Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories

I bought this book in Paris. It was the cheapest most interesting book in English, so I grabbed it for the flight. It's one of the best book buys I've ever had. This stuff is genuinely spooky. There are images here that will stick with you for a long time, and this guy puts in a lot of interesting historical details that make the stories seem all the more plausible. Can't recommend this book enough.

I first read these stories when I was 13, and after 40 years, they still flash into my mind if I have to walk a dark road at night. Where authors like King and Straub (excellent in their own ways in the genre)need to float gruesome stuff our way to be effective, James does it all with mood. Even if ghost stories are not something you like, these are worth reading just to observe his beautiful use of the English language. I recommend this collection highly.

If you don't want to pay big bucks for Ash-Tree Press's "A Pleasing Terror" (2001), the complete and heavily annotated supernatural writings of M. R. James (MRJ), then this book might be the next best thing. Cox has collected most of MRJ's stories in this volume and has added a short but decent introduction to this master of the antiquarian ghost story.The following stories are included in this book: "Canon Alberic's Scrap-book"--The classical MRJ invocation of a scholar who unwittingly opens the wrong book and pays horribly for his misadventure. "The Mezzotint"--A collector of topographical pictures purchases a mezzotint with a view of a manor-house from the early part of the eighteenth century. The picture slowly evolves through a story of murder and revenge from beyond the grave. "Number 13"--A scholar settles into a Danish hotel to research the town's ecclesiastical history and learns more than he ever wanted to know about a bishop who sold his soul to Satan."Count Magnus"-- Another story (along with "Number 13") that may have had its origin in MRJ's trips to Scandinavia. Mr. Wraxall, the scholarly hero of this tale dooms himself by reading a forbidden treatise of alchemy and expressing a wish to meet its long-dead (or not so dead) Swedish author."'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'"-- A Professor takes a golfing vacation on England's East Coast, and agrees to take a look at the site of an ancient Templars' preceptory for an archeologically-inclined friend of his. He finds a whistle inscribed in medieval Latin."The Treasure of Abbot Thomas"-- Mr. Somerton deciphers a text from a medieval Latin history and an inscription in the painted-glass window of a private chapel, then goes on a treasure hunt in Germany. "A School Story"-- MRJ was a dean at King's College, Cambridge and he supposedly wrote this story to entertain the King's College Choir. In this tale two middle-aged men are reminiscing about ghosts at boys' schools, and one relates a story of a schoolboy's revenge on a murderous master."The Rose Garden"-- Features one of MRJ's less sympathetic female characters. The overbearing Mrs. Anstruther gets her supernatural comeuppance when she insists upon the removal of an old oak post in the rose garden. "The Tractate Middoth"-- The young Mr. Garrett is asked to find a copy of the "Tractate Middoth" in a "certain famous library" and stumbles upon a cobwebby mystery. Find yourself a quiet, unpopulated corner in the stacks of an old library and see if you can read this story without looking behind you."Casting the Runes"-- One of MRJ's most collected stories along with "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad." This is a tale of a man who unwittingly angers a sorcerer, who is assumed by some Monty scholars to be based on the self-styled 'Great Beast,' occultist Aleister Crowley. "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral"-- The Venerable John Benwell Haynes succeeds to his new ecclesiastical position upon the mysterious demise of Ar

The art of Dr. James is by no means haphazard, and in the preface to one of his collections he has formulated three very sound rules for macabre composition. A ghost story, he believes, should have a familiar setting in the modern period, in order to approach closely the reader's sphere of experience. Its spectral phenomena, moreover, should be malevolent rather than beneficent; since fear is the emotion primarily to be excited. And finally, the technical patois of 'occultism' or pseudo-science ought carefully to be avoided; lest the charm of casual verisimilitude be smothered in unconvincing pedantry. -H.P. LovecraftThough less well remembered today than some other authors of Gothic ghost stories--like J. S. [John Sheridan] LeFanu, whose work he edited, Bram Stoker, and Henry James (no relation), or their successors H.P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, and the like--M. R. James is one of the great early horror writers. This story, which concerns a mysterious and unpleasant Mr. Karswell, who takes creepy exception to a negative review of his book, The Truth of Alchemy, shows off James's talents to good effect, combining genuine scares with a droll wit. But what makes this edition particularly appealing are the 12 splendid black-and-white drawings by Jeff White--an artist with whom I am not familiar and about whom I could find nearly nothing on the Web--that accompany the text. This slender volume seems certain to get any reader looking for more stories by Mr. James and more books illustrated by the estimable Mr. WhiteGRADE : A

This is a great collection of the short horror stories of M.R. James, the best of the early 20th century horror writers (arguably, the best of the entire century!) James was a professor and antiquarian who sets most of his stories in the contemporary (early 1900's) ruins of England's medieval past. The title story is a marvelous tale of a vicious crank whose occult revenge is turned against him. Other stories included are:Canon Alberic's scrap-book. Number 13Count Magnus'Oh, whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad.'The treasure of Abbot Thomas.Many more! Highly recommended.