Product Description

M.R. James is probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced. These tales are not only classics of their genre, but are also superb examples of beautifully-paced understatement, convincing background and chilling terror.
As well as the preface, there is a fascinating tail-piece by M.R. James, Stories I Have Tried To Write , which accompanies these thirty tales. Among them are 'Casting the Runes', 'Oh, Whistle and I'll come to you, My Lad', 'The Tractate Middoth', 'The Ash Tree' and 'Canon Alberic's Scrapbook'.
There are some authors one wishes one had never read in order to have the joy of reading them for the first time. For me, M.R. James is one of these . Ruth Rendall

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #511949 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Customer Reviews

Stories in this collection
Love this book and, as with any collection, thought a specific listing of all thirty included short works might be helpful to potential buyers.

Canon Alberic's Scrapbook; Lost Hearts; The Mezzotint; The Ash Tree; Number 13; Count Magnus; 'Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad'; The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas; A School Story; The Rose Garden; The Tractate Middoth; Casting The Runes; The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral; Martin's Close; Mr. Humphreys And His Inheritance; The Residence At Whitminster; The Diary Of Mr. Paynter; An Episode Of Cathedral History; The Story Of A Disappearance And An Appearance; Two Doctors; The Haunted Doll's House; The Uncommon Prayer-Book; A Neighbor's Landmark; A View From A Hill; A Warning To The Curious; An Evenings Entertainment; There Was A Man Dwealt By A Churchyard; Rats; After Dark In The Playing Fields; Wailing Well; Stories I Have Tried To Write

Ghost stories that REALLY chill the blood
Some of the subtlest ghost stories ever written and all the more chilling for that. James never piles on the horror as, say, Lovecraft does but plants fears in your mind that will keep you from sleep: whispering voices, the touch of a cold hand in the darkness, an unseen cat brushing your legs.

James's fictional world, which owes something to Dickens, was based on the world he lived in, of Cambridge scholars exploring old libraries or churches or country houses. In such places, there are secrets hidden for centuries, only waiting for the careless unbeliever to open the door behind which they are lurking.

Try some of the classics like 'Casting the Runes' or 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' or, better, splash out on the Collected Stories. The quality is very high, with no more than three or four inferior ones in the whole book.

Superbly spooky
Superbly spooky tales, beautifully lucid prose, very English. Classic ghost stories. I first read these tales as a teenager on the recommendation of a high school teacher. They gave me chills then, and sometimes, if I find myself alone at night, walking a deserted road, they come back to haunt me. Be warned, some of these stories will stay with you.