It’s autumn, so it’s time for spooky and unsettling fiction books, and what could be better than a book called Ghost Stories - a collection of short stories by M.R. James?
M.R. James’s stories are not horror or spooky in the sense of Eldritch Horror, Cosmic Horror, or Jump-Scare Horror; in fact, they
are not really horrific at all. The stories in this book are unsettling and uncanny; the horror here
is not occult or grand, it’s mundane. Old books or ash trees bring about the death of people in some
roundabout way, or old treasures hidden in dreadful places convince even those with the stoutest of hearts
to give up on their treasure hunts filled with riddles and mysteries.
Sometimes we see something occult, a man performing horrific sacrifices or someone casting runes to ruin or kill a man.
And sometimes this book ventures into the horrific, and instead of the inexplicable death
of a man, there is Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad - a whistle that seems to summon something horrific, a truly dreadful creature.
The protagonists of these stories are similar to the author: medievalist scholars, librarians, archaeologists, and people interested in the old. They are in libraries, investigate old churches and gardens, look into curious events, and chase ancient mysteries. During their studies and inquiries, they are met by the most puzzling of secrets and inexplicable occurrences, horrific apparitions, and sometimes terrible fates.
The language of this book is old, clearly written in the late 19th, early 20th century by someone who was a master of the language. Descriptions are vivid when needed and purposefully vague at times. The vocabulary is old and extensive (and had me grab a dictionary more than once).
Some stories perhaps were not as good as others and left me wondering what the point was, but most of them are great. I can only recommend Ghost Stories. The only problem is finding a copy which has all of his collected works. My edition from Penguin Classics contains most of his works but not all of them.