echoes of their human past.
Hood brings his uniquely gothic blend of Australiana to each telling, holding the reader in a state of anticipation between what is real and what is not. Like the title suggests, these stories focus on the dangers we glimpse out of the corner of our eye, remaining uncertain of our sanity until the moment we’re forced to confront whatever it is we didn’t wish to see.
These stories share a fixation on death and terror, but there is also a deep and multi-hued exploration of regret, bitterness and loss throughout the collection. Several of the stories even bring a kind of optimistic fatalism, for example ‘Touched’ which also features heavily recursive elements to bring it’s primary character to her fate.
In fact, recursion appears often in these stories, whether as the vehicle for terror (sometimes literally, as in ‘Nobody’s Car’) or as the connecting sinew between the luckless protagonists and their often ignoble ends (as in ‘Resonance of the Flesh’).
It’s perhaps suitable, in a book that collects dozens of previously published tales, that these recursive stories are some of the most haunting and promise to linger with the reader long after the final page.
Fans of horror and the supernatural will want to sit down with this collection when they’re home alone with the lights low and the dying nip of winter still hanging in the air.
This review initially appeared in Aurealis Magazine #125
Some standout stories of the collection include time-travelling ghosts, the daughters of Gods, murderous cartoon characters, Dreamtime demons of the Outback and a post-organic future that can’t shake the echoes of their human past.
Hood brings his uniquely gothic blend of Australiana to each telling, holding the reader in a state of anticipation between what is real and what is not. Like the title suggests, these stories focus on the dangers we glimpse out of the corner of our eye, remaining uncertain of our sanity until the moment we’re forced to confront whatever it is we didn’t wish to see.
These stories share a fixation on death and terror, but there is also a deep and multi-hued exploration of regret, bitterness and loss throughout the collection. Several of the stories even bring a kind of optimistic fatalism, for example ‘Touched’ which also features heavily recursive elements to bring it’s primary character to her fate.
In fact, recursion appears often in these stories, whether as the vehicle for terror (sometimes literally, as in ‘Nobody’s Car’) or as the connecting sinew between the luckless protagonists and their often ignoble ends (as in ‘Resonance of the Flesh’).
It’s perhaps suitable, in a book that collects dozens of previously published tales, that these recursive stories are some of the most haunting and promise to linger with the reader long after the final page.
Fans of horror and the supernatural will want to sit down with this collection when they’re home alone with the lights low and the dying nip of winter still hanging in the air.
This review initially appeared in Aurealis Magazine #125
September 22, 2023
I recently read the limited edition three volume collection Peripheral Visions: The Collected Ghost Stories by Australian horror author Robert Hood.
This limited edition collection spans forty years of Robert Hood’s ghost story writing with 44 tales covering six different themes of haunting in the horror genre. There are many brilliant stories within each section that focuses on a variety of themes including Haunted Places, Haunted Families, Haunted Minds, Haunted Youth, Haunted Vengeance and Haunted Realities. Some of my favourites included Haunted Places, Haunted Minds, Haunted Youth and Haunted Vengeance. The scope of aspects that Hood delves into in these stories includes the deeply psychological, historical and, at times, what felt like a deeply personal venture in the haunted mind.
Review
Peripheral Visions is a sweeping three volume collection of divided into themes on the horror genre of Haunting. There are some of the most unique, darkly humorous and chilling ghost stories I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Hood delivers a masterclass in ghost stories with brilliant prose that keeps the pace of this three volume collection moving with a deft storyteller’s hand.
Conclusion
This was a fabulous, wide-ranging collection of ghost stories and hauntings by one of the best horror authors in the business. Highly recommended!
This limited edition collection spans forty years of Robert Hood’s ghost story writing with 44 tales covering six different themes of haunting in the horror genre. There are many brilliant stories within each section that focuses on a variety of themes including Haunted Places, Haunted Families, Haunted Minds, Haunted Youth, Haunted Vengeance and Haunted Realities. Some of my favourites included Haunted Places, Haunted Minds, Haunted Youth and Haunted Vengeance. The scope of aspects that Hood delves into in these stories includes the deeply psychological, historical and, at times, what felt like a deeply personal venture in the haunted mind.
Review
Peripheral Visions is a sweeping three volume collection of divided into themes on the horror genre of Haunting. There are some of the most unique, darkly humorous and chilling ghost stories I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Hood delivers a masterclass in ghost stories with brilliant prose that keeps the pace of this three volume collection moving with a deft storyteller’s hand.
Conclusion
This was a fabulous, wide-ranging collection of ghost stories and hauntings by one of the best horror authors in the business. Highly recommended!
October 19, 2024
This brilliant collection from one of Australian horror's elder statesmen should be required reading for fans of Antipodean horror and ghosts alike. Hood consistently explores the themes of death and loss through his ghostly fiction, and the 44 tales herein are guaranteed to elicit an emotional response from any reader, whether it be one of fear or sorrow or nostalgia. A must-read volume of iconic ghost stories.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews