The Big Book of Ghost Stories

Big Book Series

By: Otto Penzler

Narrated by: Amy Landon, Joel Richards

The ghost story is perhaps the oldest of all the supernatural literary genres and has captured the imagination of almost every writer to put pen to the page. Here, Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler has followed his keen sense of the supernatural to collect the most chilling and uncanny tales in the canon. These spectral stories span more than 100 years, from modern-day horrors by Joyce Carol Oates, Chet Williamson, and Andrew Klavan, to pulp yarns from August Derleth, Greye La Spina, and M. L. Humphreys, to the atmospheric Victorian tales of Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, and H. P. Lovecraft, not to mention modern works by the likes of Donald E. Westlake and Isaac Asimov that are already classics. Some of these stories have haunted the canon for a century, while others are making their first ghoulish appearance in audiobook form.

Whether you prefer possessive poltergeists, awful apparitions, or friendly phantoms, these stories are guaranteed to thrill you, tingle the spine, or tickle the funny bone and keep you listening with fearful delight.

Including such classics as "The Monkey's Paw" and "The Open Window" and also featuring haunted mansions, midnight frights, lovers from beyond the grave, rapping, tapping, wailing shades, and ghosts, ghouls, and specters galore!

©2012 Otto Penzler (introduction and compilation) (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

The story selection is good but the acting is...

The story selection is wide and very good. Sadly, the stories narrated by Amy Landon are not worth the listen.

Amy Landon's attempt at a southern accent is cringy to the point of being offensive. Her attempt at a British one is just as bad. One can tell she prides herself on being an accent actor, however her misplaced confidence coupled with a tone-deaf 'ear' makes her performance little more than a pretentiousness clowning around.

Joel Richards, who thankfully did the bulk of the narration, is really very good. His performance is worth the price of admission.

Great Ghost Stories

I found this to be a great collection of ghost stories. The narration was well done and the tone of voice set a spooky atmosphere.

An eclectic collection with excellent narration...

I am not a fan of anthologies as such but admire them nonetheless. When they are done well - as this one is - it is a prodigious find and a profound pleasure. Notably, the story’s title and author’s name are clearly stated at the very start of each listening chapter or section. And reiterated right after a very brief and adequate introduction to the author and their works. Thankfully, all introductions are succinct. This is impressive to say the least. So many anthologies/collections suffer from rambling introductions, and in my view, this quite kills the pleasure of listening. Reading is another matter. Anyway, the narrators I think are only two (keeping it simple and sweet) and are very good. Overall, I really enjoyed this one though a few stories were already known to me.

A classic horror delight

Perfect for a rainy Fall day or dark winter night, this massive work of classic horror stories are all wonderful and beautifully narrated. Truly a delight! Curl up with a warm mug of coffee and enjoy!

A Must have for any lover of Ghost Stories!!!!

There's not much to say other than if you enjoy Ghost Stories... you're missing out if you haven't perused this book. I've come to have the utmost respect for any anthology edited by Otto Penzler. What makes him stand out from the rest, is the time and care he takes to find an eclectic but highly entertaining blend of stories from Past and Present WITHOUT giving you a book packed with stories that are found in 100 other anthologies on the same subject.
The only reason that I couldn't give this the rare 5 stars is because the female Narrator actually detracts from the stories she reads. If she's not reading with a grating monotonous tone, than she's torturing the audience with a horrendous "Southern" accent

Voicing Audionbooks Isn't easy

With respect... the female reader sounds like the Google Maps lady. The closest thing to bad AI computer voicing imaginable. Em-PHAH-sis in the wrong places. And she feels it necessary to make dialog by male characters sound like dumbly stereotyped cartoon characters.

The male reader... whispers... even in action passages. Flat. Without nuance. And strange dialect accents in dialog.

way too much commentary

the history and unending commentary drove me nuts. just tell the story first then add commentary if necessary. so we don't have to listen to the annoying male narrator.

Not unabridged

Attempts at accents are truly awful. When the stay with their own American accents, reading is acceptable. Think of Dick Van Dykes seriously ridiculous Cockney accent in "Mary Poppins. "
But important parts of stories have been cut out. In "What was it," references to smoking opium have been cut, which makes a major part of the story without reason and strongly detracts from the story. This sort of PC-ification is unforgivable.
Excellent classical ghost stories ruined by bad acting and vicious hacking for editing.
mispronounced Brindisi, Marseilles, and wagon-lit. Just in the first few minutes of one story.