“Four Ghosts in Hamlet”
Fritz Leiber
available in Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories
paperback $14.99
ebook $9.99

This post is another that is serving double-duty. Not only is it a Christmas ghost post, but today, December 24, is the birthday of Fritz Leiber (1910-1992).

This novelette draws upon Leiber’s experience as a Shakespearean actor. It’s the story of a troupe of Shakespeareans who have hired a down and out actor who used to be well known before he crawled into a bottle.

One of the roles he plays, and the one he is best at, is the ghost of Hamlet’s father. He can pull it off even when he’s completely drunk.

The company is set to perform in a town where this particular actor’s estranged children live with their families. He’s able to reconcile with them before he arrives, and they greet him at the  train station and carry him off to a nice dinner.

Curtain call comes the next night, and the actor playing the ghost is nowhere to be found.

Anyone halfway familiar with the play knows there’s only one ghost in Shakespeare’s story.  This isn’t necessarily one of Leiber’s best, but it’s still readable. It’s something of a later story,  first published in F&SF in 1965. Still, it’s well-told, and I enjoyed it.

As it’s Christmas Eve, this will be the last of the Christmas ghost story posts, at least for this year. I haven’t decided if I want to do another set of them next year or not.