What do you think?
Rate this book
Ghostographs: An Album
Fiction. Flash Fiction. Novella-in-Flash. Art. Photography. Hybrid Genre. Every old photo album contains a multitude of mysteries--the people who came before. Maria Romasco Moore's eerie and incandescent novella-in-flash GHOSTOGRAPHS is no exception. Brief, crystalline stories combine with vintage photographs to illuminate the hidden terrain of childhood and the pain of growing up, all in one small town at the edge of an abyss where the narrator comes of age among family, friends, and phantoms. It's a place populated with charming and unforgettable characters, where housewives send away for mail-order babies and young girls glow on front porches on hot summer nights. Where men get in staring contests with lamps and great aunts live in castles and collect haunted dogs. Where games of hide and seek refuse to end. It's a town full of secrets, where the hardships of adulthood threaten to invade the wild and magical domain of children. Haunting and evocative, funny and strange, the world of GHOSTOGRAPHS may be memory or might just be a trick of the light.
88 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 2018
8 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
September 12, 2019
DISAPPOINTINGLY LACKING IN GHOSTLINESS.
The photographs aren't especially interesting, either.
Moore's writing is clever, although not moving (at least to me). There are some nice phrases, images, ideas. It had a very "workshop" feel -- polished and defensive.
I appreciate that some of the very short stories end up intersecting later.
I would recommend this for readers who enjoy literary short fiction.
The photographs aren't especially interesting, either.
Moore's writing is clever, although not moving (at least to me). There are some nice phrases, images, ideas. It had a very "workshop" feel -- polished and defensive.
I appreciate that some of the very short stories end up intersecting later.
I would recommend this for readers who enjoy literary short fiction.
November 27, 2018
Haunting, as promised, with some exquisite pieces of short prose.
June 28, 2019
this is so weird but somehow still enjoyable??
December 7, 2018
Being that I am a person who does a great deal of reading on the subway, I have one surefire indicator for how good a book is, and Ghostographs hit the mark when it proved so engrossing that it made me miss my stop. These small, odd and wholly impossible to categorize stories and vignettes are quiet communications that I felt were being whispered to me as I read. The combination of old photographs and narrative create a web of surreality grounded in antique imagery and truly beautiful prose. I will definitely be reading anything Maria Romasco Moore writes next.
November 10, 2018
Simply wonderful! I devoured this in one sitting and look forward to re-reading passages in the coming days and beyond. I will read anything Maria Romasco Moore writes.
January 22, 2019
Ghostographs is called a novella-in-flash, and it's the first of its kind I've ever read. Maria Romasco Moore sets the bar high for those who follow.
Old photographs are paired with the flash fiction they inspired in this story about childhood in a small (Midwest?) town. Most of the flash pieces are charming and satisfy on their own, but they offer callbacks and touchpoints that, as a novella, resonate. Rather like individual instruments make up an orchestra performance. Sometimes speculative elements creep in, so that what seems a metaphor or exaggeration in one flash develops into full-fledged magic by the end. Other pieces--like "Tess" and "Hannah," about a girl who glows and a mail order baby, respectively--plunge right in to the wonder and never look back.
Despite the murky cover, Ghostographs has a clear through line in its depiction of the mundane turned strange by the inherent weirdness of childhood and family.
Old photographs are paired with the flash fiction they inspired in this story about childhood in a small (Midwest?) town. Most of the flash pieces are charming and satisfy on their own, but they offer callbacks and touchpoints that, as a novella, resonate. Rather like individual instruments make up an orchestra performance. Sometimes speculative elements creep in, so that what seems a metaphor or exaggeration in one flash develops into full-fledged magic by the end. Other pieces--like "Tess" and "Hannah," about a girl who glows and a mail order baby, respectively--plunge right in to the wonder and never look back.
Despite the murky cover, Ghostographs has a clear through line in its depiction of the mundane turned strange by the inherent weirdness of childhood and family.
October 19, 2023
A stunning collection of old photographs and flash, Ghostographs: an Album is exactly that. It truly felt like going through a stack of memories that I could almost smell. Less creepy and more haunting than expected. It is really beautiful work by Moore.
February 18, 2020
Could have been spookier, but still eerie and fantabulous. Gave me Madeline Is Sleeping vibes.
December 3, 2018
Ghosts that never were and still are
"The rain is full of ghosts tonight that tap and sigh upon the glass and listen for reply..." Edna St Vincent Millay. This book is the reply.
"The rain is full of ghosts tonight that tap and sigh upon the glass and listen for reply..." Edna St Vincent Millay. This book is the reply.
November 27, 2018
Weird and enthralling. I wish it didn't have to end so soon.
December 5, 2025
You might find it ironic to know that this is my third attempt at this review. Thanks to Goodreads' desktop version, the first two were wiped from existence. I was trying to explain how I intended on giving this book four stars-- enough for prose and premise, but not enough to loose my emotions from their stubborn tangles. And I wanted to show you how Moore's ghost must have heard me, because she proved me wrong. This town, this whimsical place of the past and all its riverside residents, all seem at first like surreal caricatures, but unexpectedly (though, at the outset, I should have expected it), they begin to change. And that-- I meant to tell you twice before-- is the moment they became human.
I leave those reviews in the past now. Like our selves of seconds before, they are only ghosts.
I learned something about light today. It's true what they say: there are different kinds. There's the kind that makes ghosts, bleaching them where they stand into pale approximations of who they really are. There's the kind that reveals them, stripping down all their layers of hiding until we can see their silver bones. And then, there's the kind you write with-- the literal translation of photography. Today, I learned what that light looks like in reverse: taking pictures with only words.
I leave those reviews in the past now. Like our selves of seconds before, they are only ghosts.
I learned something about light today. It's true what they say: there are different kinds. There's the kind that makes ghosts, bleaching them where they stand into pale approximations of who they really are. There's the kind that reveals them, stripping down all their layers of hiding until we can see their silver bones. And then, there's the kind you write with-- the literal translation of photography. Today, I learned what that light looks like in reverse: taking pictures with only words.
December 13, 2018
The people who grow very tall in the weeds, the corn stalk, the girl who glows so bright no one can bear to look directly at her—not to mention, she is always the first to be found during hide-and-seek.
About the time I began thinking I would have appreciated a through story, there it was. So there is a little bit of familiarity and a great deal of whimsical fun, a powerful thread, but only a thread of serious darkness.
These are kind of wonderful and a little bit of not enough. The book itself is slender, but there is also the sense of a clever person setting herself the assignment of: Look at this tatty old photo and make up a bizarre story about it. It is an assignment I would enjoy. No, wait, I've actually done that assignment. I had a photo of a pale Victorian bride and made up a story about her marriage to a man in Astoria, Oregon, where she is abused and eventually escape, a la Persephone. Maybe I will assign photos to my students!
Maybe only a 3.5 stars, but I will look forward to her next book.
About the time I began thinking I would have appreciated a through story, there it was. So there is a little bit of familiarity and a great deal of whimsical fun, a powerful thread, but only a thread of serious darkness.
These are kind of wonderful and a little bit of not enough. The book itself is slender, but there is also the sense of a clever person setting herself the assignment of: Look at this tatty old photo and make up a bizarre story about it. It is an assignment I would enjoy. No, wait, I've actually done that assignment. I had a photo of a pale Victorian bride and made up a story about her marriage to a man in Astoria, Oregon, where she is abused and eventually escape, a la Persephone. Maybe I will assign photos to my students!
Maybe only a 3.5 stars, but I will look forward to her next book.
August 19, 2023
Every story is a ghost story--Maria Romasco Moore
Moore likes to go to yard sales to buy and collect old photographs. Black and white photos, fading, sepia. Not sharp images such as are made by I-phone cameras, or two thousand dollar Nikons (unless you mess with the settings to make the images distorted). Then Moore writes fictional prose poems to accompany the ones she chose for this book. And some of them are linked.
They aren't particularly spooky, no fault of Moore's, given her premise, that all stories are or contain "ghosts" of the past. I was looking for spooky, but the writing is still good.
PS: It is a standby of creative writing classes to ask students to bring in old photos (or give them magazines with photos) and ask them to tell or make up stories about the photos. I've done that. And written from photos myself. This is a good example of that.
Moore likes to go to yard sales to buy and collect old photographs. Black and white photos, fading, sepia. Not sharp images such as are made by I-phone cameras, or two thousand dollar Nikons (unless you mess with the settings to make the images distorted). Then Moore writes fictional prose poems to accompany the ones she chose for this book. And some of them are linked.
They aren't particularly spooky, no fault of Moore's, given her premise, that all stories are or contain "ghosts" of the past. I was looking for spooky, but the writing is still good.
PS: It is a standby of creative writing classes to ask students to bring in old photos (or give them magazines with photos) and ask them to tell or make up stories about the photos. I've done that. And written from photos myself. This is a good example of that.
January 15, 2025
"Every story is a ghost story. Even the ones you tell about yourself."
This collection of southern gothic-y flash fiction deals in themes typical of the genre — decay, dereliction, and death — but Moore presents them in a manner that's.... delicate, in a way. Though they're eerie, these stories feel comfortable and familiar, even charming. It might be related to the thesis laid out at the book's start: we are all obliterated and refreshed each instant of our lives, and what do ghosts have to fear from other ghosts? This is an atmospheric and lightning-fast read, but it's lingered with me long after I put it down. It's a little bit like a phantom in that way.
This collection of southern gothic-y flash fiction deals in themes typical of the genre — decay, dereliction, and death — but Moore presents them in a manner that's.... delicate, in a way. Though they're eerie, these stories feel comfortable and familiar, even charming. It might be related to the thesis laid out at the book's start: we are all obliterated and refreshed each instant of our lives, and what do ghosts have to fear from other ghosts? This is an atmospheric and lightning-fast read, but it's lingered with me long after I put it down. It's a little bit like a phantom in that way.
February 17, 2020
An inventive and expertly crafted (connected) collection of ekphrastic flash stories that build into a strange, but familiar world. I was impressed by how a book about photos and ghosts managed to steer (mostly) clear of sentimentality and melodrama. There are many, many beautiful sentences in this short book.
"When I looked at my great aunt I did not see something diminishing, but something emerging from where it had long been buried." - from "Aunt Millie"
"When I looked at my great aunt I did not see something diminishing, but something emerging from where it had long been buried." - from "Aunt Millie"
October 3, 2020
Mini short stories accompany reproductions of vintage photographs in this novella-in-flash. While each story is a vignette of magical realism that stands on its own, the stories are linked through call-backs to previous pieces. As you continue to read, a portrait begins to emerge of a small town standing at the edge of an abyss. The collection is haunting, strange, and weird. Very much to my liking.
July 25, 2023
I can't gush enough about this gem. I picked it up randomly at the library, and it blew my expectations out of the water. I thought it'd be a fun but cliche bunch of little spooky stories inspired by creepy photos, but Romasco Moore manages to build an entire town to life with surgical sorcery. I was floored and read it in a single day. Her writing and imagination are some of the best I've found.
December 26, 2018
Holy cow is this good. Moore found a box of old photographs and constructed a magical realist history from. There is wonderful humor in this book, I laughed out loud many times. The stories are wonderfully connected to the images and to each other.
Note, the book is very short. Novella would be too long to describe it. However, I have gotten more joy from this than many much longer reads.
Note, the book is very short. Novella would be too long to describe it. However, I have gotten more joy from this than many much longer reads.
July 27, 2020
Beautifully constructed prose beside evocative old photographs make for a small and perfectly formed gem of a novella-in-flash. There’s an appropriately haunting tone to the whole piece and even though it would work as a collection of standalone flash, the connective tissue between many of the stories adds another layer to the book. Another gem from Rose Metal Press.
July 18, 2025
I loved the presentation and layout of this book - an antique photo for each story. When I read the author's statement about how she created this book from old photos she found in a Whitman's Chocolates box at an antique store, it was even more fascinating. It's a clever idea, and she pulled it off perfectly.
June 18, 2021
Fictional vignettes of ghost children. "Ice casts a light, as does stone. Some light is dangerous. Some light is safe." I think everything Rose Metal Press puts out is beautiful and haunted, as a rule?
November 3, 2022
Brilliant
Loved this escape. The photos bring extra depth to some wonderful flash stories. It all combines into something magical. One I’ll return to and an author I’ll follow with interest.
Loved this escape. The photos bring extra depth to some wonderful flash stories. It all combines into something magical. One I’ll return to and an author I’ll follow with interest.
August 12, 2025
This book was artfully written and had such a subtle haunting feeling that felt beautiful at the same time. I truly enjoyed this layout and that each page and photo was its own story essentially but they were all connected together.
February 6, 2019
This book is amazing
October 13, 2019
Haunting little book of prose poems inspired by old photos found on a box.
March 24, 2020
strange and yet knowable, a world effortlessly created that is just a step to the left of our own, or maybe a tiny mirror world inside a puddle in a cornfield. wonderfully executed concept.
September 17, 2021
I've never read anything like it. Every photo has a limitless story behind it. Every story stands alone AND weaves it's way into an immensely unique novella.
September 5, 2022
I can liked the idea of this a lot.
September 10, 2022
Loved this. Poignant, charming, and strange.
May 24, 2024
Short as in a page or two. Querky vignettes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews