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Familiar Spirits
Says Galaxy's Edge: Gathered in this book are a number of really excellent ghost stories. This is not a book full of friendly or gentle ghosts. The “bump in the night” for most stories is really a solid smash. The collection begins with Sarah Hans’s tale of revenge by an abused and murdered woman and ends with Jean Rabe’s highly original story giving a ghost dog’s eye view of a murder set in one of the most fascinating locales ever, the Coon Dog graveyard in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Not a collection for the younger reader, Familiar Spirits will appeal to you with its darkness.Says Anton Cancre on "plenty of good ghastly tales" and, concerning Wren Roberts tale, "I made the mistake of reading this one while walking the dog and ended up weeping right there on the sidewalk."Magician and story-teller William Pack conceived of Familiar Spirits as an outgrowth and supplement to his spell-binding performances of magic and ghostly tales. Connecting with Writer on Demand Donald J. Bingle, they have invited a specially selected group of extremely talented writers to craft short tales and vivid manifestations to unsettle, spook, terrify, and haunt you in your dreams and in brightest day.Sometimes when the dead are laid to rest in peace, they refuse to go into that dark night. Instead, they lie in the cold earth, agitated and restless, angry about the past, conjuring up lists of wrongs to right and enemies to fright. In Familiar Spirits, you will find previously untold tales of ... rainy graveyards ... musty attics ... domestic abuse ... love unending ... speaking with the dead ... vengeful ghosts ... infatuation gone wrong ... and lonely spirits. And, you will meet a mother who refuses to abandon her child ... a jealous ex ... a sailor who seeks to escape his watery grave ... and your deepest fears.Includes stories from Sarah Hans, Dolores Whitt Becker, William Pack, Lynne Handy, Wren Roberts, Kate Johnson, Cathy Kern, Ric Waters, TS Rhodes, Melanie Waghorne, and Jean Rabe.What makes ghost stories give readers shivers more than any other stories? After all, vampire and werewolf and monster tales can be plenty creepy, too. Perhaps it's because we always know, deep in the back of our subconscious, that vampires and werewolves and monsters aren't real. They're fiction. But, the same isn't true for ghost stories. Almost every culture believes in ghosts and has myths and tales about them. Almost everyone has had, or personally knows someone who has had, a ghostly or supernatural experience. We believe in ghosts, so we believe in ghost stories. And that makes it so much harder to go to sleep after we've read what those familiar spirits may be up to in the midst of deepest night in the woods, down the street, and in our own homes. Join with these authors to bring Familiar Spirits to life ... or, perhaps, unholy afterlife from beyond the grave. Death is only the beginning for a familiar spirit, but it may be the end for those it seeks out on the mortal plane.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 2015
3 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
About the author
Donald J. Bingle
100 books100 followersDonald J. Bingle (sometimes credited as Don Bingle) is the author of Frame Shop, a mystery thriller set in a suburban writers' group, Net Impact, a spy thriller which incorporates real-world conspiracy theories, Wet Work, the follow-up adventure to Net Impact, GREENSWORD, a dark comedy about global warming, and Forced Conversion, a military science fiction novel set in the near future. He is also the co-author (with Jean Rabe) of The Love-Haight Case Files, an urban fantasy about the legal rights of supernatural creatures in a magical San Francisco. He has also written a variety of short fiction in the fantasy, science fiction, horror, and comedy genres, and also in gaming material, including stories in the Dragonlance and Transformers universes and in a variety of DAW themed anthologies. Many of his published stories have been collected by theme in his Writer on Demand TM series. He was the world's top-ranked player of RPGA Classic roleplaying game tournaments from 1985-2000.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 8, 2015
This collection was funded through Kickstarter, and I supported it. I chose both the electronic and a signed print version as my rewards. I think I got my money’s worth.
I’ve always liked ghost stories, although they used to scare me to death when I was a kid. I’ll admit when I pledged this particular project that I was expecting a slightly longer book. I guess I’ve gotten spoiled by the Ragnarok Publications doorstoppers.
But like I said, I think I got my money’s worth. With the exception of Jean Rabe, all of the authors in this volume were unfamiliar to me. All of the stories were of professional quality. With the exception of Jean Rabe’s offering, none of them tried anything fancy with voice or style. The authors, while each having a different voice, told their tales in a straight-forward manner. There were plenty of chills to be had, and none of the ghosts could be mistaken for Casper. That’s a good thing.
Here’s what you get:
Sarah Hans tells of a battered wife’s revenge from the grave in “The Cold Earth”. A wife’s ex-husband still blames her for his troubles, even after he’s dead, in Dolores Whitt Becker’s “All I Have is a Photograph”. William Pack gives us a teenager’s first experience with the dead when he helps to clean out his recently deceased aunt’s house in “Stepping into October”. “Green Lady” by Lynne Handy tells the story of a new wife’s encounter with a vengeful ghost after she moves to America to take up residence on her new husband’s estate.
In “What Happened at the Lake”, Wren Roberts gives the terrifiying account of a mother with two autistic children, and what happens when the older child demands to know where his yonger brother is after the brother has drowned. This was one of the most chilling in the book because so much of the horror isn’t supernatural. Kate Johnson’s “The New Girl” goes exploring where she shouldn’t. “The Hut” by Cathy Kern deals with a ski trip gone bad and a haunted ski hut. In “Legend of the Sea Captain”, Ric Waters lets us know why you shouldn’t go walking along the beach before dawn.
I’ve always had a fondness for cemeteries in my fiction, and T. S Rhodes delivers with “Statuary”. Melanie Waghorne shows us how “Irene” can find meaning in her life when the ghosts that only she can see and hear won’t leave her alone. And finally, Jean Rabe gives us some canine ghosts (and a pet cemetery) in the dark “Cold-Nosed and Cold-Hearted”. This one was written in a bit of dialect, something that’s fallen out of fashion, but I thought it added to the story and gave the narrator a unique voice.
Not all of the stories are scary, and some of them have a rather upbeat tone and/or ending. But the ones that are scary are quite chilling. Like I said, the book isn’t long, which means the stories are nice little October treats, just like all that candy you used to get on Halloween. But without the stomach ache the next morning.
As I mentioned earlier, I got both the print and electronic editions. I bounced back and forth between them, reading some stories at home in the paper book, and some in electronic format as I had a few free minutes throughout the day. The print book is a high quality product. The pages are sturdy paper, the cover has a deliciously creepy (and somewhat disturbing) cover, and the print has a font size that’s easy on my aging eyes. The electronic book is well formatted. The links in the ToC take you where they’re supposed to. All in all, both versions are a good buy.
I’ve always liked ghost stories, although they used to scare me to death when I was a kid. I’ll admit when I pledged this particular project that I was expecting a slightly longer book. I guess I’ve gotten spoiled by the Ragnarok Publications doorstoppers.
But like I said, I think I got my money’s worth. With the exception of Jean Rabe, all of the authors in this volume were unfamiliar to me. All of the stories were of professional quality. With the exception of Jean Rabe’s offering, none of them tried anything fancy with voice or style. The authors, while each having a different voice, told their tales in a straight-forward manner. There were plenty of chills to be had, and none of the ghosts could be mistaken for Casper. That’s a good thing.
Here’s what you get:
Sarah Hans tells of a battered wife’s revenge from the grave in “The Cold Earth”. A wife’s ex-husband still blames her for his troubles, even after he’s dead, in Dolores Whitt Becker’s “All I Have is a Photograph”. William Pack gives us a teenager’s first experience with the dead when he helps to clean out his recently deceased aunt’s house in “Stepping into October”. “Green Lady” by Lynne Handy tells the story of a new wife’s encounter with a vengeful ghost after she moves to America to take up residence on her new husband’s estate.
In “What Happened at the Lake”, Wren Roberts gives the terrifiying account of a mother with two autistic children, and what happens when the older child demands to know where his yonger brother is after the brother has drowned. This was one of the most chilling in the book because so much of the horror isn’t supernatural. Kate Johnson’s “The New Girl” goes exploring where she shouldn’t. “The Hut” by Cathy Kern deals with a ski trip gone bad and a haunted ski hut. In “Legend of the Sea Captain”, Ric Waters lets us know why you shouldn’t go walking along the beach before dawn.
I’ve always had a fondness for cemeteries in my fiction, and T. S Rhodes delivers with “Statuary”. Melanie Waghorne shows us how “Irene” can find meaning in her life when the ghosts that only she can see and hear won’t leave her alone. And finally, Jean Rabe gives us some canine ghosts (and a pet cemetery) in the dark “Cold-Nosed and Cold-Hearted”. This one was written in a bit of dialect, something that’s fallen out of fashion, but I thought it added to the story and gave the narrator a unique voice.
Not all of the stories are scary, and some of them have a rather upbeat tone and/or ending. But the ones that are scary are quite chilling. Like I said, the book isn’t long, which means the stories are nice little October treats, just like all that candy you used to get on Halloween. But without the stomach ache the next morning.
As I mentioned earlier, I got both the print and electronic editions. I bounced back and forth between them, reading some stories at home in the paper book, and some in electronic format as I had a few free minutes throughout the day. The print book is a high quality product. The pages are sturdy paper, the cover has a deliciously creepy (and somewhat disturbing) cover, and the print has a font size that’s easy on my aging eyes. The electronic book is well formatted. The links in the ToC take you where they’re supposed to. All in all, both versions are a good buy.
December 31, 2018
Eleven tales of shadowy encounters with those yet not moved on. Unfinished business, the need for revenge, or never-ending loneliness keeps them tethered to the plain of the living. Including works by Sarah Hans, Wren Roberts, Jean Rabe, Dolores Whitt Becker, Kate Johnson, and others.
(WARNING: This review contains minor spoilers.)
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I thank Donald J. Bingle for giving me the opportunity.
I didn't altogether dread this read, but I knew there was a good chance I wouldn't connect with it due to my personal thoughts on ghost stories; they tend to bore me with their predictability, and even though I don't avoid them, I'm forever in search of something new to the premise. To put it bluntly, I didn't anticipate my enjoyment of this at all. I'm happy to say, much to my delight, that Familiar Spirits added a great deal of variety, and I got the impression the intention was to include more unique and imaginative voices. The majority packed some form of emotional punch, be it domestic abuse, the loss of children, or the consequences of past crimes. More than once I almost teared up, and that's something I treasure in my reading experience.
Whilst I didn't outright dislike any, I considered some a bit weaker than others. Stepping into October by William Pack, Green Lady by Lynne Handy, and Legend of the Sea Captain by Ric Waters just didn't tickle my fancy all that much. They were wonderfully written, like all of the additions, but for me they didn't entail anything special.
My top three:
The Cold Earth by Sarah Hans - I have power in death I did not possess in life.
This was the first story in this anthology - a tale of vengeance from the grave - and I found myself glued to every word. The narrative was captivating, and the writing engaging. It was told from the perspective of the deceased, which immediately appealed to me. Who cares about the living? The dead are far more interesting; what they feel, how they think. They're often the villains, the evil force intent on causing harm, but what if there's more to it? I want more like this; short pieces that leave a mark.
What Happened at the Lake by Wren Roberts - She would play with him forever, if he would just come home.
Initially, this one actually shocked me. I didn't expect such painful honesty regarding the parenthood of disabled children. It definitely pulled on the heartstrings, and the aspects of horror were subtly weaved into a story of loss. This is where I first felt that nip at the back of my eyes, especially when it came to the ending.
Cold-Nosed and Cold-Hearted by Jean Rabe - "Troop's throaty sound had a way o' pulling in all the sadness in the world and sending it back out like a thousand women was wailing for men never coming home from war."
How could a story about ghostly dogs not make its way onto my favourites? I found the style of writing a little jarring at first, what with the emphasis on the accent, but I got used to it. One thing I should mention however, is that I wish it had ended differently. I think I would have really cried if it hadn't went down the path it did - the moment was ruined.
More of note: All I've Got is a Photograph by Dolores Whitt Becker, The New Girl by Kate Johnson, The Hut by Cathy Kern, Statuary by T.S. Rhodes, and Irene by Melaine Waghorne.
In conclusion: I was hoping my last read of 2018 would be a good one, and that came true. I thoroughly enjoyed the focal point on spirits affecting the lives of characters - there was a lot of emotion, proving that ghosts can indeed do more than move furniture.
© Red Lace 2018
Wordpress ~ Twitter
(WARNING: This review contains minor spoilers.)
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I thank Donald J. Bingle for giving me the opportunity.
I didn't altogether dread this read, but I knew there was a good chance I wouldn't connect with it due to my personal thoughts on ghost stories; they tend to bore me with their predictability, and even though I don't avoid them, I'm forever in search of something new to the premise. To put it bluntly, I didn't anticipate my enjoyment of this at all. I'm happy to say, much to my delight, that Familiar Spirits added a great deal of variety, and I got the impression the intention was to include more unique and imaginative voices. The majority packed some form of emotional punch, be it domestic abuse, the loss of children, or the consequences of past crimes. More than once I almost teared up, and that's something I treasure in my reading experience.
Whilst I didn't outright dislike any, I considered some a bit weaker than others. Stepping into October by William Pack, Green Lady by Lynne Handy, and Legend of the Sea Captain by Ric Waters just didn't tickle my fancy all that much. They were wonderfully written, like all of the additions, but for me they didn't entail anything special.
My top three:
The Cold Earth by Sarah Hans - I have power in death I did not possess in life.
This was the first story in this anthology - a tale of vengeance from the grave - and I found myself glued to every word. The narrative was captivating, and the writing engaging. It was told from the perspective of the deceased, which immediately appealed to me. Who cares about the living? The dead are far more interesting; what they feel, how they think. They're often the villains, the evil force intent on causing harm, but what if there's more to it? I want more like this; short pieces that leave a mark.
What Happened at the Lake by Wren Roberts - She would play with him forever, if he would just come home.
Initially, this one actually shocked me. I didn't expect such painful honesty regarding the parenthood of disabled children. It definitely pulled on the heartstrings, and the aspects of horror were subtly weaved into a story of loss. This is where I first felt that nip at the back of my eyes, especially when it came to the ending.
Cold-Nosed and Cold-Hearted by Jean Rabe - "Troop's throaty sound had a way o' pulling in all the sadness in the world and sending it back out like a thousand women was wailing for men never coming home from war."
How could a story about ghostly dogs not make its way onto my favourites? I found the style of writing a little jarring at first, what with the emphasis on the accent, but I got used to it. One thing I should mention however, is that I wish it had ended differently. I think I would have really cried if it hadn't went down the path it did - the moment was ruined.
More of note: All I've Got is a Photograph by Dolores Whitt Becker, The New Girl by Kate Johnson, The Hut by Cathy Kern, Statuary by T.S. Rhodes, and Irene by Melaine Waghorne.
In conclusion: I was hoping my last read of 2018 would be a good one, and that came true. I thoroughly enjoyed the focal point on spirits affecting the lives of characters - there was a lot of emotion, proving that ghosts can indeed do more than move furniture.
© Red Lace 2018
Wordpress ~ Twitter
October 8, 2015
First let me state that I was a Kickstarter backer for this anthology. I came across the project by accident in a search for horror projects. I had never heard of any of the author's before. Typically I find that anthologies are filled with some great stories and some weak stories, but not here! Every story was attention grabbing and delightfully haunting! Green Lady was a delight in it's unfolding, and The New Girl was delicious in it's ending. Statuary by T.S. Rhodes was my favorite in the whole book. While this book may be small in size (164 pages), it is big in it's literary telling. I loved it!
January 1, 2016
Enjoyable ghost stories, some of them from local authors. Strong writing from Bill Pack, TS Rhodes, and Dorey Becker. I particularly liked the historic flavor of Lynne Handy's "The Green Lady." Also bringing out local color of the South was my "Cold Nosed" favorite by Jean Rabe. Some creepy stuff and a few surprises throughout this anthology.
November 5, 2015
a great seasonal read!
October 2, 2022
Familiar Spirits is a most entertaining collection of ghost stories. More specifically, fans of ghost stories with edgier qualities, rather than reassuring outcomes, will find this a most satisfying anthology. These are stories where the people who encounter the spirit world come out changed as a result, and not usually happier for it.
Among the standout stories are William Pack's "Stepping into October," Lynne Handy's "The Green Lady," and Kate Johnson's "The New Girl." Ric Waters' "Legend of the Sea Captain" is reminiscent of F. Marion Crawford, although it could probably have used another page or so to ground the story in the legend alluded to in the title.
In all, Familiar Spirits is a fine choice for readers who like their ghosts to be menacing or otherwise dangerous.
Among the standout stories are William Pack's "Stepping into October," Lynne Handy's "The Green Lady," and Kate Johnson's "The New Girl." Ric Waters' "Legend of the Sea Captain" is reminiscent of F. Marion Crawford, although it could probably have used another page or so to ground the story in the legend alluded to in the title.
In all, Familiar Spirits is a fine choice for readers who like their ghosts to be menacing or otherwise dangerous.
March 12, 2024
Great cover that drew me in. Also loved the little warning at the beginning - gave me the creeps.
Unique storylines. No back-to-back repetitive tales of hauntings, they were all different! I liked how half the stories had happy endings, and half didn't. You never knew what to expect when starting the next one.
My two favorites were The New Girl by Kate Johnson. I wasn't ready for that one to end. I would read a whole novel about Lucy and Timothy. Also, the last story about the dog cemetery was so interesting, especially being based off a real place. The ending was very unexpected.
Unique storylines. No back-to-back repetitive tales of hauntings, they were all different! I liked how half the stories had happy endings, and half didn't. You never knew what to expect when starting the next one.
My two favorites were The New Girl by Kate Johnson. I wasn't ready for that one to end. I would read a whole novel about Lucy and Timothy. Also, the last story about the dog cemetery was so interesting, especially being based off a real place. The ending was very unexpected.
September 19, 2017
I saw William Pack at my local library last year. He was AWESOME! He was selling books, so I bought it.
This book is a collection of "ghost" stories, but some of them center around other spooky tales.
Many of the short stories are well written and really entertaining. That being said, some of them are just "meh."
It's a short read, so I like to pick it up and skim through my favorite stories and read them around this time of year. Spooky!
This book is a collection of "ghost" stories, but some of them center around other spooky tales.
Many of the short stories are well written and really entertaining. That being said, some of them are just "meh."
It's a short read, so I like to pick it up and skim through my favorite stories and read them around this time of year. Spooky!
April 27, 2018
Fun little collection of ghost stories from a variety of authors. Contains a nice range of stories ranging from the creepy and disturbing to the somewhat touching (in a way). Worth picking up if you want some good spine-chillers. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
October 21, 2016
I'm not a fan of short stories or the horror genre, but must give spectral love to these ghost stories, especially "The New Girl" by my sister, Kate Johnson.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews