Ghost Box II

The Ghost Box #2

by Patton Oswalt (Editor)

Less apple, more razor blade.

The Ghost Box returns, like a mummy or a batman, to once again make your pupils dilate and the hair on your arms stand straight up—it’s another collection of individually bound scary stories, edited and introduced by comedian and spooky specialist Patton Oswalt.

Ghost Box II includes stories by:

Gertrude Atherton
Louisa Baldwin
Robert Hugh Benson
Tananarive Due
Harlan Ellison
Janet Fox
Patricia Highsmith
Joe Hill
Stephen King
Julius Long
Michael Shea

Like last year, each handmade box features a matte-black finish, an iridescent colour-shifting foil stamp on top, and a magnetized lid. The booklets once again have debossed design details and are bound with brass staples. This year’s edition also includes a ribbon bookmark, of which we’re pretty fond.

Genres: Short Stories

Published October 1, 2018

About the author

Patton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor.

His first wife was the late Michelle McNamara.

Reviews

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest anthologies I’ve ever read, a perfect marriage between Patton Oswalt’s incredible taste and the brilliant design of Hingston & Olsen’s design team. I got to not only read a NIGHT SHIFT classic from Stephen King and explore writers like Harlan Ellison that I’ve been meaning to check out for a long time, but I also found a couple of new writers here that show a lot of promise. I can’t recommend this enough, and I look forward to making this a Hallowe’en tradition in the years to come.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another meticulously designed, curiously curated collection of tales that go bump in the night. Some of these definitely bump a little harder than others (that Stephen King addition was downright disappointing, even if it had a visually frightening ending) -- and I'm not sure I buy Patton's note in the introduction about trying to shed light on some unsung members of the horror community when there are only 11 stories in the collection and authors this year included Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Joe Hill, and Patricia Highsmith. Although Highsmith, you could argue, isn't seen as a horror writer and the story included here does change a reader's mind about that for sure. And the other 7 authors were all nearly unknown to me, especially some of the pre-1900s/early-1900s tales. So, yeah, okay, I guess I see what he was getting up to.

I'm hopeful that H&O makes a yearly tradition out of this (although I don't know maybe my wallet isn't so hopeful).

[Sue Dix · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second in this series of boxed, scary short stories, edited by Patton Oswalt, this box was much scarier than last year’s. There are a few super ghost stories, some creepy creatures, and monstrous humans. One of my favorite and eeriest stories, is by Tananarive Due. This is a great October read.

[Nancy Laflamme · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories were selected with care. The Ghost Box II offered different styles and approaches to dark writing which kept my daily reading fun and diverse. There were some memorable stories which will no doubt stay with me for a while.

[Kelly Macfarlane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good follow-up to last year's Ghost Box. The Uncle Tuggs story and The Quest for Blank Claveringi were especially good. Here's hoping there will be another outing next year!

I really like the concept of the Ghost Box --- a collection of spooky stories beautifully presented; this is a companion piece, so to speak, to the Christmas Short Story Advent Calendar, and let's hope that both will become annual traditions.

[Laura Frey (Reading in Bed) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story collections are always a mixed bag, but there were a couple memorable ones in here, and overall I liked the quality of the writing better than the first Ghost Box. Some of the stories were not super scary, but had a distinct voice that was compelling enough with out the jump scares. And it's beautiful!

[meleah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Barbara McVeigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite stories from this year’s collection are:
“Abraham’s Boys” by Joe Hill & “From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet” by Harlan Ellison.

[Kim Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

The design of the box and its little books is lovely. The stories vary wildly in style and subject. Some I really enjoyed, but others were disappointing.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please sell me your copy, thanks!

I’m looking for a copy of this set of short stories, please get in touch, thanks