Montague Rhodes James

"More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" by M.R. James is a spine-tingling continuation of the author's masterful exploration into the supernatural. James, renowned for his atmospheric storytelling, invites readers once again into a realm where ancient artifacts, haunted locales, and spectral encounters create an atmosphere of eerie suspense. This collection of ghost stories is a testament to James's unparalleled ability to evoke a sense of dread, delivering a thrilling and unsettling reading experience for fans of classic supernatural fiction.

M. R. James is the acknowledged master of the English ghost story. Disdaining gore in favour of atmosphere and suggestion, his enduring supernatural tales are masterpieces of understated horror. Ghost stories of an Antiquary, Volume 1 collects graphic retellings of four spine-chilling tales by the renowned medievalist and writer. At once true to their source and powerfully reimagined for a visual medium, Leah Moore and John Reppion's subtly crafted adaptations give a new lease of life to these classic stories of vanishing children, spectral works of art and vengeance from beyond the grave.

The Monk of horror, or The Conclave of corpses, by Anonymous The Astrologer's prediction, or The Maniac's fate, by Anonymous The expedition to Hell, by James Hogg Mateo Falcone, by Prosper Merimee [Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar]( by Edgar Allan Poe Le Grande Breteche, by Honore de Balzac The romance of certain old clothes, by Henry James Who knows?, by Guy de Maupassant The body snatcher, by Robert Louis Stevenson The death of Olivier Becaille, by Emile Zola The boarded window, by Ambrose Bierce Lost hearts, by M.R. James The sea-raiders, by H.G. Wells The derelict, by William Hope Hodgson Thurnley Abbey, by Perceval Landon The fourth man, by John Russell In the penal colony, by Franz Kafka The waxwork, by A.M. Burrage Mrs. Amworth, by E.F. Benson The reptile, by Augustus Muir Mr. Meldrum's Mania, by John Metcalfe The beast with five fingers, by William Fryer Harvey Dry September, by William Faulkner Couching at the door, by D.K. Broster The two bottles of relish, by Lord Dunsany The man who liked Dickens, by Evelyn Waugh Taboo, by Geoffrey Household The thought, by L.P. Hartley Comrade death, by Gerald Kersh Leningen versus the ants, by Carl Stephenson The brink of darkness, by Yvor Winters Activity time, by Monica Dickens Earth to Earth, by Robert Graves The dwarf, by Ray Bradbury The Portabello Road, by Muriel Spark No flies on Frank, by John Lennon Sister Coxall's revenge, by Dawn Muscillo Thou shalt not suffer a witch ..., by Dorothy K. Haynes The terrapin, by Patricia Highsmith [Man from the south]( by Roald Dahl Uneasy home-coming, by Will F. Jenkins The Aquarist, by J.N. Allan An interview with M. Chakko, by Vilas Sarang

The Ostler / Wilkie Collins -- The old nurse's stories / Elizabeth Gaskell -- [Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb]( / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- [Pit and the Pendulum]( / Edgar Allan Poe -- Samuel Lowgood's revenge / Mary E. Braddon -- The signalman / Charles Dickens -- Lost hearts / M. R. James -- The three strangers / Thomas Hardy -- The judge's house / Bram Stoker -- [Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge]( / Ambrose Bierce -- The phantom coach / Amelia B. Edwards -- A vendetta / Guy de Maupassant -- The red room / H. G. Wells.

The reach / Stephen King -- Evening primose / John Collier -- The ash-tree / M.R. James -- The new mother / Lucy Clifford -- There's a long, long trail a-winding / Russell Kirk -- The call of Cthulhu / H.P. Lovecraft -- The summer people / Shirley Jackson -- The whimper of whipped dogs / Harlan Ellison -- [Young Goodman Brown]( / Nathaniel Hawthorne -- Mr. Justice Harbottle / J. Sheridan Le Fanu -- The crowd / Ray Bradbury -- The autopsy / Michael Shea -- John Charrington's wedding / E. Nesbit -- Sticks / Karl Edward Wagner -- Larger than oneself / Robert Aickman -- Belsen express / Fritz Leiber -- Yours truly, Jack the ripper / Robert Bloch -- If Damon comes / Charles L. Grant -- Vandy, Vandy / Manly Wade Wellman.

pt. 1. The color of evil. The reach / Stephen King -- Evening primrose / John Collier -- The ash-tree / M.R. James -- The new mother / Lucy Clifford -- There's a long, long trail a-winding / Russell Kirk -- The call of Cthulhu / H.P. Lovecraft -- The summer people / Shirley Jackson -- The whimper of whipped dogs / Harlan Ellison -- [Young Goodman Brown]( / Nathaniel Hawthorne -- Mr. Justice Harbottle -- J. Sheridan Le Fanu -- The crowd / Ray Bradbury -- The autopsy / Michael Shea -- John Charrington's wedding / E. Nesbit -- Sticks / Karl Edward Wagner -- Larger than oneself / Robert Aickman -- Belsen Express / Fritz Leiber -- Yours truly, Jack the Ripper / Robert Bloch -- If Damon comes / Charles L. Grant -- Vandy, Vandy / Manly Wade Wellman -- pt. 2. The Medusa in the shield. The swords / Robert Aickman -- The roaches / Thomas M. Disch -- Bright segment / Theodore Sturgeon -- Dread / Clive Barker -- The fall of the house of Usher / Edgar Allan Poe -- The monkey / Stephen King -- Within the walls of Tyre / Michael Bishop -- The rats in the walls / H.P. Lovecraft -- Schalken the painter / J. Sheridan Le Fanu -- The yellow wallpaper / Charlotte Perkins Gilman -- A rose for Emily / William Faulkner -- How love came to Professor Guildea / Robert Hichens -- Born of man and woman / Richard Matheson -- My dear Emily / Joanna Russ -- You can go now / Dennis Etchison -- The rocking-horse winner / D.H. Lawrence -- Three days / Tanith Lee -- Good country people / Flannery O'Connor -- Mackintosh Willy / Ramsey Campbell -- The jolly corner / Henry James -- pt. 3. A fabulous formless darkness. Smoke ghost / Fritz Leiber -- Seven American nights / Gene Wolfe -- The signal-man / Charles Dickens -- [Crouch End]( / Stephen King -- Night-side / Joyce Carol Oates -- Seaton's aunt / Walter de la Mare -- Clara Militch / Ivan Turgenev -- The repairer of reputations / Robert W. Chambers -- The beckoning fair one / Oliver Onions -- What was it? / Fitz-James O'Brien -- The beautiful stranger / Shirley Jackson -- [The damned thing]( / Ambrose Bierce -- Afterward / Edith Wharton -- The willows / Algernon Blackwood -- The Asian shore / Thomas M. Disch -- The hospice / Robert Aickman -- A little something for us tempunauts / Philip K. Dick.

M. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense.

CONTENTS: Introduction. What hath light wrought? / by Isaac Asimov Visitation. The midnight embrace / by Matthew Lewis The Frankenstein theme. The transformation / by Mary Shelley Dream state. The bold dragoon / by Washington Irving Drug addiction. Levana and our ladies of sorrow / by Thomas de Quincey Sorcery. The magician / by Lord Lytton Morphia influence. [Berenice]( / by Edgar Allan Poe Schizophrenia. The drunkard's dream / by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu Claustrophobia. The man in the reservoir / by C.F. Hoffman The blood drinker. Haceldama / by Lafcadio Hearn Hallucination. The ensouled violin / by Madame Blavatsky Morbidity. Visions of the night / by Ambrose Bierce The legendary dream. The soldier's rest / by Arthur Machen A trauma of war. The bureau d'échange de Maux / by Lord Dunsany Psychic experience. The silver mirror / by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The occultist. The testament of Magdalen Blair / by Aleister Crowley Visionary. A dream of Armageddon / by H.G. Wells Ghostly visitation. A school story / by M.R. James Obsession. The grimoire / by Montague Summers Recluse. The evil clergyman / by H.P. Lovecraft Nightmare. The slayers and the slain / by August Derleth Fear of illness. The shifting growth / by John Gawsworth Arachnophobia. Along came a spider / by Algernon Blackwood Night fantasy. The head hunter / by Robert Bloch A waking dream. The haunting of the new / by Ray Bradbury The future. The curse / by Arthur C. Clarke

Each story in Great Short Tales of Mystery and Terror is an example of the work of an outstanding author--from Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to such modern masters as Agatha Christie, Ross Macdonald, Georges Simenon and a score of other famous names. Appearing in these pages are the world's greatest fictional detectives--Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Father Brown, James Bond, Lew Archer, Ellery Queen, Inspector Maigret and Perry Mason, all at work on some of their more baffling and fascinating cases. Contents: [THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE]( / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle THE TURN OF THE TIDE / C. S Forester THE SUMMER PEOPLE / Shirley Jackson [THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO]( / Edgar Allan Poe THE THIRD FLOOR FLAT / Agatha Christie THE MAN WHO LIKED DICKENS / Evelyn Waugh WAS IT A DREAM / Guy de Maupassant THE FOURTH MAN / John Russell THE WENDIGO / Algernon Blackwood THE TOUCH OF NUTMEG MAKES IT / John Collier THE ABSENCE OF MR. GLASS / G. K. Chesterton MIRIAM / Truman capote THE LOG OF THE EVENING STAR / Alfred Noyes CASTING THE RUNES / M. R. James [MAN FROM THE SOUTH]( / Roald Dahl THE WHOLE TOWNS SLEEPING / Ray Bradbury THE ARROW OF GOD / Leslie Charteris THE TWO BOTTLES OF RELISH / Lord Dunsany THE GETTYSBURG BUGLE / Ellery Queen [The Damned Thing]( / Ambrose Bierce DON'T LOOK NOW / Daphne du Maurier THE HANDS OF MR. OTITRMOLE / Thomas Burke AN ALPINE DIVORCE / Robert Barr THE INCAUTIOUS BURGLAR / John Dickson Carr THANATOS PALACE HOTEL / André Maurois THE GHOST.SHIP / Richard Middleton THE RATS IN THE WALLS / H. P. Lovecraft AETER.DINNER STORY / William Irish ANOTHER SOLUTION j Gilbert Highet THE WAXWORK / A. M. Burrage FOR YOUR EYES ONLY / Ian Fleming THE FOGHORN / Gertrude Atherton LEININGEN VERSUS THE ANTS / c-arl. Stephenson THE INTERRUPTION / W. W. Jacobs AN INVITATION TO THE HUNT / George Hitchcock THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT / William Hope Hodgson MIDNIGHT BLUE / Ross Macdonald THE REIVRN OF IMRAY / Rudyard Kipling JOURNEY BACKWARD INTO TIME / Georges Simenon THE MOVIE PEOPLE / Robert Bloch BROKER'S SPECIAL / Stanley Ellin THE SEA RAIDERS / H. G. Wells THE CASE OF THE IRATE WITNTESS / Erie Stanley Gardner SREDNI VASHTAR / Saki (H. H. Munro) THE NINE BILLION NAMES or GOD / Arthur C. Clarke