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The Ghost Box #3
Ghost Box III
Oh god, it’s right behind me, isn’t it? There’s no use trying to run from Ghost Box III, the terrifying conclusion to our series of limited-edition horror box sets edited and introduced by Patton Oswalt.
Ghost Box III includes:
Gertrude Atherton, “The Foghorn”
Charles Beaumont, “The Vanishing American”
Poppy Z. Brite, “Bayou de la Mere”
Dennis Etchison, “It Only Comes Out at Night”
Fritz Leiber, “A Defense of Werewolves”
Livia Llewellyn, “It Feels Better Biting Down”
Richard Matheson, “The Distributor”
Saki, “Sredni Vashtar”
David J. Schow, “Last Call for the Sons of Shock”
Terence Taylor, “WET PAIN”
James Tiptree, Jr., “The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Awful Things to Rats”
Just like the first two instalments, Ghost Box III is available in a one-time print run. Our deluxe clamshell box includes an iridescent, colour-shifting ink foil, a ribbon bookmark, and a magnetized lid.
Ghost Box III includes:
Gertrude Atherton, “The Foghorn”
Charles Beaumont, “The Vanishing American”
Poppy Z. Brite, “Bayou de la Mere”
Dennis Etchison, “It Only Comes Out at Night”
Fritz Leiber, “A Defense of Werewolves”
Livia Llewellyn, “It Feels Better Biting Down”
Richard Matheson, “The Distributor”
Saki, “Sredni Vashtar”
David J. Schow, “Last Call for the Sons of Shock”
Terence Taylor, “WET PAIN”
James Tiptree, Jr., “The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Awful Things to Rats”
Just like the first two instalments, Ghost Box III is available in a one-time print run. Our deluxe clamshell box includes an iridescent, colour-shifting ink foil, a ribbon bookmark, and a magnetized lid.
- GenresHorror
Published September 1, 2019
3 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Patton Oswalt
128 books550 followersPatton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor.
His first wife was the late Michelle McNamara.
His first wife was the late Michelle McNamara.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 24, 2020
I'm a big fan of Hingston & Olson's other big product: the Short Story Advent Calendar so I thought I'd give their spooky option a try for Halloween.
The collection was curated by an American comedian called Patton Oswalt. I'm not sure why they picked him to do it, he enjoys sciFi/horror but I don't see anything noted beyond that. This is also, obviously, the 3rd edition in the series - I was too late to buy the first two and H&O doesn't do reissues - so it may well be he used up his best material in the first two. Because overall this is a fine collection of some very entertaining and well written stories but only a few of them are spooky and only two would I class as horror.
The book is exquisitely published and I adore the cover designs and clamshell box. Each story is also printed in two different inks: black with neon pink accents.
Below are short and snappy reviews for each story, to match the content.
Overall, I'm not sure I'd recommend this as a spooky story collection but it works as a compendium in general and I've picked up some new favourites. 3.5 stars rounded up.
==============================================
I read these out of order but they weren't numbered so it probably doesn't matter how you choose to read them.
Book 1 was The Foghorn by Gertrude Atherton. Not so much scary as it is a story with a twist in its tail. However I did enjoy that it featured Berkeley and San Francisco. First line: "What an absurd vanity to sleep on a hard pillow and forego that last luxurious burrowing into the very depths of a mass of baby pillows!"
Book 2 was The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things To Rats by James Tiptree Jr. It's very well written but a little weird, I don't really understand the transformation to the main character at the end and what it's meant to signify. For some reason it reminded me of the Eddie Murphy Doctor Dolittle character. First line: "He comes shyly hopeful into the lab."
Book 3 is Wet Pain by Terrence Taylor. It's quite the ride and a disturbing, very disturbing. Let's just say the ghosts of white supremacists play a role? Not scary again just enraging and saddening. First line: "I once saw a sign on a pillar in a New York City subway station, "W E T P A I N", written in bright red block letters on glossy white card stock."
Book 4 is The Vanishing American which surprising features stone lions. This was fun but not in the least bit spooky. First line: "He got the notion shortly after five o'clock; at least, a part of him did, a small part hidden beneath all the conscious cells - he didn't get the notion until some time later."
Then in Book 5 it's Bayou de la Mère which had so much potential! I was looking forward to some sort of The Willows style creepiness with the desolate alien bayou but it ended up being something quite different. First line: "The bayou twisted through the green sward of Vermilion Parish, brown and slow as a snake basking in the sun."
It Only Comes Out at Night, Book 6 is my third favourite of the lot. The creepiness is there, the writing is excellent, and I'm never going to view reststops the same way. First line: "If you leave L.A. by way of San Bernadino, headed for Route 66, you must cross the Mojave Desert."
Maybe my least favourite in the collection is actually closer to the horror/spooky theme: Book 7 - A Defense of Werewolves. It's also one of the shortest but seemed to really drag compared to the others. Maybe better read out loud or enacted in a dramatization? First line: "Halt the column! Here's a likely spot to hold our council, where vast eldritch rocks offer us shade from the wild sunshine of the atomic bomb."
Book 8 is my absolute favourite: It Feels Better Biting Down. Everything about this is weird, chilling, and shocking. There's one bit in the middle that made me laugh out loud with the shock of it. Fantasticly creepy, will read again. First line: "Whats with the lawnmower. No one mows this early in Spring."
Then Book 9 is The Distributor, my second favourite. I knew where this was going but that made it all the more satisfying nonetheless. There's lots of names to keep track of though so I ended up rereading it after finishing. First line: "Time to move."
Book 10 is one I'd already read: Sredni Vashtar, in my Weird Fiction anthology. It's a classic and satisfying revenge story. First line: "Conradin was ten years old, and the doctor had pronounced his professional opinion that the boy would not live another five years."
The final story, Book 11, was Last Call for the Sons of Shock and honestly I didn't really care for it either. It was very obvious who the monsters were from the getgo and I was bored. Not the best one to end on. First line: "Blank Frank notches down the Cramps, keeping an eye on the blue LED bars of the equalizer."
The collection was curated by an American comedian called Patton Oswalt. I'm not sure why they picked him to do it, he enjoys sciFi/horror but I don't see anything noted beyond that. This is also, obviously, the 3rd edition in the series - I was too late to buy the first two and H&O doesn't do reissues - so it may well be he used up his best material in the first two. Because overall this is a fine collection of some very entertaining and well written stories but only a few of them are spooky and only two would I class as horror.
The book is exquisitely published and I adore the cover designs and clamshell box. Each story is also printed in two different inks: black with neon pink accents.
Below are short and snappy reviews for each story, to match the content.
Overall, I'm not sure I'd recommend this as a spooky story collection but it works as a compendium in general and I've picked up some new favourites. 3.5 stars rounded up.
==============================================
I read these out of order but they weren't numbered so it probably doesn't matter how you choose to read them.
Book 1 was The Foghorn by Gertrude Atherton. Not so much scary as it is a story with a twist in its tail. However I did enjoy that it featured Berkeley and San Francisco. First line: "What an absurd vanity to sleep on a hard pillow and forego that last luxurious burrowing into the very depths of a mass of baby pillows!"
Book 2 was The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things To Rats by James Tiptree Jr. It's very well written but a little weird, I don't really understand the transformation to the main character at the end and what it's meant to signify. For some reason it reminded me of the Eddie Murphy Doctor Dolittle character. First line: "He comes shyly hopeful into the lab."
Book 3 is Wet Pain by Terrence Taylor. It's quite the ride and a disturbing, very disturbing. Let's just say the ghosts of white supremacists play a role? Not scary again just enraging and saddening. First line: "I once saw a sign on a pillar in a New York City subway station, "W E T P A I N", written in bright red block letters on glossy white card stock."
Book 4 is The Vanishing American which surprising features stone lions. This was fun but not in the least bit spooky. First line: "He got the notion shortly after five o'clock; at least, a part of him did, a small part hidden beneath all the conscious cells - he didn't get the notion until some time later."
Then in Book 5 it's Bayou de la Mère which had so much potential! I was looking forward to some sort of The Willows style creepiness with the desolate alien bayou but it ended up being something quite different. First line: "The bayou twisted through the green sward of Vermilion Parish, brown and slow as a snake basking in the sun."
It Only Comes Out at Night, Book 6 is my third favourite of the lot. The creepiness is there, the writing is excellent, and I'm never going to view reststops the same way. First line: "If you leave L.A. by way of San Bernadino, headed for Route 66, you must cross the Mojave Desert."
Maybe my least favourite in the collection is actually closer to the horror/spooky theme: Book 7 - A Defense of Werewolves. It's also one of the shortest but seemed to really drag compared to the others. Maybe better read out loud or enacted in a dramatization? First line: "Halt the column! Here's a likely spot to hold our council, where vast eldritch rocks offer us shade from the wild sunshine of the atomic bomb."
Book 8 is my absolute favourite: It Feels Better Biting Down. Everything about this is weird, chilling, and shocking. There's one bit in the middle that made me laugh out loud with the shock of it. Fantasticly creepy, will read again. First line: "Whats with the lawnmower. No one mows this early in Spring."
Then Book 9 is The Distributor, my second favourite. I knew where this was going but that made it all the more satisfying nonetheless. There's lots of names to keep track of though so I ended up rereading it after finishing. First line: "Time to move."
Book 10 is one I'd already read: Sredni Vashtar, in my Weird Fiction anthology. It's a classic and satisfying revenge story. First line: "Conradin was ten years old, and the doctor had pronounced his professional opinion that the boy would not live another five years."
The final story, Book 11, was Last Call for the Sons of Shock and honestly I didn't really care for it either. It was very obvious who the monsters were from the getgo and I was bored. Not the best one to end on. First line: "Blank Frank notches down the Cramps, keeping an eye on the blue LED bars of the equalizer."
October 20, 2019
A terrific conclusion to the Ghost Box trilogy, as it were. I think, after all is said and done, I appreciated year two most overall and year one for the introduction to new authors -- this year's box had strong stories (including some old favorites coming back; sup, Gertrude Atherton?) but nothing really exceptional to my eye. I can't help thinking that this year's stories weren't, on the whole, as spooky as they could've been...
February 10, 2020
I'm sad this is the last edition to be released, but what an enjoyable experience these 3 sets have been. I really enjoyed reading scary stories that span not only time, but culture as well. It's really interesting to see what others find scary or off-putting. Some of the stories didn't land for me, but that doesn't make them bad. If anything I appreciate that I can see that what doesn't work for me 100% works for others.
Special shout out to "Wet Pain" which may be one of the most upsetting stories across the 3 sets.
Special shout out to "Wet Pain" which may be one of the most upsetting stories across the 3 sets.
November 1, 2020
Actual rating: 3.5 rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.
November 1, 2020
These collections are fantastic. If anyone has the second Ghost Box, from 2018, and you're willing to sell it, message me!
December 9, 2020
While not the strict ‘horror’ anthology it advertised itself as, the stories in this collection are well curated, with a mix of perverse, bizarre, uncomfortable and in one or two cases, kitsch. Each story had its place in the collection, and the advice offered in the introduction to keep “A Defence of Werewolves” for last is very sound indeed.
I’d love to have had the opportunity to read the first two, but better one than none.
The standouts for me were “It Only Comes Out At Night” which was the only one to genuinely put a chill in me, as well as “WET PAIN” and The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Awful Things To Rats” which were both deeply uncomfortable for different reasons, “Sredni Vashtar” which was an unexpected gift and, of course, “The Distributor” by the incredible Richard Matheson.
Overall, a great collection of stories that are horror leaning.
I’d love to have had the opportunity to read the first two, but better one than none.
The standouts for me were “It Only Comes Out At Night” which was the only one to genuinely put a chill in me, as well as “WET PAIN” and The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Awful Things To Rats” which were both deeply uncomfortable for different reasons, “Sredni Vashtar” which was an unexpected gift and, of course, “The Distributor” by the incredible Richard Matheson.
Overall, a great collection of stories that are horror leaning.
November 13, 2019
Nicely curated 'box' of spooky/thriller stories.
November 11, 2019
A thoughtful curation across decades, voices and style. A true object to treasure and definitely a collector’s item that will hold value (if you care about that). I believe these are fully sold-out now. My personal favourites were the stories by James Tiptree Jr., Saki, Fritz Leiber, Dennis Etchison and Livia Llewelyn.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews