Great Ghost Stories

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 533K words
Chapters: 54

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Great Ghost Stories by Joseph Lewis FrenchAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections, Release Date: Oct 24, 2012

Editor's review

Great Ghost Stories is an English ghost-story anthology edited by Joseph Lewis French, released free of charge by Project Gutenberg. Its significance as a selection lies in gathering supernatural short stories by various authors into one volume, showcasing the many ways the English ghost-story tradition builds atmosphere, suspense, and psychological suggestion. Such works usually do not rely on gore for frights but create unease through setting, narrative perspective, and what is left unsaid, making this a good introductory anthology for understanding the English short supernatural tale tradition. It suits many reading situations: one story before bed or one on the commute feels effortless, and it also works as English reading practice, with short lengths and clear plots that make retelling and discussion easy. Note that the styles and quality of the stories vary, so readers can skip around as they please rather than forcing themselves to read from cover to cover.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English readers who enjoy ghost stories, supernatural tales, and short supernatural fiction
Literature lovers who want to understand the English ghost-story tradition and short-form techniques
Learners who need short texts to practice English reading and retelling
Readers who prefer atmosphere and suspense over bloody horror

Not a good fit for

Readers sensitive to horror or the supernatural and easily frightened
Readers expecting modern fast-paced thrills and strong visual shocks
Researchers hoping for systematic literary criticism and detailed annotations

Reading tips

Read stories independently; skip any you dislike rather than reading straight through.
After each story, close the book and reflect on how the suspense and ending were handled, to appreciate short-form closure techniques.
English learners can pick one story for retelling practice, summarizing plot and atmosphere in two or three sentences.
When reading at night, mind the lighting and setting, and adjust your choice of stories to your tolerance for horror.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Are these ghost stories very scary?

Most are traditional English ghost stories emphasizing atmosphere, suspense, and psychological suggestion rather than explicit gore. The level of fright varies by story, and the overall effect leans toward subtle unease, though individual reactions differ greatly; those sensitive to the supernatural should still proceed with caution.

How many stories are there, and who wrote them?

The materials only state that this is a ghost-story anthology edited by Joseph Lewis French and do not list the specific stories or authors. For the actual contents and authors, refer to the table of contents in the ebook itself, as different editions may vary.

Is it suitable for learning English?

It works well as supplementary material. The stories are of moderate length with clear plots, making them easy to read in sections and practice retelling; however, some texts are older, with dated sentence structures and vocabulary, so beginners may want a dictionary and should focus on understanding plot and atmosphere rather than word-by-word close reading.

Comments

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Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.