20th Century Ghosts    by Joe Hill Order:  USA  Can William Morrow, 2007 (2007) Hardcover, Audio, e-Book      Reviewed by Alex Telander Picking up 20th Century Ghosts, you know you're in for a treat. The book is cloth-bound in darkest black, sans dust jacket, with a sticker on the front listing the title and author, along with a haunting black and white photograph. Opening the cover, you are greeted by a dried blood-red inlay, followed by the white pages of text. It is almost like opening a black and bloody wound to read what Joe Hill has to offer. 20th Century Ghosts (originally released two years ago in England) is a short story collection of modern horror, revealing what else has been going on in the mind of the author who brought us the bestselling Heart-Shaped Box. With a quick introduction from Christopher Golden, author of The Myth Hunters and Strangewood, the collection kicks of with a chilling story titled Best New Horror. It is about an editor of the annual Best New Horror collection who is sent a fresh and disturbing story for the next edition, at a level of the macabre that he hasn't seen in a long time. The editor seeks out the author and finds himself in his very own horrific story on a level with that of the one that so entranced him. The title story, 20th Century Ghost, is a classic modern-day ghost story about an old movie theater that is being haunted by a young girl who loved to watch movies until she died suddenly one day at the theater. Now she returns every once in a while to engage a movie viewer in chilling conversation. From there Hill takes the reader on a journey into different kinds of horror. A man in a Kafkaesque world awakes as a giant cockroach. A young boy is kidnapped by a terrifying hulk of a man who admits he won't hurt him, but simply wants to watch him. There's a short and enchanting tale about the ghosts of trees, and the fascinating story about a boy who can fly whenever he wears his childhood cape. Though not all are tales of horror, they still move the reader. Pop Art is the incredible and yet strangely enchanting story about a world where some people are inflatable, composed of little more than plastic and air and must be careful not to get caught on anything sharp, or they will deflate and die. It is a moving story about a boy's relationship with one of these inflatable people. A considerable number of the stories in 20th Century Ghosts involve children, specifically young boys. Perhaps Hill is turning to his own childhood imagination, or maybe he feels that childhood is a time when the imagination is most creative and easily convinced, even if the demons and monsters are actually real. While I was a little disappointed in Heart-Shaped Box, 20th Century Ghosts has convinced me that Joe Hill is an entertaining and talented new horror writer, who is still working somewhat in the style of his father, Stephen King. I look forward to reading his next work and seeing his own style evolve. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Fantasy books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews