“we need ghost stories because we, in fact, are the ghosts.”

“We always assumed the aliens would have to at least be alive to invade. Not even H.G. Wells expected an invasion of ghosts.”

“The muses are ghosts, and sometimes they come uninvited.”

“But writers INVITE ghosts, maybe; along with actors andartists, they are the only totally accepted mediums of our society. They make worlds that neverwere, populate them with people who never existed, and then invite us to join them in theirfantasies. And we do it, don't we? Yes. We PAY to do it.”

“What chance?’ she had asked, bewildered.‘Your chance. Your chance to live your own life. Right now you have the look of a woman who is seeing ghosts. Not everybody believes in ghosts, but I do. Do you know what they are, Trisha?’She had shaken her head slowly.‘Men and women who can’t get over the past,’ Aunt Evvie said. ‘That’s what ghosts are. Not them.’ She flapped her arm toward the coffin which stood on its bands beside the coincidentally fresh grave. ‘The dead are dead. We bury them, and buried they stay.”

“So what, ghosts can't hurt you. That's what I thought then.”

“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”