"20th Century Ghosts" by Joe Hill

It should be hard to properly review, or write about, a book of short stories. By definition, each piece of writing work is an unique, stand alone piece of art which would be judged on the merits of its own few pages.

 "20th Century Ghosts" by Joe Hill is something different. Without knowing when or how each of Hill's stories were written, the effect they had on this reader was entirely unique. At once, the stories-- ranging from beautifully rendered post-modern/meta-physical (or, perhaps more frankly, categorized as new and original) ghosts stories to weird fiction to a type of writing which defies classification at every turn-- the stories in the collection are an experience. Mr. Hill is a talent all his own, and one needs to only read a story or two from this volume to know that, and to complete this volume is to marvel at the expanse of that talent.

 My favorite story in these pages is without question "Pop Art." Nothing I could have read, or even surmised from the title, could have prepared me for this beautiful little story gem with a heart so big, so pure, so all Joe Hill's own. A bildungsroman; childhood; prejudice; growing up; hatred; anti-Sematism; that which cannot be named. "Pop Art" may very well go down as one of my all time favorite short stories. When I read the summary-- a story about a boy who befriends an inflatable boy at school-- I did not expect anything but a slightly sci-fi piece of weird fiction. Not the deeply personal story that it almost would do a disservice to discuss. (And, no, I don't believe the short film adaptaion did much at justice, either.)

Amanda Boyle's short film adaptaion of "Pop Art" 

 Other stories that stand out in the collection are the title "20th Century Ghosts"-- wherein a ghost of a young movie-going girl haunts her favorite theater; "Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead" and "The Cape."

 I am very eager to get a start on Hill's novels.

From Hill's graphic novel adaptaion of "The Cape"