Brockmeier, Kevin

"The author of the acclaimed novel The Brief History of the Dead now gives us one hundred funny, poignant, scary, and thought-provoking ghost stories that explore all aspects of the afterlife. A spirit who appears in a law firm reliving the exact moment she lost her chance at love, a man haunted by the trees cut down to build his house, nefarious specters that snatch anyone who steps into the shadows in which they live, and parakeets that serve as mouthpieces for the dead--these are just a few of the characters Kevin Brockmeier presents in this extraordinary compendium of spectral emanations and their wildly various purposes in (after) life. These tales are by turns playful, chilling, and philosophical, paying homage to the genre while audaciously subverting expectations. The ghosts in these pages are certain to haunt you well after you've closed the book"--.

In the aftermath of a fatal car accident, six people find healing from their own suffering through a journal of love letters from a husband to his wife.

The City, where the recently departed reside as long as they are remembered by the living, is home to Kuka Sims, who prints the City's only newspaper, Coleman Kinzler, a vagrant who speaks the word of God, and Marion and Philip Byrd, who find themselves falling in love once again, all of whom are remembered by Laura Byrd, whose own time is running out.

After receiving a strange book at school, ten-year-old Howie Quackenbush discovers that he can transport himself to various places around his town and also learns something vitally important about his soon-to-be born baby sister.

The City, where the recently departed reside as long as they are remembered by the living, is home to Kuka Sims, who prints the City's only newspaper, Coleman Kinzler, a vagrant who speaks the word of God, and Marion and Philip Byrd, who find themselves falling in love once again, all of whom are remembered by Laura Byrd, whose own time is running out.

After a seventh-grader discovers that the grooves in his Thigpen-brand blue jeans are encoded with a cry for help, he sets out to save the factory workers from greedy entrepreneur Howard Thigpen.