UNPLEASANTNESS: GHOST STORIES FOR THE DEPRESSED challenges the notion of the ghost story itself. Two deceased workers haunt an office until turnover and management decisions erase all memory of them. A woman is driven into a life she never wanted by a vision of her future self. A man sees a ghost, but just for a second, and it ruptures his already distorted worldview. A convict acquires second sight and uses it for profane purposes. A desperate young man is compelled to steal by ghosts that are altogether absent. In his brilliant debut collection, Nathaniel A. Giles retrofits the ghost story for the twenty-first century and in doing so pushes the boundaries of the genre and questions whether this century isn’t already bad enough without ghosts. $2.99 on Kindle.
