It’s touching and heartbreaking, played completely straight from beginning to end, and truly one of the best stories of any genre I’ve had the pleasure to read.
While this premise might seem ridiculous, something that could be played for nothing but laughs, Hill manages to concoct a story that is sure to resonate with anyone who was ever shunned growing up because of their difference from the rest of society.
Art was different because he was made of plastic quite literally he was inflatable and only weighed about 7 ounces.
It focuses on the terrors of being different and unable to fit in, written from the perspective of a man whose childhood friend was a kid named Art. Then there’s the story “Pop Art”, which is about a million miles away from the gritty feeling of “Best New Horror”. When he does track the man down, though, he realizes that sometimes it takes a truly twisted mind to create truly twisted fiction. Indeed, it is the most exciting piece of horror literature our main character has read in many years, and he immediately sets out to find its elusive author. One day he receives a package in the mail with a short story in it that got its author fired from his job at a nearby school because of its content, after the story caused all manner of negative feedback from the school’s enrolled. After years of putting out the titular publication, he’s become jaded and cynical with the realization that most new horror is just a recycled version of the old stuff. “Best New Horror” is the tale of the editior of a horror magazine and series of books who is always trying to find the absolute best horror on the market. I guess some people truly are born to be storytellers. From the first story, “Best New Horror”, all the way through to “Voluntary Commital”, Joe exhibits the kind of skill most writers struggle their whole lives to attain. And what a collection it is!Ĭontaining 14 stories ranging from out-and-out horror to more subtle character pieces, 20th Century Ghosts is truly a remarkable debut.
Such is not the case, however, as Ghosts is his first published collection. My first question is simply, where the hell did this guy come from? It’s so rare that an author is able to come right out of the gates with such incredible talent, such a feel for storytelling, pacing, and character development, I thought for sure I had just missed some of this earlier works.
0 kommentar(er)
