Plot:This little morality tale is set during the Ming Dynasty (ruled 1368-1644). Ming-Y’s father is the Inspector of Public Instruction at the city of Tchin-tou. Though only eighteen, Miny-Y stands out for his scholarship, grace, and polite accomplishments. Thus, when the wealthy Lord Tchang seeks a worthy tutor for his children, he engages Ming-Y. BecauseContinue reading “Review of “The Story of Ming-Y” by Lafcadio Hearn: Halloween Countdown”
Tag Archives: ghost story
Review of “Smee” by A. M. Burrage: Halloween Countdown
PlotDuring a Christmas Eve party, Jackson refuses to play hide-and-seek because he sometimes stays at a house where a girl was accidentally killed playing the game by falling down a flight of stairs. He wasn’t there when this happened, but he was visiting the same house during another Christmas party when something worse happened. WhenContinue reading “Review of “Smee” by A. M. Burrage: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens: Halloween Countdown
Plot:Our hero visits a signalman in a railroad tunnel where he works, signaling trains that come through and passing messages along. He announces his presence by shouting from atop the hill, “Halloa! Below there!” Much to his surprise, the man walks away as if he hasn’t heard him. After some more screaming, the narrator getsContinue reading “Review of “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Shadow” by Edith Nesbit: Halloween Countdown
Plot:A girl faints during a dance at a country house over Christmas in Victorian-era Great Britain. She is sent to recover in a dressing room. Other girls sleep in a bedroom attached to the dressing room. Of course, they don’t sleep but sit up, telling each other ghost stories. While they’re scaring themselves, a knockContinue reading “Review of “The Shadow” by Edith Nesbit: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Shadow in the Corner” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Halloween Countdown
Plot:Wildheath Grange sits back from the road, the last remnants of a once-vast estate of the Bascom family. The house has a bad reputation among the locals in the nearby village of Holcroft, but it suits the current owner, Michael Bascom, a middle-aged bachelor who spends his days among his books in scientific reading. TheContinue reading “Review of “The Shadow in the Corner” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Moonlit Road” by Ambrose Bierce: Halloween Countdown
Plot:The following things happened: Joel Hetman returned from a trip at an unexpected time and used the back door without disturbing anyone. He chased what appeared to be a prowler into the woods, who got away. His wife, Julia, was strangled to death in her bedroom. He summoned his nineteen-year-old son, Joel, Jr., home fromContinue reading “Review of “The Moonlit Road” by Ambrose Bierce: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Marble Hands” by Bernard Capes: Halloween Countdwon
Plot:Our hero rides his bike with his friend Heriot to the churchyard. Heriot wants him to check something out but doesn’t want to see it himself. Our hero soon finds what he’s looking for—a grave with no headstone or inscription. A beveled marble curb encloses a graveled area. In the graveled area stand two marbleContinue reading “Review of “The Marble Hands” by Bernard Capes: Halloween Countdwon”
Review of “A Ghost Story” by Mark Twain: Halloween Countdown
Plot: The narrator recounts that he took a large room in a huge old building. The upper stories, where his room is, have been unoccupied for years and have long given up to cobwebs, solitude, and silence. He feels he’s invading the privacy of the dead. For the first time in his life, a superstitiousContinue reading “Review of “A Ghost Story” by Mark Twain: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Furnished Room” by O. Henry: Halloween Countdown
Plot: In the turn of the century New York’s Lower West Side, a young man seeks to rent a room. After confirming with the prospective landlady that she rents to a lot of “theatrical people,” he asks if she has recently rented to Miss Eloise Vashner. “[D]o you remember such a one among your lodgers?Continue reading “Review of “The Furnished Room” by O. Henry: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Whistling Room” by William Hope Hodgson: Halloween Countdown
Plot: Carnacki recounts his adventures at (fictional) Iastrae Castle, some twenty miles northeast of Galway, Ireland. Mr. Sid K. Tassoc, the new owner, requested his help after finding the castle haunted. He bought the castle, intending to renovate it before marrying and bringing his bride to live there. He’s frustrated because sounds—whistling and sometimes screaming—comeContinue reading “Review of “The Whistling Room” by William Hope Hodgson: Halloween Countdown”
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 