Spirits of Christmas

Telling ghost stories at Christmas has been traditional since Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and in this wide-ranging collection of holiday chills we revisit this custom with tales both old and new.A young man decides to impersonate his school chum's family ghost. A doctor makes a house call to a woman who died years ago. A child begs to go back to a disreputable Santa who may be Someone Else. An old man hears a ghostly voice from a doll in a hospital room. A psychic detective is called in to exorcise a certain well-known holiday icon. A boy hears the story of his far planet's history from the family pet.These aren't your traditional holiday tales.Contents (view Concise Listing)1 • Introduction (Spirits of Christmas) • (1989) • essay by David G. Hartwell5 • The Prescription • (1929) • short story by Marjorie Bowen27 • The Mystery of My Grandmother's Hair Sofa • (1895) • short story by John Kendrick Bangs37 • How the Bishop Sailed to Inniskeen • (1989) • short story by Gene Wolfe47 • Old Applejoy's Ghost • (1900) • short story by Frank R. Stockton67 • Green Holly • (1944) • short story by Elizabeth Bowen81 • Floodlights • (1989) • short story by Martha Soukup95 • The Real and the Counterfeit • (1895) • short story by Mrs. Alfred Baldwin116 • Snow Ghosts • (1989) • short story by Richard A. Lupoff130 • Unawares • (1908) • short story by Hildegarde Hawthorne137 • A Midwinter's Tale • (1988) • short story by Michael Swanwick157 • The Haunted Man • [Christmas Books] • (1989) • novella by Charles Dickens (variant of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain 1848)268 • The Haunted Man: A Christmas Story by Ch-r--s D-ck-ns • (1865) • short story by Bret Harte278 • The Confessions of Ebenezer Scrooge • (1989) • short story by James Morrow288 • O Come Little Children ... • (1989) • short story by Chet Williamson301 • But Do You Recall ... ? • (1989) • short story by Greg Cox309 • A Handful of Silver • (1967) • short story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman319 • A Masquerade of Voices • (1988) • short story by Susan Palwick336 • The Breakdown • (1976) • short story by Marjorie Bowen348 • The Peculiar Demesne • (1980) • novelette by Russell Kirk385 • Icicle Music • (1989) • short story by Michael Bishop