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Title: Powerful stories
Review: I really enjoyed these ghost stories. The first story, "The Red Cottage" nearly gave me nightmares. Interestingly, some of the descriptions Wakefield uses for his ghosts show up in another ghost story I'm reading, Affinity and I'm enjoying the synchronicity between these two books. The introduction to the story collection says that Wakfield was a contemporary with Lovecraft and it shows in his stories, in the subtle way he turns the oridinary into the extroridinary and ultimately into the horrific. I find that his shorter stories pack more of an emotional punch than his longer ones. His best stories are the ones that stay under twenty pages. The longer ones lose their pacing. He doesn't throw in enough smaller scares in to compell rapid page turning. Nonetheless, stay with the longer stories and enjoy the endings. They all do satisfy at their conclusions.
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