Ghost Stories

by Bente Gallagher (and Jennie Bentley)


So we’ve heard some totally creepy and cool stories this month, haven’t we? True creepiness as well as fictional. I know I’ve gotten chills more than once during October.

As promised, I’m back to talk a little bit about a few of my favorite supernatural stories and books.

And no, I’m not talking about Stephen King. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s written the best book ever on writing, called – coincidentally – “On Writing,” but I can’t read his novels. They give me the creeps. And not in a good way.

Back in the late 1960s, when I was just slightly more than a gleam in my mother’s eye, one of my all-time favorite authors started publishing books. Her name is Barbara Mertz, but she started writing as Barbara Michaels, and a few years later as Elizabeth Peters, when her publisher told her she was too prolific for just one pseudonym.

(Nice problem to have, innit?)

In 1968, she published a book called “Ammie, Come Home,” about a house in Georgetown and the people who lived there. Ruth was a non-traditional romantic heroine for that time: a divorced woman over 40. Pat was a non-traditional hero: also older, and going gray, with a face described as ‘lived in.’ There was a younger couple too: Ruth’s niece Sara, living with her aunt while attending Georgetown University, and Sara’s boyfriend Bruce. And then there were the ghosts. Three of them. I won’t give you the specifics, because I’d really love for you to read the book, but it has bar none the creepiest, most evocative description of possession I’ve ever read. 40+ years after it was written, it still manages to give me chills.

It’s not the only ghost story she’s written; not by a long shot. Most of the Barbara Michaels books are paranormal, and a few of the Elizabeth Peters books have that element too, most prominently “Devil May Care.” A few of my other favorites are “Witch,” “The Walker in Shadows,” “The Crying Child,” and “House of Many Shadows.”

Much more recently – as in last week – I read Jennifer Crusie’s latest novel, “Maybe This Time.” It’s also a ghost story. With multiple ghosts. A few instances of possession. And a lovely, lovely twist at the end. It’s also a love story, of course, as are all of Crusie’s books. She’s another of my favorite authors, although supernatural is not her usual stock in trade. The only other that I can think of off the top of my head was the book before this one, “Wild Ride,” written with Bob Mayer, and it’s about demons. A demon-possessed amusement park in Southern Ohio, loosely based on King’s Island. (I drove past it the first weekend of the month, on my way up to Columbus for the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Conference, and I gazed open-mouthed at the big rollercoaster on our way past; in the book it’s called the Dragon Coaster.) Highly recommended! Both of’em.

Lillian Stewart-Carl has written a ton of books about ghosts. The Jean Fairbairn/Alastair Cameron series (four so far, starting with “The Secret Portrait”) has ghosts in every book, as does the trilogy “Ashes to Ashes,” “Dust to Dust,” and “Garden of Thorns.”

Most of Lillian Stewart-Carl’s books are set in or deal with Scotland, including “Shadows in Scarlet.” Its heroine, Amanda, is a guide at a historic home in Virginia, where she encounters the ghost of Scotsman James Grant, and falls in lust with him. There’s even a sex scene. The first and only sex scene between ghost and human I’ve ever read, and she pulls it off quite well, I might add. I totally bought it. However, when Amanda goes to Scotland to bring Jamie’s bones home, Jamie’s spirit tags along, and when Amanda meets Jamie’s flesh and blood modern-day descendant – and lookalike – Malcolm, and falls in love with him, let’s just say that Jamie’s not too happy.

Read the book to find out what happens. You won’t regret it. Just like you won’t regret reading any of the others.

So what are some of your favorite ghostly books? Care to share?

Merry Christmas, y’all!

By Jennie Bentley


T’is the season to go absolutely crazy with shopping and stress, some of which I’m doing, so I’m going to make it easy on everyone today, myself included, and blog about holiday books. Other people’s holiday books, mostly, although in fairness I guess I should mention that I’m working on a Christmas book myself. DIY#3 is in the works, due to my editor by March 1 and scheduled for release in May 2010, and it’s set at Christmas. I wish I could have worked the timing better, but alas, it was not to be. Book 2—now officially called SPACKLEd and SPOOKED, and available for preorder on Amazon—ends on Halloween, so Christmas was up next. Sorry.

Christmas books are a really big deal, it seems. I’ve recently heard of several authors who have been asked to put other projects on hold to write seasonal books. In that spirit, I thought I’d share some of my favorites.

Trojan Gold by Elizabeth Peters is the fourth book in the bestselling Vicky Bliss suspense series, and the third in which art historian Vicky comes up against her on-again, off-again lover and nemesis Sir John Smythe AKA John Tregarth. As Vicky puts it, “He specializes in stealing the things I’m sworn to protect.” In Trojan Gold, the two of them find themselves spending Christmas Eve together in a tiny church in the Alps, snowed in, using hymnals for kindling and pews for firewood for the tiny fire they’ve created in the baptismal, while eating chocolate and gingerbread and playing Bach on a comb. Elizabeth Peters is my all-time favorite author, and the Vicky Bliss series is my favorite of her series... this is a wonderful, wonderful book!

Several of JD Robb’s In Death books are set at Christmas time. My favorite is Holiday in Death, in which Eve Dallas, Lieutenant with the NYPSD in the year 2058 or so, and her intrepid crew of detectives—plus her husband and mostly reformed criminal Roarke—have to hunt down a serial killer who meets his victims through a match-making service.

Julia Spencer-Fleming’s latest, I Shall Not Want, isn’t exactly a Christmas book, as it covers a long stretch of time, but it ends at Christmas, and the ending is just wonderful—well, sort of; those of you who have read it will know what I mean, those of you who haven’t, need too!—so I’ll include it anyway. That’s all I can say about it, though—about the Christmas part—without giving away HUGE spoilers. She’s a great writer, and it’s a great book, and the Christmas connection puts it on the list.

My favorite traditional mystery writer is Ngaio Marsh, who wrote a series of British police procedurals about Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn, his trusty sidekick Mr. Fox, and his wife Agatha Troy, a painter. They had a son, Ricky, who appears in some of the later books, as well. The Christmas book that comes to mind is called Tied Up In Tinsel. It’s your classic old school cozy, before ‘cozy’ became synonymous with far-out hobbies and do-it-yourself tips. (Yes, I know I shouldn’t complain; I’m riding that bandwagon, too.) Anyway, it has all the classic ingredients: the young lovers, the big country house, the British class distinctions, and the murder most foul. Highly recommended for anyone who likes traditional mysteries.

Not a mystery, but Mary Kay Andrews’s Blue Christmas is fun. It’s the third in a sort-of series, featuring the characters from Savannah Blues and Savannah Breeze. It’s December in Savannah, GA, and Weezie Foley is decorating her antique shop window in an effort to win the coveted Best Decorated Shop award. There’s a sort of mystery in there, too, although the book is most definitely not shelved in the mystery section. It’s a fun, light read, though—although it would probably be best to read at least Savannah Blues first, to get a better idea of the characters and their relationships. It won’t be a hardship, believe me! Of the three, Savannah Breeze is my favorite, so you may as well include that one, too. It has nothing to do with Christmas, but boy is it fun!

Not a mystery, either, although there are mysterious elements, and technically not even a book, but Lois McMaster Bujold’s novella Winterfair Gifts is great. It was released as part of an anthology called Irresistible Forces, but if you don’t mind reading things online, you can download it from Fictionwise for less than $2 (just follow the link, above). Well worth it. It’s part of the bestselling Vorkosigan Saga, which is a blend of sci-fi, space opera, and Georgette Heyer. Beyond that, it’s some damned fine writing. I don’t like sci-fi as a general rule, but I love Lois McMaster Bujold, and Miles Vorkosigan is as compelling and well-realized a character as any I’ve ever read. If you haven’t met Miles, you have to!

So that’s it for me. I could keep going, but I see I’m already over 800 words, and that means it’s time to stop.

It’s your turn. What’s your favorite Christmas book, and why?