Hingston & Olsen (publishers of the GHOST BOXes)

Posted by: @parviz

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Good news. Just received shipping notice.  Looking forward to this

Ditto, mine shipped yesterday. Really looking forward to finally being able to see one of these in person.

 My Ghost Box arrived today. Much smaller than I expected! A very nice package, one might even be tempted to call it "cute", lol. I only gave it a quick once-over, as I was on my way out the door when it arrived, but it looks like a nice mix of familiar and new-to-me authors. Really looking forward to digging in, and wishing I had gotten in on the first three boxes.

 It looks like boxes are still available for anyone still interested, and the price is definitely right...I think it came out to around $22.00 with the exchange rate, postage included.

I also just got the box today. Very nice little production.  A lot of authors I haven't read and a few I haven't heard about. Excited to dig into it. 

A shame there won't be more.

I decided to take a break between Terry Lamsley volumes and crack open The Ghost Box. The first chapbook was WINDOW by Bob Leman. WOW. Never heard of Leman before, but what starts out as a Bradburyesque little Sci-Fi Fantasy nostalgia-dream takes QUITE a turn. Color me impressed. 

Posted by: @dannyboy121070

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I decided to take a break between Terry Lamsley volumes and crack open The Ghost Box. The first chapbook was WINDOW by Bob Leman. WOW. Never heard of Leman before, but what starts out as a Bradburyesque little Sci-Fi Fantasy nostalgia-dream takes QUITE a turn. Color me impressed. 

Centipede Press did an expanded deluxe HC edition of the original Midnight House HC collection FEESTERS IN THE LAKE. If it's ever in your budget, see if you can't track down an aftermarket copy of the Centipede edition...it'd be well worth your time and effort and $$$.

Feesters in the Lake (link)

 @ronclinton, I remember having my eye on that collection when it was first announced. Bummed that I missed out on it, now that I've sampled his work.

 The second chapbook in the box, Mathilda Zeller's KUSHTUKA was an indigenous tale of cultural-appropriation revenge that just didn't click with me.

Posted by: @dannyboy121070

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 @ronclinton, I remember having my eye on that collection when it was first announced. Bummed that I missed out on it, now that I've sampled his work.

 The second chapbook in the box, Mathilda Zeller's KUSHTUKA was an indigenous tale of cultural-appropriation revenge that just didn't click with me.

I think you’ll find each of these GHOST BOXes to be a very mixed bag, which is indicative of Patton Oswalt being more a comedian than an academic or learned editor. Not to diminish his editorial acumen (which can actually be pointedly good and on target), but just that they’re more a personal reflection of what he likes, not necessarily what was impactful upon the genre or has the typical narrative hallmarks of a forgotten gem.

 I read a few more of the chapbooks this morning:

 ELIMINATE TOXINS AND INCREASE BLOOD FLOW by Ruby Cowling was only 4 pages, and gave me a really good, if gross, laugh.

 FLICKER, by L.D. Lewis was a neat little apocalyptic story.

 THE THREE INFERNAL JOKES, by Lord Dunsany. This was my first exposure to Dunsany, and, while I enjoyed it (A guy disconnects a phone and wires it to a lightning rod to call Hell!), I doubt I'd seek out more by him.

 Michael Shea's BRIEF SCENES FROM A NOXIOUS NATIVITY is truly puzzling...It is three pages long, and the chapbook is six pages, so the book is half blank pages. The story, a strange half-formed start to an Eco-Thriller, is actually an excerpt from a novel, MOMMA DURTT. Why would you excerpt three pages that go nowhere from a novel, when Shea has plenty of short stories to choose from? Waste of a slot in the box, Patton...

Next up was Edith Wharton's THE LADY'S MAID'S BELL, a very understated story about a young maid taking a job in the home of a not-so-happily-married couple. This was my first Wharton, and while she had a very readable style, the story just left me puzzled...I had to look online to see if anyone understood the ending. (Thank God for the internet!) A great classic ghost story, but understated is an understatement!

Getting close to the finish line....Gahan Wilson's THE SEA WAS WET AS WET COULD BE is a story that I read in a Wilson collection earlier this year, so it was still fresh in my mind. The tale is so good, though, that I didn't mind reading it again. This is probably the fifth or sixth time I've read it, and the last few paragraphs never lose their punch. Wilson was SUCH an underrated Horror author. His short stories are perfection.