Hauntings

The spookiest of specters inhabit this spine-tingling anthology—compiled by an acclaimed editor of the horror genre—that collects the most chilling ghost stories from the past 25 years. The human obsession with the mysteries of the afterlife is explored in these supernatural tales of haunted houses, lost souls, unexplained phenomena, and “good” neighbors. Neil Gaiman’s “Closing Time” is a troubling tale recounted by an elderly man on a cold drizzly night in London while Joyce Carol Oates’ “Haunted” is a chilling story of two young girls drawn to abandoned houses and what they find in one. Francis Wardwell is eager to inform readers that everything they think they know about ghosts is wrong in Peter Straub’s “Hunger: An Introduction,” and George R. R. Martin’s "Remembering Melody” stresses the importance of keeping promises—no matter the consequences. Fans of a good ghost story will find this collection the ideal go-to for chills.

Ellen Datlow has edited more than 50 anthologies, including The Dark, The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Inferno, Little Deaths, Poe, Twists of the Tales, and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. She coedited The Coyote Road, Salon Fantastique, and Troll’s Eye View and has won the Locus, the Hugo, the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement, the International Horror Guild, and the World Fantasy awards for her editing. She lives in New York City.