Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts Book By Stephanie Queen Recapturing my youth is an increasingly difficult task, and one that I engage in all too frequently with less than satisfactory results. However, when I started reading Joe Hill’s collection of short stories, I was ten years old again, sneaking my mom’s copy of Night Shift, or reading Ray Bradbury instead of doing my long division homework. Yes, I’m “tardy to the party,” as they say, reviewing it a couple of years after its release, but 20th Century Ghosts is just plain fun and it’s too good not to talk about. Most of the fifteen stories are told from a child or teen’s perspective, and they deliver chills and thrills without resorting to slasher movie gore. Well, a couple of stories resort to slasher movie gore, but it’s used judiciously. The collection starts strong with “Best New Horror,” which follows a jaded horror anthology editor on an ill-fated journey to track down a psycho author that he wants to feature in an upcoming publication. This story pokes fun at the horror genre as a whole and is especially entertaining if you happen to engage in the grind of writing or publishing horror shorts. It’s a great opener. Inflatable friends, a superhero cape, on-set zombie romance, and the innocence and exuberance of youth – what’s not to like? Oh, right, the horror: how about a teenaged insect gobbling his human father’s guts and decapitating his classmates, creepy “playing card people” hiding out in the woods, a young girl haunting a movie theater, and a museum curator who collects peoples’ dying breaths? All of these things and more can be found in between the covers of Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts. (FYI: I’d be remiss if I did not mention that Mr. Hill is Stephen King’s son.)

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