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Halloween Countdown 2019, Day 25
Oct. 25th, 2019 08:56 am“We tell stories of the dead as a way of making a sense of the living. More than just simple urban legends and campfire tales, ghost stories reveal the contours of our anxieties, the nature of our collective fears and desires, the things we can’t talk about in any other way. The past we’re most afraid to speak aloud of in the bright light of day is the same past that tends to linger in the ghost stories we whisper in the dark.” - Colin Dickey, Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places
I have read several books this year that are perfect for the Halloween season. One of these is Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places, which I recommend. (Thanks, Abbie, for suggesting it!) In Ghostland, Colin Dickey interrogates U.S. history through an in-depth analysis of key sites that have gained a reputation for ghosts. In the process, Dickey considers what issues of the country’s past (genocide, slavery, etc.) continue to haunt us in more ways than one. This is a thoughtful and fascinating read, painful at times (as it should be), and my main complaint (which is also a compliment) is that it left me wanting more.
A second noteworthy (and relevant!) book is Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of ‘70s and '80s Horror Fiction. This book has inspired Valancourt Books to reissue some hard-to-find ‘70s and ‘80s paperback cult classics with new introductions. You can hear my extended review of both Paperbacks from Hell and Valancourt Books’ related project here in my “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the Hugo Award-winning podcast StarShipsofa.
Another terrific book that I reviewed in my “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on StarShipSofa this year – which you can listen to here – is The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara.