 First edition | |
| Author | M. R. James |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror |
| Publisher | Edward Arnold |
Publication date | 1931 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James is an omnibus collection of ghost stories by English author M. R. James', published in 1931, bringing together all but four of his ghost stories (which had yet to be published).
The four stories not collected in this volume are:
Commenting on the 2011 edition of the collection, a starred review from Publishers Weekly stated that James "laid the foundations of the modern ghost story with the 33 well-wrought antiquarian tales collected here...James emphasized atmosphere and mood over shock tactics, but he always insisted that ghosts be malevolent and found very disquieting forms for them to take. Many of these stories are time-tested classics, and this volume, which also includes an informative introduction and notes by Darryl Jones, is indispensable for any fan of supernatural fiction." [1]
Montague Rhodes James was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1913–1915).
Arthur Machen was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror, with Stephen King describing it as "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language." He is also well known for "The Bowmen", a short story that was widely read as fact, creating the legend of the Angels of Mons.
William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Hodgson used his experiences at sea to lend authentic detail to his short horror stories, many of which are set on the ocean, including his series of linked tales forming the "Sargasso Sea Stories". His novels, such as The House on the Borderland (1908) and The Night Land (1912), feature more cosmic themes, but several of his novels also focus on horrors associated with the sea. Early in his writing career Hodgson dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved renown as a bodybuilder. He died in World War I at age 40.
Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awards. Three of his novels have been adapted into films.
Arkham House was an American publishing house specializing in weird fiction. It was founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publish hardcover collections of H. P. Lovecraft's best works, which had previously been published only in pulp magazines. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham, Massachusetts. Arkham House editions are noted for the quality of their printing and binding. The colophon for Arkham House was designed by Frank Utpatel.
Edward Frederic Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and short story writer.
Peter Francis Straub was an American novelist and poet. He had success with several horror and supernatural fiction novels, among them Julia (1975), Ghost Story (1979) and The Talisman (1984), the latter co-written with Stephen King. He explored the mystery genre with the Blue Rose trilogy, consisting of Koko (1988), Mystery (1990) and The Throat (1993). He fused the supernatural with crime fiction in Lost Boy, Lost Girl (2003) and the related In the Night Room (2004). For the Library of America, he edited the volume H. P. Lovecraft: Tales and the anthology American Fantastic Tales. Straub received such literary honors as the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award.
George Oliver Onions, who published under the name Oliver Onions, was an English writer of short stories and novels. He wrote in various genres, but is perhaps best remembered for his ghost stories, notably the collection Widdershins and the widely anthologized novella "The Beckoning Fair One". He was married to the novelist Berta Ruck.
Herbert Russell Wakefield was an English short-story writer, novelist, publisher, and civil servant chiefly remembered today for his ghost stories.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is a horror short story collection by British writer M. R. James, published in 1904. Some later editions under this title contain both the original collection and its successor, More Ghost Stories (1911), combined in one volume.
Ash-Tree Press is a Canadian company that publishes supernatural and horror literature.
Robert Maxwell Hood is an Australian writer and editor recognised as one of Australia's leading horror writers, although his work frequently crosses genre boundaries into science fiction, fantasy and crime.
More Ghost Stories is a horror short story collection by British writer M. R. James, published in 1911. Some later editions include the stories in this collection and the earlier Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), combined in a single volume. This is his second short story collection.
"Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" is a horror story by British writer M. R. James, which was written in 1892 or 1893 and first published in 1895 in the National Review. It is his earliest known ghost story, and the first to be read aloud to the "Chitchat Society" at Cambridge, where many of his stories made their public debut. It was subsequently included in his first short story collection, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904).
Alfred McLelland Burrage (1889–1956) was a British writer. He was noted in his time as an author of fiction for boys which he published under the pseudonym Frank Lelland, including a popular series called "Tufty". After his death, however, Burrage became best known for his ghost stories.
A Ghost Story for Christmas is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original instalments were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and the films were all shot on 16 mm colour film. The remit behind the series was to provide a television adaptation of a classic ghost story, in line with the oral tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas.
A Thin Ghost and Others is a horror short story collection by British writer M. R. James, published in 1919. It was his third short collection. "The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance" and "An Episode of Cathedral History" had been previously published in The Cambridge Review in 1913 and 1914 respectively; the other stories were first published in this collection.
"A Warning to the Curious" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, included in his book A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories first published in 1925. The tale tells the story of Paxton, an antiquarian and archaeologist who holidays in "Seaburgh" and inadvertently stumbles across one of the three lost crowns of East Anglia, which legendarily protect the country from invasion. Upon digging up the crown, Paxton is stalked by its supernatural guardian. Written a few years after the end of the First World War, "A Warning to the Curious" ranks as one of M. R. James's bleakest stories.
"The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, originally published in 1910. It is included in his collection More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.
"The Haunted Dolls' House" (1923) is a short story by M. R. James, collected by him in A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925). It was commissioned by Queen Mary, wife of George V, as a miniature book for her famous Dolls' House, which can still be seen in Windsor Castle. It is in many ways a typical James story, thematically linked to other works of his, especially "The Mezzotint". Though usually considered a story for adults, it has also been claimed as children's fiction.