The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Hill, Joe. The Black Phone: Stories. William Morrow, 2008.

The first story in the collection, "Best New Horror," is about the editor of a horror publication, Eddie Carroll, who comes across a particularly stirring piece of fiction and tracks down its author, who turns out to be a murderer.

"20th Century Ghost" is about a man named Alec Sheldon, who owns a small, haunted New England theater called the Rosebud. When the theater goes bankrupt, the ghost threatens the patrons she has appeared to until they revitalize the theater.

"Pop Art" is the story of Art, an anthropomorphic inflatable balloon who is best friends with the story's narrator. The narrator's father develops a powerful dislike of Art and has the family dog puncture him.

"You Will Hear the Locust Sing" is a reimagining of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" in which its main character, Francis K., is transformed into a giant locust overnight. Francis murders his parents and feasts on their bodies. Then he breaks into his former school and kills all of the students there.

"Abraham's Boys" is about two brothers, Max and Rudy, whose father, Abraham, fancies himself a vampire hunter. When Abraham decides it is time to teach the boys how to become vampire hunters, Max is forced to kill him with a mallet because he locks Rudy in the basement.

"Better Than Home" is the story of Homer Feltz, the son of a baseball manager, who suffers from nervous breakdowns. After Homer is committed to a mental hospital after his Aunt Mandy makes him walk past a dead body, his father, Ernie, confides in Homer that the baseball field is better than home.

"The Black Phone" follows John Finney, a young boy who is abducted by an evil clown named Albert and held prisoner in a basement whose only feature is a black phone that hangs on the wall. Finney manages to use the phone to communicate with Albert's previous victims, who instruct him to fill the phone with sand and kill Albert with it.

"In the Rundown" is about a young man named Wyatt who is fired from his job at a video store. On his way home, Wyatt comes across an acquaintance, Mrs. Prezar, who has just murdered her son Baxter. Mrs. Prezar frames Wyatt for the murder and runs into the woods, screaming for help.

"The Cape" is about a man named Eric who discovers as a child that his toy cape can make him fly. As an adult, he marries a woman named Angie, and the marriage turns sour. Eric rediscovers the cape in his childhood home and uses it to fly to Angie's house. She is so impressed that she takes him back.

"Last Breath" is the story of a doctor named Alinger, who runs a museum full of jars containing people's last breaths. When a family visits the museum, the mother is skeptical until she hears one of the jars and wanders into the street, where she is struck with a car. Her son encourages Alinger to capture her breath.

"Dead-Wood" is a microfiction which hypothesizes that trees can become ghosts, too. Its narrator reveals that he is haunted by the tree under which he and his ex-lover first became intimate.

"The Widow's Breakfast" is the story of a young vagabond named Killian whose partner, Gage, is killed by a station master. Killian stops at a cabin for breakfast and is given it by a woman whose husband has recently died. She insists on giving Killian her husband's clothes.

"Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead" sees its title character, Bobby Conroy, reunite with his high school crush, Harriet, at a George Romero film shoot. After meeting Harriet's husband, Bobby tells her that she could do better. They shoot a scene for George Romero and fall backwards on a mattress together.

"My Father's Mask" is a surreal story about a boy named Jack who travels to his family's cabin for the weekend. The cabin turns into a surreal landscape and his parents both don masquerade masks. A woman comes to the house and decides to buy it from Jack's mother and take Jack's father along with it. Jack inherits his father's mask at the end.

"Voluntary Committal" is the story of Nolan, a boy whose younger brother, Morris, is diagnosed with schizophrenia. As Morris falls into the habit of building elaborate forts in the basement, Nolan becomes friends with a delinquent named Eddie Prior. One day, Eddie and Nolan accidentally cause a car accident, and though Nolan is wracked with guilt, Eddie threatens to kill himself if Nolan goes to the police. Morris overhears this conversation and tricks Eddie into entering one of his forts, which Eddie disappears into without a trace.