Haunted
Pages: 336
Publisher: Andersen Press
Release Date: 1st September 2011
A face in the mirror...
Howling in the night...
A black dog at your door...
Cold hands dragging you down...
Some of the best-loved children’s authors have come together to bring you this terrifying collection of ghost stories.
There’s a lost ghost child trapped in a mirror and wanting to pull you in; an evil Soul Eater waiting for its next victim; a ghost walk with a haunting twist; and the spirit of a drowned boy who needs to be put to rest. These and many more spine-chilling tales will make you scream, shiver amd gasp. Open if you dare...
Haunted is a fantastic treat for fans of the spooky and supernatural. Dipping into these dark tales will definitely leave people reeling after a scary story swap. As there were so many fantastic stories in Haunted, I am going to highlight a few of my favourites.
Mal Peet’s Good Boy was one of my favourite stories in the anthology. I loved the idea of the terrifying recurring dream that manifested in reality and how the dream faded back and forth through her life. It had a brilliant theme of death, nightmares and mystery.
The Little’s Ship’s Boy told the story of a boy trying to rescue an ill-fated drowning victim and restore him to the ghost ship that cruises the Cornwall coast. It was incredibly atmospheric and stunningly vivid with a sense of impending doom hanging over the entire story.
I have to admit that my very favourite short story of the collection was a rather unusual one: Matt Haig’s The Ghost Walk. This one took me by complete surprise. Dorian Deadwater was a character straight out of a Gothic ghost story and I loved him. The twist at the end of the story, while expected, was beautifully done and strangely enough, I was left with a yearning to go to the beautiful sounding city of York.
Haunted is a brilliantly fun collection of spooky stories that will keep their impact long past Holloween.
So Many Books, So Little Time is honoured to welcome Berlie Doherty who’s story, The Little Ship’s Boy, is included in the anthology.
Hallowe’en is a special time of year, when the days are narrowing down and the darkness of winter sets in. When I was little I used to go next door to join in their hallowe’en party. I was very much the youngest child there, so the other children had a wonderful time scaring the wits out of me. We would start off with apple bobbing, which was fine and great fun. You were blindfolded, and you had to duck your head into a bowl of water and try to clamp your teeth round one of the apples that was bobbing in the water. Next, still blindfold, you had to catch apples that were hung on a string from the ceiling. They thought it was a great joke to hang half a lemon or a piece of soap up when it came to my turn. And next, flying! I had to grope my way into another room, where they tied me to a chair, and lifted me up into the air. I heard cackling and whispering, I swooped and floated, and I was convinced that a witch had me on her broomstick and I was really flying. It was a bit scary, but it was also wonderful.
I have always loved the notion of the ‘other’ world that might be inhabited by spirits or ghosts. I’ve often written about such things – two of the stories have been put together in a book called ‘Nightmare; two Ghostly Tales’. One day a musician sent me a tune that he had written for a song. He called it Merandee-o and he said he had thought of a chorus for it but he couldn’t think of anything else, and asked if I could write him a ballad. Listening to the music, I immediately thought of the Cornish coast which I visit three times a year at least. Many a ship has been wrecked on the rocks there, and many a time you can’t see anything beyond the mist, or hear anything beyond the mournful wail of the fog warning. So that became my setting for the song. Soon after, I was invited by Andersen Press to write a ghost story for their Haunted collection, I was still dreaming of swirling mists and churning seas, and wrote them the story which I called The Little Ship’s Boy’. I hope you like all these spooky tales!
I have always loved the notion of the ‘other’ world that might be inhabited by spirits or ghosts. I’ve often written about such things – two of the stories have been put together in a book called ‘Nightmare; two Ghostly Tales’. One day a musician sent me a tune that he had written for a song. He called it Merandee-o and he said he had thought of a chorus for it but he couldn’t think of anything else, and asked if I could write him a ballad. Listening to the music, I immediately thought of the Cornish coast which I visit three times a year at least. Many a ship has been wrecked on the rocks there, and many a time you can’t see anything beyond the mist, or hear anything beyond the mournful wail of the fog warning. So that became my setting for the song. Soon after, I was invited by Andersen Press to write a ghost story for their Haunted collection, I was still dreaming of swirling mists and churning seas, and wrote them the story which I called The Little Ship’s Boy’. I hope you like all these spooky tales!
A big thank you to Andersen Press for sending me a copy for review and organising the blog tour.
Sophie
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