A Ghostly Cry: True Encounters with the Paranormal

by Stephen Jones

Truth is stranger-and scarier-than fiction in a Ghostly Cry, a collection of true reports of supernatural experiences as recollected by the world's greatest horror writers. In personal accounts as eerie as their best weird tales, these masters and mistresses of the macabre recall real-life instances of astral projection, spectral visitants, ESP, haunted houses, precognition, voodoo, family curses, and other occult phenomena that defy rational explanation.

The contributors include: Joan Aiken, Clive Barker, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Brian Lumley, Richard Matheson, Anne McCaffrey, Edgar Allan Poe, Vincent Price, F. Paul Wilson

Genres: Horror, Nonfiction, Paranormal, Anthologies, Short Stories

333 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Stephen Jones is an eighteen-time winner of the British Fantasy Award.

Reviews

[Sabrina Rutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dancing With the Dark is a compilation from different authors who write horror, and scifi fiction of accounts with the supernatural that they believe to be true. None of the stories were too scary, but they were enjoyable enough that I read this book pretty quickly.
You would think with the authors being writers of horror, and scifi fiction that they would have some pretty scary real life stories to share, but that wasn't so. Some authors did share some spooky tales, but others seemed afraid to admit to any such accounts.
I expected Stephen Kings story to be one of the best, but was actually let down. His was actually the shortest story in this book. I think maybe that's why they spelled his name wrong on the cover. besides this little dissapointment it was still a good read.

[Andi Plouffe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short, not really scary, and not entertaining either.

[Feistymonkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The basic idea is that horror writers share their real life heeby jeeby inducing experiences. Sometimes the writers actually ignored the prompt entirely and simply went into what they thought about the possibility of paranormal phenomena. Those were some of the most interesting essays. Other authors just rambled about writing horror in general. That was pretty interesting too.

[Helen Robare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about personal encounters with the supernatural as told by masters of the macabre. This book includes such authors as Simon R. Green, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, THE Vincent Price, and other masters of horror.

My only complaint with this book is that many stories were too short. So short in fact that some were barely a page long.

The stories themselves were very intriguing and some were downright scary! It was a great book when I didn't want to get involved with a full-blown story that I would have to continue reading all night and that I couldn't put down until I finished it. :)

[Cortez_jk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a bust for me. I just did not find it interesting. I read 16 of the 77-ish essays and was unmoved. I don't care to read any more so this is going in the DNF category. I don't want to give it a one star because it might be good for someone else to read. It is possible that the 16 I read were just the boring ones - lol.

[Wes S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent, but not enthralling. Okay and worth reading.

[P. Es · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many pieces are not what you'd expect from popular horror authors (I come to expect materialist skepticism and teenage-antagonism for such things from those who write on such things), very revealing at times. I would never have pegged Clive Barker for religiousness (he's in there, as well as Neil Gaiman and a ton of other populars) - having assumed him to be of the Lovecraftian disposition (fervent atheism), but he turns out to be quite the Modern Condition-ambiguous believer;

http://www.clivebarker.info/religion....

[Susan]

The House on Spadina • (1997) • essay by Charles de Lint
♦The Flints of Memory Lane by Neil Gaiman re-read 8/5/2015
Death is a Lady • (1997) • essay by Simon R. Green
Uncle Clayton • (1983) • essay by Stephen King
Unto the Third Generation • (1997) • essay by Anne McCaffrey

[Jennifer Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horror writers write about their own experiences with the paranormal. Are they believers, or not?

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. My favorite is "Mr Cat"