| The ghost story---in all its forms---has haunted humans since the first tales of the strange and inexplicable were told around the campfires of pre-history. Such stories explore collective ideas of death and the afterlife, the eeriness of certain places, and the awe that is felt in the presence of the Unknown. Pictures of Lily and Other Stories contains three examples of the genre, each written in a different sub-genre. "Money," the story of an impoverished college student who gets a housesitting job that is more perilous than it first appears, owes much to the haunted house stories of British master M.R. James, while "Under the House" parallels the haunted love stories of Edith Wharton. Finally, the novella "Pictures of Lily" explores gothic themes in the tradition of Shirley Jackson and Oscar Wilde. |
