Featured Post

An Interview With Simon Loxley

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Something About Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

Jones on James.

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904) is the first collection of ghost stories by British author M. R. James. Allusions to the work of James figure into many of the books written by John Bellairs and Brad Strickland, and I thought I would empty out the archive and mention some connections. First up are some notes on the following eight stories:
  1. Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book
  2. Lost Hearts
  3. The Mezzotint
  4. The Ash-tree
  5. Number 13
  6. Count Magnus
  7. 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'
  8. The Treasure of Abbot Thomas

But first: of these, which is your favorite?

2 comments:

Jean said...

That's too hard a choice!

Russ said...

It is quite a hard choice, I like at least most of these stories quite a bit. I never really was a great fan of "Count Magnus" or "Lost Hearts" myself, and I find "Number 13" a bit muddled at times and little hard to follow, although not bad. It is the only James story I would consider muddled. I have to choose "Whistle and I'll Come to You" as my favorite.