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20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
02/08/2008 . Source: Tomas L. Martin 
pub: Gollancz. 389 page hardback. Price: £14.99 (UK only). ISBN: 978-0-575-07007-3). Buy 20th Century Ghosts in the USA - or Buy 20th Century Ghosts in the UK  check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk and www.joehillfiction.com
As his debut novel 'Heart-Shaped Box' reached the best sellers list, Joe Hill's collection of his shorter works show off his breadth of skill within the horror genre. The stories within are deftly written, with subtle emotions and characters mixing with strange but alluring plots full of riffs of classic Americana and cultural references.
The collection starts with an introduction by Christopher Golden, followed by an acknowledgement section by Joe Hill in which he sneaks in an additional short short story to thank the readers of the book. 'Scheherazade's Typewriter' is a creepy little piece packed with Hill's charming voice and style.
The first scheduled story after this unexpected freebie is 'Best New Horror', a beguiling tale of an anthology editor who finds that hold grail of fiction editor everywhere: a fantastic story by an unknown writer. Having decided it to put it in his book, he tries to track down the writer and finds himself in a horror story of his own. Hill's easy prose lulls you into a false sense of security before it starts getting eerie.
The title story, '20th Century Ghost' is about the ghost of a girl who died at a small independent movie theatre and the old man who struggles to keep the place open. In other hands it might be a slight piece but the smatterings of film references give the story a sense of wonder of the magic of the movies that works well with the plot's ending.
'You will hear the locust sing' is a violent play on Franz Kafka's classic 'Metamorphosis', in which the lead character awakes to find himself a giant insect. Likewise, 'Abraham's Boys' takes the myth of Van Helsing, the vampire hunter, and twists it in a new, dark direction. 'The Black Phone' is a taut kidnapping horror piece with a satisfying ending.
Hill seems to revel in twisting our expectations of his heroes and stories, which is particularly well used in 'In The Rundown' about a loser who gets fired from his job before witnessing a terrible scene. Likewise in 'The Cape', our protagonist acts in an unexpected way when he discovers his old cape from his childhood allows him to fly.
There are a few other passable stories in the middle of the collection before two excellent longer pieces to end the book. 'My Father's Mask' reads like a David Lynch film, all unexplained bizarre events that loosely hang together enough to intrigue the reader, leaving a pleasant light baffled feeling.
'Voluntary Committal' is a great story to end on, a man looking back on his childhood as his mentally disabled brother builds ever more complicated models and mazes from boxes that don't seem to look the same from the inside as they do outside. Like the other stories in this volume, Joe Hill writes with an easy style and a knack for the dark twist that reminds me of Stephen King. A giant in the making, perhaps.
Tomas L. Martin
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