The Invention Of Ghosts by Gwendolyn Kiste

Nightscape Press, 2019

Available: Chapbook, pre-order direct from Nightscape Press

Yes, this is a chapbook. Yes, it’s something you can finish reading in an hour or so. But this is something special, something worth investing in and savoring the story from one of the best new writers of the decade.

Just like Kiste’s collection and her stunning debut, The Rust Maidens, The Invention of Ghosts is a reading experience that seldom occurs. Kiste’s writing is what makes the stories transcend most of what the genre holds these days: the author is that special.

The less said. the better about this story.  It reminded me a bit of both The Haunting of Hill House and Ghost Story, a mix between Shirley Jackson and Peter Straub. Yet, Gwendolyn Kiste is her own person, and her style deftly dances between the words, carving out sentences that alternate between razors and velvet.

Everly is fascinated with the occult and all things ghostly. She’s a bit eccentric, odd, different, and cool. Kiste seduces the reader with her second person point of view, speaking to her friend who may or may not be dead, in a manner that evokes the best of Gillian Flynn and Nathan Ballingrud. The main character searches for the answers to a mystery she might already know, something others don’t want her to explore. The adventure of her missing childhood friend and college roommate who followed her passion for the occult consumes her, digging a rabbit hole for Everly to escape into, bury her sanity, or seek salvation. It’s a trip that begs exploration.

In addition to supporting a great author, forty percent of the proceeds from the sale of this chapbook goes to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, which houses over 150 species of birds from around the world, many of them endangered. Help a great cause while reading something special.