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A wonderful, brilliantly-written, and wildly eclectic collection of ghost-themed short stories, from one of my favorite authors, interspersed with several ghostly introspections based on her own real life experiences. The stories run the gamut from spine-tingling and sinister, to heartbreaking and grieving, all the way to downright reflective and philosophical.

Sprinkled throughout and reappearing within the collection are several themes, including the intersection of AI (and technology-generated realities) with ghostly other-worldly realms and happenings, as well as musings on hauntings (internal or externally generated? Both?) relationship to religious “knowing”, time and space, memory, and the nature of consciousness.

All in all, the result is a fascinating literary package, worthy of any lover of the spooky, the spectral or the spirited.

As in all collections, there are some stories included that speak more directly to this reader, standing out as what can only be called superb. My very favorites are listed below.

• No Ghost Ghost Story

A heartbreaking look at grief and loss, as told by Simon, who is recently dealing with the death of his husband William.

“Another day. The sun is gone. Morning hardens on the wall. “

As Simon muses on his unbearable presence now that he is alone, he thinks about life, and death, and how we humans – as energy, as patterns, as atomic particles made up mostly of emptiness – manage to sense physical touch, and to love, and to experience life and death in all their mystery.

Could it be that Simon, desperately searching for a sign that William is still present, in some form, in his new reality, may not be disappointed, after all?
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• The Undiscovered Country

A follow-on story, now told from William’s perspective, that is spectacularly poignant, (pun intended?), as the William-spirit seeks a way to protect and cherish the man he loved before moving on to his now new world of “strangeness”.

“I cover him with the last of me, and I love him, and he sleeps.”

Beautiful.
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• Devices Apparition

Although Bella’s husband John has died, her JohnApp (with all of Johns personality and memories) continues to call and harangue her. Until Bella finds a creative solution to her predicament.

As techno-creepy as any episode of Black Mirror, this story is as chilling as it is engaging.
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A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.