Midnight in the Graveyard - a short story collection
The past few months have been filled with ghost stories for me. Back in August I read Echoes edited by Ellen Datlow and I loved every story in it. It was one of my top books of 2019 and for good reason. Now I’m starting off 2020 with another anthology of ghost stories. And while I don’t see Midnight in the Graveyard as the absolute masterpiece that Echoes is, it comes very close to the same quality in terms of the stories as well and how they all fit together.
Kenneth Cain did an incredible job of pulling together some really great stories from some really great authors. After reading all 25 of these stories it’s clear that Cain knew exactly where he wanted to take this anthology as the stories flow from one to the next in a way that doesn’t always happen with anthologies or short story collections.
I’m not going to talk about all of the stories in the anthology, though they were all good, I will just point out some of my favorites.
The first story of the anthology is Devils Dip by Shannon Felton. This is the perfect story to introduce this anthology because it’s short and easy to get into. It involves a ghost that attaches itself to one member of a group of friends when they were younger and still torments the group as they get older.
Tug O War by Chad Lutzke is the second story in the anthology and also one of my favorites. The title couldn’t be better, I don’t want to give away too much of the plot because the end is totally unexpected and perfect. The characters come to life quickly and stay with you in spite of the story’s length.
In Justin’s Favorite by Jeremy Hepler we get the touching story of a man whose sister died when he was younger, her ghost comes back to be his protector of sorts, but she has a strange way of protecting him.
Drown by Hunter Shea was the one I noted after I read it as my favorite in the anthology, and that never changed. The writing in this one is on point and the action and creepiness starts early and never really lets up until the story is over. Sometimes there are short stories I read more than once because it doesn’t take long to read them and they’re good enough that they warrant a second read through, this is one of them. When I finished this one, I turned back the pages and started over again. Well worth the second read through. It’s the story of a haunted bed and breakfast, there is a lot more to it than that, but trust me you want to read this one.
One of the stories that really lets the characters shine through is Those Who Are Terrified by Elizabeth Massie. The plot and story itself is well written but the characters are so well written and believable that I would have loved the story no matter what the plot was. When you have characters like the ones Massie creates in this story, you already have a great story in my book.
My second favorite story in this book is Thomas F. Monteleone ‘s The Ring of Truth. It’s the story of an army sniper who is being hunted down by angry, aggressive spirits. This is a favorite for a lot of reasons. First I love a short story that can span many years and still be engaging and this one does that, starting when the characters are in college and stretching until one of them is injured during war and the other becomes a doctor. The second reason I love this is the setting, there is something to be said for a scary, haunted hospital at night and Monteleone writes it to perfection.
Overall this is a great anthology that any fan of ghost stories should take the time to sit down and read. I love anthology series too, so here’s hoping for a Midnight in the Graveyard volume 2.
You can get this book for yourself at Silver Shamrock Publishing.
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