While I avoid writing my next book, I've asked a few ghost writers to pitch in.* Their stories may not all be ghost stories per se, but hopefully they will all be great stories. Let us know what you think. But remember, ghosts or not, these writers are our guests. Be nice.
Boo! PB
*Normally, a ghost writer is a writer who writes under the name of someone who can't write for himself, a movie star, say, or an ex-president. Then again, since you can't see them, all writers are kind of ghostly... |
| The Slippers -- by Sheela Chari |  |
Not everyone thinks this story is true, but if you go up north, people there will tell you differently. They’ll tell you about a girl who disappeared for good, who learned the hard way that nature has its own rules for who it saves, and who it doesn’t.
Once there was a girl named Ruby, who lived near a creek that ran all the way to the great Snake River of Washington. Ruby had never seen the river, but she loved the creek. She knew every rock, every pebble, every tree that lined the banks. Don’t go in the creek, her mother warned. But no matter what anyone said, nothing stopped Ruby from going in, from scooping up tadpoles, and searching for crawdads... Read More >> |
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| The Boy Who Drew Cats -- by Kurtis Scaletta |  |
My older brother told me this story when I was nine or ten years old. I don’t remember much about his version except that he relished its violent ending. “The Boy Who Drew Cats” has been my favorite fairy tale ever since. It is, I know now, Japanese in origin—but my brother told the story as if it had happened nearby and not that long ago, and so have I. I think it’s the kind of story that should always be told that way.
One day when Peter was ten he was given a sealed envelope and sent home early from school. As he left, the schoolmaster reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “Good bye, and good luck to you,” he said.... Read More >> |
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| Captain Courage, PART TWO -- by Matthew Cody |  |
Illustration by Eric Wight
The Ghost of Captain Courage Vs. The Monster Under The Bed,
Part II
Captain Courage wasn’t quite what Leroy had been expecting. In the old serials and comics, Captain Courage had always been selfless, generous and, of course, brave. He was the consummate hero ready to battle evil wherever it may be found. But this Captain seemed a bit . . . put out. Annoyed, even. Perhaps it was an after-effect of the dying. Or perhaps Leroy just wasn’t trying hard enough. In all the stories, Captain Courage helped the weak to help themselves. Every episode ended with a moral, a message about facing your own fears, or something like that.
That was it. This was a kind of test.... Read More >> |
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| Captain Courage, Part One -- by Matthew Cody |  |
Illustration by Eric Wight
The Ghost of Captain Courage Vs. The Monster Under The Bed,
Part I: Origin Story!
Captain Courage died like this: On March 15th, 1954, just six months after the cancellation of his short-lived television show The Adventure Hour with Captain Courage, a broke and professionally depressed actor named Bert Conway arrived at the grand opening of the new Get Clean Carwash on 23rd and Pine Street. He was in costume, on the clock, and making $1.25 an hour plus lunch.
Captain Courage was set to appear on a makeshift stage just long enough to shout his nowhere-near-famous catchphrase, “This calls for some courage . . . Captain Courage!” Then he’d shake some hands, tell... Read More >> |
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| Rumpled -- by C. Alexander London |  |
Once upon a time there was a poor miller, who had but one daughter. This must have been once upon a long time ago, because who ever heard of a miller these days? I’ve never met a miller. I don’t even know anyone who has met a miller. I’m not even sure what a miller does. Something about turning grain into flour. I think that’s all done by machines these days. Perhaps this is why the miller was poor. He had been replaced by a machine.
Anyway, one afternoon, this miller met the king. I’m not sure how. Why would a king meet with a poor miller? He couldn’t have made an appointment. It was probably an accidental meeting, the way you might bump into... Read More >> |
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| Winifred's Wish -- by Trenton Lee Stewart |  |
As Winifred stabbed and scooped with her gardening trowel, her forehead streaming with perspiration, Morton stood idly by, twirling a dandelion between two fingers. He had finished his second cup of coffee and stepped outside to check on Winifred's progress with the flower beds. His criticisms and suggestions had not been well received, unfortunately – they seldom were – and Morton was thinking of returning to his newspaper. (Morton had many important opinions and liked to find support for them in his reading.) But then the dandelion stirred a childhood memory, and remembering his wife's peculiar fondness for myths about the granting of wishes, he said, “Winifred, have you ever heard about dandelion wishes?”
Winifred looked up with interest. She wiped at... Read More >> |
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| The Brahmin Ghost -- by Sayantani DasGupta |  |
There is an old man in the coconut tree
He catches bad children will not let them free
Like long white radishes, two teeth hang
His back’s like a drum that no one dare bang
Floppy ears waggle in the north breeze
His eyes blaze like coals that make your blood freeze
A knotty old rope twists round his waist
He wanders through homes for children to taste
The boys who wail, he throws in a pail
He’ll box their ears with ghostly sneers
Be careful you children from far and from near
Be sure when you cry, the old man doesn’t hear!
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A long time ago, in a land called Bharat – a place that is now known as India, lived a...Read More >> |
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| The Girl Whose Name was Forgotten -- by Adam Gidwitz |  |
You know a story like this. It’s called Cinderella, or, sometimes, Ashputtle.
WAIT! Don’t quit. You probably don’t want to hear Cinderella. That’s good, because I don’t want to tell it.
At least, I don’t want to tell you a version that is anything like the versions you’ve heard before. You’ve maybe seen a really cute movie of it starring some singing mice, or you’ve read a picture book where everyone lives happily ever.
Well that’s too bad. There are no singing mice in the real Cinderella. Nor does everyone live happily ever after.
Instead, there are lots of cruel people at the beginning and lots and lots of blood at the end.
In other words, I think... Read More >> |
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