'Like any other boy I expected ghost stories at Christmas, that was the time for them. What I had not expected, and now feared, was that such things should actually become real.' Strange things happen on the dark wintry nights of December. Welcome to a new collection of haunting Christmas tales, ranging from traditional Victorian chillers to weird and uncanny episodes by twentieth-century horror masters including Daphne du Maurier and Robert Aickman. Lurking in the blizzard are menacing cat spirits, vengeful trees, malignant forces on the mountainside and a skater skirting the line between the mortal and spiritual realms. Wrap up warm - and prepare for the longest nights of all.

Offering a range of insightful and thought-provoking critical perspectives--from publishing history to genre narrative to socio-political contexts--this comprehensive study of Caribbean short stories across the 20th century details the integral role the form has played in the region's literary traditions and cultural production. Including single author studies as well as more wide-ranging explorations of particular periods and locales, this collection of 25 essays provides insight into a broad selection of short fiction from across the Caribbean's linguistic zones. The essays in this resource are complemented by an extensive literary and critical bibliography and a detailed, accessible introduction.