Scan barcode
A review by bickleyhouse
Ghosts by Gaslight: Stories of Steampunk and Supernatural Suspense by Nick Gevers, Jack Dann
4.0
As I've stated before, anyone who knows me well knows that I love short stories and ghost stories. So here is a book that was perfect for me! There's even a little bit of steampunk thrown in, to boot.
Ghosts by Gaslight has seventeen stories, all set in the Victorian/Edwardian era of England. While I can't say that any of them gave me chilling goosebumps, they were all good stories. Some of my favorites include: "Music, When Soft Voices Die," by Peter S. Beagle, in which a man inadvertently invents a device that allows people to hear voices from the past; "The Shaddowwes Box," by Terry Dowling, in which a man gets revenge on some who have wronged him, using a box that contains only darkness; "The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodils Murder," by Garth Nix, featuring Sherlock's little known brother, Magnus, and "Almost-Doctor Susan Shrike;" "Why I Was Hanged," by Gene Wolfe, in which a man is seduced by a "ghost" of a woman who isn't dead; "Smithers and the Ghosts of the Thar," by Robert Silverberg, in which some explorers discover a thriving civilization in the middle of the Thar desert, where time seems to move differently; "The Grave Reflection," by Marly Youmans, written after the style of Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which a ghostly apparition remains in reflective surfaces.
All in all, a great collection of ghostly stories, chosen by the editors.
Ghosts by Gaslight has seventeen stories, all set in the Victorian/Edwardian era of England. While I can't say that any of them gave me chilling goosebumps, they were all good stories. Some of my favorites include: "Music, When Soft Voices Die," by Peter S. Beagle, in which a man inadvertently invents a device that allows people to hear voices from the past; "The Shaddowwes Box," by Terry Dowling, in which a man gets revenge on some who have wronged him, using a box that contains only darkness; "The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodils Murder," by Garth Nix, featuring Sherlock's little known brother, Magnus, and "Almost-Doctor Susan Shrike;" "Why I Was Hanged," by Gene Wolfe, in which a man is seduced by a "ghost" of a woman who isn't dead; "Smithers and the Ghosts of the Thar," by Robert Silverberg, in which some explorers discover a thriving civilization in the middle of the Thar desert, where time seems to move differently; "The Grave Reflection," by Marly Youmans, written after the style of Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which a ghostly apparition remains in reflective surfaces.
All in all, a great collection of ghostly stories, chosen by the editors.