An Evenings Entertainment (Fantasy and Horror Classics)

· Read Books Ltd
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About this ebook

M. R. James, the master of the antiquarian ghost story, frames a tale of unsettling folk-horror around a seemingly quaint family scene, proving that the most terrifying stories are not just the ones told around the fire, but the ones that leave a physical, lingering mark of the unholy past.

It is a quiet evening by the fireside, and a grandmother promises her grandchildren a treat: the next day, they shall go blackberrying to make jam. When her young grandson, Charles, points out the perfect spot, the grandmother’s demeanor instantly changes.She forbids him from ever setting foot there, and to explain her fear, she tells a story from her own youth.

A young man's body is found hanging from an oak tree, and another body is found bound and butchered in a cottage, the scene of a suspected human sacrifice. The townspeople are so horrified by the pagan "wickedness" of the place that they dare not give the bodies a Christian burial. Years later, a young woman is bitten by a large, noxious fly, bringing a painful, supernatural infection that can only be cured by a local "wise man."

M. R. James, the master of the antiquarian ghost story, frames a tale of unsettling folk-horror around a seemingly quaint family scene, proving that the most terrifying stories are not just the ones told around the fire, but the ones that leave a physical, lingering mark of the unholy past. It i...

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About the author

M. R. James was born in Goodnestone, Kent, England on August 1, 1862. He was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905-1918) and of Eton College (1918-1936). He is best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. He began writing his ghost stories as an entertainment for his friends; he would read these stories each year at Christmas to his colleagues at King's College. The earliest of these tales include Canon Alberic's Scrap-book and Lost Hearts, both of which were later collected in his first anthology of supernatural fiction, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904). Perhaps his single greatest story is the profoundly disturbing Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad (1904). He died on June 12, 1936.
M. R. James was born in Goodnestone, Kent, England on August 1, 1862. He was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905-1918) and of Eton College (1918-1936). He is best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English lite...

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