The Ghost Writer

More than “fantasy”

Serendipity, not planning, led me to read a few books over the past month that probably qualify for the label “literary fantasy”. Not a phrase I see often but one book carried that label and I can see why. Although they have a fantasy element (in this case ghosts and the afterlife), they are really more about life and humanity. I REALLY don’t go looking for this stuff but they all sounded interesting and I was able to get free, proof copies from NetGalley so…

I have to say that even though it wasn’t the traditional fantasy I was expecting, I enjoyed “The Ghost Writer” a lot. Definitely the best of the “literary” fantasies. Although it has the afterlife fantasy framework (and even a dash of sci fi) it is really about regret, emotion, acceptance and valuing what you have. If you are one of the lucky few who has accomplished all of your goals with a dream career and loving family, this may not resonate. But most of us can empathize with something- The Ghost Writer’s unwritten book, fractured family or dead end job. That sounds a little gloomy but there is also a dash of humor and “corporate thriller” thrown in to keep things interesting :)

While this book is a lot of fun, if you are looking for a more mainstream light fantasy of the witches/vampire type, you will likely be disappointed. But for a quick, entertaining, thoughtful read I definitely recommend. It is appears to be written as a standalone but I could see potential for a sequel- I hope so.

Damon Norko's The Ghost Writer is a ghost story unlike any you've read before.

Arnold Showalter never felt he had much of a life. Nerdy and mundane not a hint of excitement. One ex-wife and two children later, Arnold dies an ignominious death from complications due to diabetes. He had always wanted to be an author, but never put pen to paper while he lived. NOW he had all the time in the world to write and he was a genuine celebrity!!

Working as a haunter for the Orpheum Corporation, Arnold is assigned to the Mystic Caverns in Virginia. But when his haunting job is done, Arnold is the "first-ever literary voice from beyond the grave" and his stories are on bestseller lists the world over.

But Arnold still feels like he's missing something. Yes, he embellishes all of his stories about his life experiences for readers to enjoy, but he just "remembers" the experiences he doesn't recall any true feelings about them. Where's the fun, the excitement, the caring enough to show emotion?

Meeting 15 year old Clarisse changes that. No matter that she died from being struck down by a car, her attitude is bubbly, light-hearted and charitable. When Arnold realizes that he had a full sixty-four years of life experiences to look back on and Clarisse never had that opportunity, it makes him take on a new perspective.

As Arnold's writing style changes his "after-life" in not quite the same anymore either. He's sharing new adventures and meeting new ghosts, but Clarisse is mysteriously missing and the familiar workplace he once knew is developing sinister undertones. What's happened to his new friend and why is he suddenly under such scrutiny? Who knew "post-life" could be so hazardous to one's health?

This book ended up not being what I expected. I probably should have paid more attention to the fact that literary fiction was there alongside the SFF genre categorisation on NetGalley, but it wasn’t just that it wasn’t really my style of book. I found aspects of it confusing and inconsistent, plus the story was quite slow, all of which led to me enjoying it less than I might have.

After dying at age 64, Arnold Showalter becomes the world’s first “literary voice from beyond the grave”. He cannot feel emotions and has to rely on things like diving into volcanoes to get anything close to a thrill, but when he meets Clarisse, a ghost girl who died at age 15, and realises she can feel, he realises that the ghost-life he has been making do with isn’t how it has to be.

Arnold was the type of character you would expect to find in literary fiction, but as I mentioned, literary fiction is not really my thing, so I didn’t really care that much about his kind of crappy life. And even though age is probably not really an issue if you’re dead, I also felt a little bit weird about 64-year-old Arnold becoming as obsessed with 15-year-old Clarisse as he did.

The world-building was what confused me most in this book. Several ghosts seemed to have “jobs” that constituted haunting particular locations during business hours. They signed a contract, and were expected to punch in and out. But then there would be references to Arnold not really having set hours and being able to take off early if he wanted. It also seemed that as ghosts, the post-living could shoot off out of the Earth’s atmosphere, which made me wonder what kept them working. The punishment for breaking the Contract was disintegration, but they could clearly get far enough away that that wouldn’t be an issue. There was also some philosophical stuff at the end about Ghost Winds and this being the next stage of human evolution, but I felt like I missed something earlier in the book leading up to this, so it felt like it came out of nowhere and wasn’t very clear to me.

Overall, I feel like this was a definite case of “it’s not you, it’s me”, but I’m glad it was only short so that I could get all the way through it.

(Thanks to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for a free copy of this book in exchange for a review)

This was a great story line and the concept of a ghost writer is fantastic I really enjoyed it and didn't want it to end well done.

In Damon Norko’s ghost world, the ghosts have more reason to fear ghosts than their living and breathing brethren still subject to the laws of gravity have reason to fear them. Now throw in a hugely popular ghost with a philosophical nature who has found a way to write bestselling novels from the other side and publish them on our side, and you have the makings of one of the more unusual ghost stories you are likely to encounter this year.

As a ghost, Arnold Showalter is living the dream he never managed to achieve when he was alive. Or, at least, it started out that way. Arnold always wanted to be a writer, but somehow he managed to live into his seventh decade without doing much about it. Now, he is determined to make the most of this unexpected second chance of achieving it. But let’s face it: Arnold can only spend so much time at the keyboard, and he is one bored ghost the rest of the day and night – even on his assigned day-job working as a mine-haunter for the corporation that more or less created him.

What makes Arnold different from most of the Orpheum Corporation ghosts is that he has figured out a way to make himself feel all the human emotions he left behind with his dead body, something that is not supposed to be possible. But that’s both the good news and the bad news. On the one hand, this is what makes it possible for him to write the often gut-wrenching stories that he writes. On the other, it accounts for Arnold’s incredible boredom and his longing to find a friend.

And find a friend, he does – several of them, in fact – ghosts who, like Arnold, are searching for the meaning of this life after life. Unfortunately for Arnold and his friends, Orpheum Corporation considers them to be rogue ghosts who need to be stopped before they learn just what they are capable of achieving together. So now the ghost-hunt is on.

Although Damon Norko has packed a lot into this 134-page novel, I found myself wishing it had not ended quite where it did, and I wonder if perhaps the author has a sequel in mind. The Ghost Writer does, I think, suffer a little from its (lack of) size. More novella than novel, it does not allow Norko enough space to much develop more than two of his characters: Arnold and Clarisse, the teenaged ghost who becomes his first friend in ghost land. Too, because a substantial number of pages are devoted to the book’s more serious message, too few are left to move the action in the plot along.

Still, I feel for Arnold, the lonely ghost, because being a ghost is sure not all it’s cracked up to be.

As a writer myself, I was drawn to this book because of the title. I learnt from the synopsis that it was about a man determined to write even though he was dead and thought it sounded right up my street. What I ended up with was a charming and heart-felt story about pursuing your dreams no matter what the cost and, at the end of the day, standing up for what is right.

The plot is straightforward, but considering the novel is only short, it needs to be. Arnold is satisfied with his lot in the after-life but finds the corporation he works for isn’t as clean as it seems. Joining forces with other ghosts, he seeks to get the word out to ghosts and humans alike.

The characters were charming. Arnold is your typical nice-guy, who was down on his luck while he was alive but has the chance to make something of himself once he has passed on. Arnold is determined to succeed and is driven for success. But he is also friendly, letting himself be befriended by both Clarisse and Manny. Unfortunately, it’s just hard to know which ghost you can trust these days.

Despite being a lovely story, there is still tension and a fast pace to the plot. When Arnold finds himself under investigation, his subsequent hide-outs (in a wall and in a deer) add to the chase and Arnold himself finds his bravery when the deer are confronted with danger. For a character who is dead for the whole novel, he progresses and grows and the reader wants Arnold to be able to make a difference just because he is trying so hard to understand.

The Ghost Writer was an engaging and enjoyable story that leaves the reader with a feel-good vibe and a smile on their face. It is a story full of messages, mainly about never giving up and pursuing your dreams even if you are, in fact, dead. It is also a tale of friendship and loyalty and doing the right thing regardless of the risk to yourself. For a short story, this one packed a powerful punch.

The Ghost Writer is great whether you are a writer or not. The perfect book for a rainy day, a definite recommendation from here.