Ushers by Joe Hill

Published by Amazon Original Stories on November 1, 2024

“Ushers” is a short story that Amazon is marketing to Kindle users. Non-Kindle readers might find it in an anthology at some point. With its supernatural focus, the story might fit broadly into the horror genre, although by that standard, the same might be said of the Bible. Unlike horror fiction of the slasher/monster variety, the story sends a message about life rather than encouraging readers to be frightened of death.

Martin Lorenson doesn’t see dead people, but his parents ran a hospice so he has seen many people die. Just before they die, he sees something else. The clue to what he sees is in the story’s title.

Marin has been fortunate to avoid his own death. In high school, he was home with diarrhea when a school shooter killed his classmates. At least, that’s the story he tells.

As the story begins, two police detectives want to know why Martin purchased a ticket for a passenger train that he didn’t board. The train derailed and killed a bunch of people. The detectives (Duvall and Oates, not to be confused with the 1970s singing duo who gained fame by performing insipid music) think Martin’s avoidance of death is suspicious, so they interview him.

Although the story is too short to permit much character development, Duvall is more interesting than your average fictional police detective. He has an adult daughter who, in the age of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, feels conflicted about being a Black woman whose father works in law enforcement. Duvall’s position is that cops can’t all be white or the nation would descend into apartheid. God knows there are Americans who would welcome that outcome.

Anyway, how is Martin so lucky that he twice avoided catastrophe? Joe Hill channels the creepy gene that he must have inherited from his father to provide an explanation that will appeal to fans of the supernatural.

The story’s ending has an unexpected twist, although its message — appreciate being alive while you still can — is far from original. As a short story (and this one is shorter than most of those in the Amazon Original Stories series), the story’s focus is tight, but Hill balances its focus on death with moments of humor and a message suggesting that something better awaits us on the other side. Religious readers (or those who believe in an afterlife for nonreligious reasons) might find the story comforting. I found it entertaining.

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The Wraith by Joe Hill

Published by IDW Publishing on August 12, 2014

Joe Hill, the pen name of Stephen King's son, has written a couple of best-selling horror novels, including NOS4A2 . He has also written some acclaimed comic books. The Wraith combines the world Hill created in NOS4A2 with the graphic novel form. It is a self-contained, stand-alone story.

Charlie Manx drives a 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith. The Wraith comes in handy when taking children to Christmasland, where every day is Christmas ... forever. Joe Hill's prose fills in Charlie's chilling personality as Charlie describes his upbringing (in which a combined mortuary-whorehouse figures prominently) and explains how, as the result of being swindled into investing in Christmasland, Charlie came to acquire the Wraith.

Eventually we get interlocking stories in different time frames about an uninsured guy who can't get medical treatment for his son and a group of convicts who break out of a prison van and get help from a fellow who helps people disappear. The fellow picks them up in ... you guessed it ... a Rolls Royce Wraith.

The story is strange until we arrive at Christmasland, when it turns truly bizarre. And gruesome. But intermixed with the gore are some poignant moments and sympathetic characters. The Wraith is not as memorable or as substantial as the work Hill did in the Locke & Key series, but it has its own bloody appeal.

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