This is a collection of short stories by various authors

The stories are set in the future, where the battle suit is the king of battle. Stories by David Drake, Gordon R. Dickson, Harry Harrison, Joe Haldeman and more. The FIRST in a series of books. The other two are SPACEFIGHTERS and SUPERTANKS. All three are edited by Joe Haldemen. This book even has a few pictures in the first story showing some of the suits (as the first story is done as a history of battle suits).

This book was headed for the discard pile even though I'm a ghost story junkie, but then I found a trio of really good stories buried within the dross of old pulp filler:

"Stillwater, 1896" by Michael Cassutt - A Great Lakes lumber town is visited by a man who can locate corpses underwater.

"One of the Dead" by William Wood - A vacant lot is purchased very cheaply in a canyon inhabited by movie stars, and haunted by its Spanish past.

"Night-Side" by Joyce Carol Oates - Two skeptics test a medium who can speak with the voices of the dead. The really chilling aspect of this story is its author's depiction of the afterlife.

There are also some decent stories that are worth a once-over:

"Drawer 14" by Talmage Powell - A morgue attendant sees a corpse in a drawer that's supposed to be empty. This story has a kicker at the end.

"Professor Kate" by Margaret St. Clair - A family of witches is hunted by a posse in Indian Country.

"School for the Unspeakable" by Manly Wade Wellman - You will soon guess what is going to happen to the new boy at the prep school, but it's still a spooky read. I'm prepared to bet money that the author originally set this story in England, but the editors changed the location to North Dakota to fit it into this collection.

"Clay-Shuttered Doors" by Helen R. Hull - A woman returns from the dead to host her husband's dinner party.

"Poor Little Saturday" by Madeleine L'Engle - An original fantasy, but more about witches than ghosts--I think. A woman in a deserted, boarded-up plantation house befriends a boy with malaria.

"Great American Ghost Stories" also features a so-so story by Harlan Ellison--"Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"--I think he was feeling sorry for himself when he wrote it; and a really awful early Lovecraft: "Herbert West - Reanimator." When Lovecraft is bad, he is really, really bad and this story's got sentences like, "Not more unutterable could have been the chaos of hellish sound if the pit itself had opened to release the agony of the damned, for in one inconceivable cacophony was centered all the supernal terror and unnatural despair of animate nature."

Yes, indeed. Most of the stories in this book have never been anthologized, as far as I can determine, except for a duet by Ambrose Bierce: "The Boarded Window;" and "The Stranger." But the editors could hardly have called their book, "Great American Ghost Stories" without an entry from the man who defined 'happiness' as, "an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another."

Herein lies a fine collection of Ghost Stories. And it's not a barrage of cheesy tales of moans and groans in the attic. I devoured this book of shorts in one sitting. It kept my toes curled all night. Highly recommended! (Mary Higgins Clark's short story sets off the book in fine style, being the first in line) Loved it!!!

Throughout the years, lighthouses have served as backdrops for dark, gothic tales of solitary, sea-based horror. If you like a good chilling read and you like lighthouses and the sea, this collection of 17 tales was assembled just for you. Though well-read readers in the genre will have already read Ray Bradbury's The Fog Horn which inspired the movie, Beast From 50,000 Fathoms, the rest of the tales will be new to even the old connoisseur of tales of dark suspense.

The editors take us on a world-wide tour which includes St. Cecilia on the southern coast of England and its keeper slowly going mad from the flowing water that surrounds him. We visit the Isle of the Wise Virgin lighthouse in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to hear a tale about why one doesn't steal from the dead. On a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides, four men and one woman trapped in their lighthouse fight off waves of monsters straight from H.P. Lovecraft while on the coast of Guiana, lighthouse keepers struggle against giant rats. Ghosts, monsters, murder and madness ... they're all here.

Nowadays with the advent of technology, lighthouses are falling into disrepair and neglect, but these 17 tales will keep the wonder and mystery alive when the wind outside is blowing the surf up.

I found several of the short stories to be very entertaining reading. The stories revolve around the darker side of lighthouses.

This is a story telling about a poor child who called Oliver Twist¡¦s life. He is an orphan. He has never seen his mother or father. He was sent to a special ¡§baby farm¡¨ when he was still baby, living with other orphan s with inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing. This was the way Oliver was brought up.
The first time that I read Charles Dickens¡¦ fiction is ¡§Christmas Carol¡¨ .it is a really special story. And started to read another story, Oliver Twist. It is a really interesting story, maybe I should not say only interest, its so emotionality and touching. Oliver was a strongest child that I have ever seen as he¡¦s an orphan but living with his heart. He didn¡¦t give up at any moment.
Most of us know that the story of the young orphan who risen above his life to become a rather good person. I remember that, there is a sentence, which always pops out from my mind. "Please, sir, I want some more." Oliver was too poor since he is always been badly treated, no enough food and clothes at anytime. When he asked for some more, he will surely receive corporal punishment, reflects that others were so cruel.
The author went into great detail over the trials Oliver faces, like he is pale and thin. And also, the description of the thieves and poor reflects a belief that once one slide toward the path of destruction, it is nearly impossible to return. What I was surprised to find, was just how humorous the novel is. The chapters clearly tell us, to realize how much more there was to this classic than simply a story about an orphan that falls in with a gang of unruly pickpockets. I really feel that just like I have already read it as a child.
I highly recommend this book to you since it¡¦s interesting, touching and easy to understand.

This is a story telling about a poor child who called Oliver Twist¡¦s life. He is an orphan. He has never seen his mother or father. He was sent to a special ¡§baby farm¡¨ when he was still baby, living with other orphan s with inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing. This was the way Oliver was brought up.
The first time that I read Charles Dickens¡¦ fiction is ¡§Christmas Carol¡¨ .it is a really special story. And started to read another story, Oliver Twist. It is a really interesting story, maybe I should not say only interest, its so emotionality and touching. Oliver was a strongest child that I have ever seen as he¡¦s an orphan but living with his heart. He didn¡¦t give up at any moment.
Most of us know that the story of the young orphan who risen above his life to become a rather good person. I remember that, there is a sentence, which always pops out from my mind. "Please, sir, I want some more." Oliver was too poor since he is always been badly treated, no enough food and clothes at anytime. When he asked for some more, he will surely receive corporal punishment, reflects that others were so cruel.
The author went into great detail over the trials Oliver faces, like he is pale and thin. And also, the description of the thieves and poor reflects a belief that once one slide toward the path of destruction, it is nearly impossible to return. What I was surprised to find, was just how humorous the novel is. The chapters clearly tell us, to realize how much more there was to this classic than simply a story about an orphan that falls in with a gang of unruly pickpockets. I really feel that just like I have already read it as a child.
I highly recommend this book to you since it¡¦s interesting, touching and easy to understand.

This book told about a boy who was embarrased because of a mistake and didn't want to read a story he wrote to a famouse author. I thought that was different and kind of cool. I really liked the book

The Confederate fighting man is the subject of these 11 very touching short stories written by the likes of F.Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe. You don't have to be a Civil War fanatic or a Southerner to appreciate this book. You only have to love a well crafted story

This is an old-fashioned set of ghost stories written by a host of authors, the most famous ones being Henry James & O. Henry. They are pretty standard fictional fare, well written, and full of mystery. Though the language and often old-fashioned writing can be a bit of a stumbling block, this set of ghost stories was fun to read none-the-less. Many had subtle clues and held their secrets to the very end. If you like mystery stories and ghost stories, then this book is for you. I would have given it 5 stars, but gave it 4 stars due to the old-fashioned writing, which at times was a little hard to follow. Take a copy out of your library, you'll enjoy it.

I found this book in a church Library and fell in love with it. the more I read the more I realize Short's Excelent perception on human nature and Christianity. I was especially fond of the titles of the chapters including: "The Wages of Sin is "Aaaughh"", and "Good Grief". These Titles and the titles of the book however are going to be offencive to some Fundimentalist Christians. That is a shame because if they read this book they would see how good of an evangelical tool it could be. I hope anyone struggling with their own faith could read this book. It really Pokes fun at human nature.

It is, surely, a matter of basic courtesy to an author to read his or her book before reviewing it. The pseudonymous "lexo-2" (see below, six reviews down) knows his Peanuts and his Preachers, and his verdict on Short is "Wrong, wrong, wrong." Well, six months after reading that review I have at last got around to finishing my used-bookstore copy of "The Gospel," and I find myself feeling so annoyed that I simply must respond.

"Whether or not Schulz is a devout Christian I could not say," writes lexo-2. If he had taken the trouble to actually read Short's book, however, he would have found numerous quotations from Schulz himself concerning his religious views. Speaking of a Bible-study group he attended shortly after his return from the Second World War, Schulz says, "The more I thought about it during those study times, the more I realized that I really loved God" (quoted on p. 70). Or again, "I don't even like the expression 'take communion.' You cannot 'take' communion. You are a part of the communion. You are communing with Christ; you are a part of the community of saints" (p. 80). The rhetoric, complete with its anti-Catholic bias against the notion of "taking" communion, is clearly that of a born-again evangelical (in Schulz's case, Church of God). And lest there be any doubt of Schulz's authorial intentions, he is quoted in the very first chapter as saying, "I have a message that I want to present, but I would rather bend a little to put over a point than to have the whole strip dropped because it is too obvious. As a result . . . all sorts of people in religious work have written to thank me for preaching in my own way through the strips. That is one of the things that keeps me going" (p. 20).

Schulz was worried about being too obvious. Clearly he wasn't obvious enough.

Short's book is cogent and well argued; it certainly is not a collection of "homilies." Contrary to what lexo-2 implies, Short does not ignore the darker side of the Peanuts world. Indeed, of lexo- 2's "three phrases," Short uses two or them in chapter titles: "The Wages of Sin Is 'Aaaugh!'" and "Good Grief!" Good grief! Read before you review!

Yes, lexo-2 is quite right that the world of Peanuts is a "sunlit hell, in which the characters never grow, never change, etc." Where he goes wrong is in assuming that Short--a Ph.D. in literature and theology, a man who had taken the trouble to study the cartoon in depth and even write a book about it--couldn't see that for himself. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Short's whole point is that we all live in a "sunlit hell," suffering "unimaginable fears" and "wreaking appalling cruelties on each other," and that we will never escape that hell unless we can find . . . (you guessed it!) the saving grace of Jesus Christ. The salvationist message does not come across too strongly in the cartoon (Schulz did not want to be "obvious") but it just as surely is there, between the lines, in the occasional epiphanies of love and reconciliation that illuminate the otherwise bleak moral landscape of Peanutopia.

You can agree or disagree with the Short-Schulz analysis of the human predicament. Personally, I disagree strongly. But in a world in which evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity have so much influence and power, it simply will not do to be idly dismissive. Indeed, I particularly recommend Short's book to freethinkers of every stripe, if only that they may remind themselves just how subtle and persuasive evangelical discourse can be. There is more, much more, to Short's little book than "pious ramblings" and that is precisely what makes it, depending on your point of view, so inspiring or so insidious.

This is the first book of theology that I ever read - and what a great introduction to theology! Short pulls out the theology of love and grace, the very human-ness of Christian faith (rightly understood), from the cartoon Peanuts, written by the unique Charles Schultz. This is actually the best introduction to real Christian theology that is available. Tillich, Kierkegaard, Niebuhr, Luther, Kafka, T. S. Eliot, and Karl Barth are only of the people you'll encounter in this splendid summary of essential Christian thought. I have valued this book for years, from when I first read it in high school to when I gave it as a gift to a lay minister in the diocese that I serve when I was consecrated as a bishop. Of all the dull and boring books of theology out there, this one is fun, and one of the best ever!

suck

This collection of Twilight Zone literature includes Bradbury's "I Sing the Body Electric," a classic, and several other classics that are unforgettable.

I think that these collections have some of the best ironies out of all of the Twilight Zone episodes. Aside from "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," this book has the necessary works for the Twilight Zone lovers.

Recommended to any sci-fi fanatics--

I loved this book. All of the stories were fantastic, I recommend it.

Wendy Hitchmough's "The Arts & Crafts Lifestyle and Design" is a frustrating, yet beautiful-looking book that covers the Arts & Crafts movement by focusing on how it was influenced by changes in popular culture, the advent of scientific "modernity", and anti-Victorian backlash.

The book's layout focuses on each room in the home and why it evolved in the Arts & Crafts style. Taking references from the era's periodicals that covered the style, "The Craftsman" and "The House", Hitchmough provides historical background that seeks to makes sense of the style. Simplicity of design evolved from anti-Victorianism. Cues from nature came from the burgeoning naturalist and conservation movements, along with interest in all things Asian. Older building practices were combined with new advances.

The lifestyle portions of the book point out how radically different from Victorian ideals was the new movement. The roles of the master and mistress of the home showed them as more at tune with the outside world, more aware of personal health and fitness, and far more sexually aware (more about this further on.) How the Arts & Crafts home functioned from day to day is discussed in detail, as well.

The book covers the style as best portrayed in Britain and the United States. Designers from both sides of the pond are detailed. The lush photography of Martin Charles wraps up the pretty package.

But there are distinct problems with the book. It doesn't have a real niche. It's too wordy and historical to be a good coffee table book. The layout of chapters by room, while possibly good for highlighting the lifestyle choices, makes this a hard book to use as a reference manual for the style. There are glaring limitations, too. Far too much focus is given to a few designers and homes that drove the movement - it is not as broad an overview of all designers and practices as one would like. And while the lifestyle portions are interesting, there seems to be an overt focus on sexuality that I found peculiar for a book of this type.

In short, I believe the book tries to accomplish too much and therefore fails to excel in any one aspect. By trying to shoehorn several books into one, the author has given us the average of other works. And that is less than fully satisfying for those of us looking for more in-depth analysis.

Still, for anyone seeking an overview of Arts & Crafts design and concepts as espoused in the lifestyle of the era, this is as good a place to start as any. The quality and design of the book raise it an extra star, saving it from being merely fair.

The Arts and Crafts Lifestyle and Design is a historical perspective on the design principles and the lifestyle (i.e. how the houses were used) by people involved in this design movement. It is very well written with wonderful photographs. It is, however, organized in a manner as to make using this book for research on the artists or the designs difficult. Rather than highlighting individual artists of the movement and their work, it is arranged by the basic rooms of the houses. For example, dining rooms are discussed using various designers and houses. I would have found it more useful had the individual houses or each artist been discussed more and in the same location in the book. The book does bring to light the changes in the structure of Victorian society and houses with that of the Arts and Crafts Movement.