The Big Book of Ghost Stories (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original)
"Volumes of frightfulness. . . . No one should go through life (let alone death) without experiencing W.W. Jacobs’s 'The Monkey’s Paw,' Perceval Landon’s 'Thurnley Abbey,' Ambrose Bierce’s 'The Moonlit Road' and M.R. James’s 'Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad.' But Penzler also includes many stories that should be equally well known. This year, for instance, I read for the first time Ellen Glasgow’s 'The Shadowy Third'."    --Michael Dirda,The Washington Post"If you enjoy, as I have since childhood, a great ghost story well told, this book is required reading."    --Charles McNair,PasteMagazine"Wonderful. . . . A list on your computer is one thing. A big, fat, juicy, paperback anthology like this is something else altogether."    --The Buffalo News(editor's choice)"Jam packed with enough classic horror and otherworldly stories to keep you having nightmares through the month of October. . . . This collection of short stories coupled with eerie vintage illustrations is a must-have for the nightstand. The only thing that can make it better is a flashlight under the covers."    --The Long Island Press"This mountain-sized omnibus contains every wrinkle of the form you could ever want. . . . There’s enough in this volume to please both dilettantes and devotees among ghost story readers."    --Publishers Weekly"Penzler has done an excellent job of collecting interesting, unnerving, and fascinating stories as well as providing nifty tidbits in the introductions. Reading most of these stories just before trying to sleep, though, is not recommended."    --Booklist