Ghosts of Yesterday, by Jack Cady **3/4

This collection had a distinctive character, a slow, southern drawl mixed with an earthy toughness, that makes me curious to read more of Cady's writing. The book contains four substantial stories along with a few curiousities including a poem, a couple of essays about ghost stories, and several very short (1-4 page) stories that didn't have much impact. My rating for this book would be a bit higher if the side journeys didn't exist, because I mostly found them uninteresting. But Cady's is a voice I enjoyed quite a bit, and I will actively seek out more of his work.

There's a grittiness to Cady's approach that I appreciate, and in that regard my enjoyment of his writing seems connected to my appreciation of Lucius Shepard. The final story in this collection, in particular, is a great example of what I like about his writing. It takes place in the historical south, post Civil War, and includes both a sense of awe and of reverence for the people who lived at the time. They embark on an unexplained journey, which works on both a moment-by-moment basis and as a cumulative whole. I can't say what I learned about the south or the civil war while reading it, but it was a memorable aesthetic experience. That seems to me to be part of Cady's charm, in that through the experience of genuine characters that stay in the brain, I witness some sort of beauty and magical experience. This is not frightening horror but engaging mystery.

Next I think I'll seek out The Night We Buried Road Dog, which is supposed to be a collection with six substantial stories including the title story which is his most well-respected piece and no filler.
(Fall 2007)

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