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Post by dem bones on Mar 10, 2010 13:07:20 GMT
M. R. James - Collected Ghost Stories (Wordsworth Editions, 2007) Preface: M. R. James
Canon Alberic's Scrapbook Lost Hearts The Mezzotint The Ash-Tree Number 13 Count Magnus 'Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad' The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas A School Story The Rose Garden The Tractate Middoth Casting the Runes The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral Martin's Close Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance The Residence At Whitminster The Diary Of Mr. Poynter An Episode In Cathedral History The Story Of A Disappearance And An Appearance Two Doctors The Haunted Dolls House The Uncommon Prayer Book A Neighbour's Landmark A View From A Hill A Warning To The Curious An Evening's Entertainment There Was A Man Dwelt By a Churchyard Rats After Dark In The Playing Fields Wailing Well Stories I Have Tried To Write
we had quite a lively 'who's got the worst Collected Ghost Stories cover?' thread going on Vault Mk I but, like Le Fanu until recent weeks, M. R. James is frequently mentioned on here without anyone really commenting on particular stories. Well, Derek at Wordsworth asked if "any haunters of The Vault had seen the revised cover of our M.R. James collection, featuring a painting by Jonathan Barry, and if so, what you thought of it?" so that's excuse enough to start a new M. R. J. thread.
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Post by cw67q on Mar 10, 2010 14:11:23 GMT
I rather like the painting and it makes for a very nice book cover. But I'm not convinced that it wouldn't have served better for another author. A cathedral or university building would say "MRJ" to me more than a rural inn (although there are the hotels in "oh whistle", "a warning to the curious" and doubtless a fair few other stories).
Good cover, but arguable more suited to another authors would be my opinion.
- chris
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 10, 2010 16:19:19 GMT
I rather like the painting and it makes for a very nice book cover. But I'm not convinced that it wouldn't have served better for another author. A cathedral or university building would say "MRJ" to me more than a rural inn (although there are the hotels in "oh whistle", "a warning to the curious" and doubtless a fair few other stories). Good cover, but arguable more suited to another authors would be my opinion. - chris Have to agree - nothing says "MRJ" better than a spooky gothic cathedral.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Mar 10, 2010 17:30:54 GMT
I thought it was a cottage at first & then realised it's a pub. I suspect MRJ didn't spend a lot of time getting hammered on McRumbly's bowel basher when he could have been safely closeted in an ivory tower instead so my vote for a good MRJ book cover would have to be a shot of University campus buildings like an Oxford college or Durham (I've been the worse for wear at both but that's another couple of decadently sordid stories for the memoirs).
That said there are far worse covers out there but my favourites are either Ash-Tree's A Pleasing Terror or the Penguin Collected MRJ paperback from the early 90s which was almost all red & had someone reading by the fire while a ghostly black shadow reared up behind him.
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Post by cw67q on Mar 10, 2010 19:05:50 GMT
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Post by Steve on Mar 10, 2010 19:19:36 GMT
Derek at Wordsworth asked if "any haunters of The Vault had seen the revised cover of our M.R. James collection, featuring a painting by Jonathan Barry, and if so, what you thought of it?" I'm not keen, for what it's worth. Looks like a not entirely convincing Photoshop job to me. Nice enough looking pub and I'd probably drink there quite happily but wouldn't particularly want it on the front of an M. R. James collection. The other cover Wordsworth had, the "Like one who, on a lonely road, doth walk in fear and dread" one - this one in fact; - works a lot better for my money. Incidentally, there's an artist called Jonathan Barry who's done a lot of illustrations based on various works of fantastic literature, including some Dracula and Gothic-type stuff (may or may not be the same bloke Derek from Wordsworth is talking about). I only mention it because he painted this 'Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad' picture below. Mind you, I'm not sure even this would work as a Wordsworth Mystery & the Supernatural cover but you can't say it's not Jamesian. Or could you? Is it perhaps a bit too graphic for James, the master of leaving things to the imagination?
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Post by jamesdoig on Mar 10, 2010 20:23:39 GMT
I quite like the figure on the road too. In any case both are an improvement on this Penguin gargoyle. This one had an introduction by Penelope Fitzgerald.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Mar 10, 2010 20:44:03 GMT
I have to agree with what has been said before, the "olde inn" cover is far from redolent of MRJ. The closest of the stories I could match it to would be "Rats", with its coastal inn, but that's not exactly the story people think of instantly when MRJ comes to mind. Colleges, libraries and country houses, or woodland are the scenes that I immediately associate with his stories. The cover to "Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories", Michael Cox's selection of annotated stories, is a great favourite of mine; www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/j/m-r-james/casting-runes.htmI quite like that Jonathan Barry painting Steve posted, though I think it was a mistake to go into detail on the 'intensely horrible face', as I think that's something best conjured out of the shadowy recesses of the reader's own imagination. Oh, and mention of Penelope Fitzgerald reminds me of the marvellous little Jamesian story, told by a character closely modelled on MRJ, in her short novel "The Gate of Angels", which is worth seeking out.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Mar 10, 2010 22:05:44 GMT
I don't know. that's a creepy looking gargoyle. I rather like it.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Mar 10, 2010 22:11:40 GMT
Bit Jamesie but not terribly creepy
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Post by jamesdoig on Mar 11, 2010 1:41:29 GMT
Not that I've anything against gargoyles. Here's a nice one:
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Post by monker on Mar 11, 2010 2:38:46 GMT
I don't know. that's a creepy looking gargoyle. I rather like it. Same here, it has that authentic weirdness about it. Sorry James but I like it better than the rather obvious "I'm going to attack you but I have a bland face" picture above. Perhaps if the first gargoyle was back a little and to the side of a larger image it would work even better.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 11, 2010 19:48:48 GMT
right, a special treat: here's me on some MRJ chillers. some of the notes are new, others recycled, all are risible. the internet was invented for this moment.
The Tractate Middoth: Mr. Eldred visits a library anxious to loan a specific edition of a Quarto, written entirely in Hebrew, The Tractate Middoth, only to learn from the helpful assistant Mr. Garrett that he's just spotted a clergyman taking out the very same book. It's only after Mr. Eldred has left frustrated that Mr. Garrett realises his mistake for there sits The Tractate Middoth in it's rightful place on the shelves. When Eldred next calls, the apologetic assistant goes to retrieve the nuisance book, only to encounter the black cloaked old parson - or rather, the back of his "very nasty bald head". It's when the fellow turns to face him that Garrett passes out.
On the insistence of his manager, Mr. Garrett takes a weeks leave and boards a train to Burnston-On-Sea to settle his nerves, though things start badly when he spots an entity eerily reminiscent of the cobwebbed parson in the next compartment. But his luck improves when, eager for company, he falls in with Mrs. Simpson and her daughter who make for delightful travelling companions and insist he stays with them for the duration of his holiday. On learning his profession, the daughter wonders aloud if he might be able to help them locate a book. Mrs Simpson explains that her uncle, Dr. Rant, a misanthropic clergyman, twenty years dead, achieved some local notoriety on account of his bizarre funeral instructions; "he was to be put, sitting at a table in his ordinary clothes, in a brick room that he had made underground in a field near his house. Of course, the country people say he's been seen about there in his old black cloak ..." This Dr. Rant died wealthy and, as a final spiteful jest, left two wills, one in favour of her cousin, the other making everything over to Mrs Simpson. Being a total bastard, Rant had hidden the latter in one of his several hundred books, some of which he may even have sold before his death, and she doesn't have a title to go on. As it stands, the cousin, John Eldred, inherited the entire estate and he's certainly not about to share it.
Mr. Garrett is not slow in putting two and two together, and finding himself romantically inclined toward the daughter (yes, there's a love interest in this one) resolves to help Mrs. Simpson acquire what is rightfully hers by redeeming the will from the library copy of The Tractate Middoth before her brother can destroy it. And of course, there's a third party to contend with. Who's side will he come out on?
An Episode In Cathedral History: Mr. Worley, verger of Southminster Cathedral, narrates a terrible history that occurred back in his youth when a 15th Century tomb was discovered beneath the altar during unpopular renovations. Dr. Ayloff insists that he knows it is wrong to move the pulpit but, as in all things, Dean Burscough's will must be obeyed. Ayloff never returns to his beloved Cathedral and is among the early casualties that long hot summer when the disturbed inhabitant of the tomb preys upon the community with particular regard to members of the Choir.
A member of the local Antiquarian society visits the church to make sketches and almost loses her dress while passing too near the tomb, while a friend of Worley's gets an unpleasant surprise when he slips a roll of sheet music under the slab only to retrieve it all covered in slime.
It's M. R. James so don't expect any kinky sex, torture by chainsaw or a breakneck pace, but this is an atmospheric, far creepier vampire tale than Count Magnus and well worthy of your patience. A classic of it's kind.
Count Magnus: Touring Sweden, the unfortunate Mr. Wraxall discovers family papers in a house in Vestgothland, charting the career of a saturnine seventeenth century noble, a dabbler in alchemy reputed to have made the black pilgrimage to Chorazin where it's said the Anti-Christ will be born. It is also the recommended haunt of those wishing to "obtain a long life, acquire a faithful messenger and see the blood of his enemies". Mr. Wraxall has the uneasy feeling he's being watched ...
Lost Hearts: Arguably James’ most conventional supernatural horror story. Aswarby Hall, Lincolnshire. 1812. After the death of his parents, eleven year old Stephen Elliott is adopted by his reclusive elderly cousin Mr. Abney, a kindly gesture but then the old scholar has a habit of taking in young waifs and strays. There was the little girl who disappeared so mysteriously - “ran off with the gypsies” most likely - and the boy with the hurdy-gurdy: nobody seems to know where he went.
The servants are good to Stephen and he’s relatively contented … until he has that unpleasant dream of a little girl’s decomposing corpse floating in the bath. And why is Mr. Abney so insistent that the boy should meet him in the study at eleven on March 12th and not a word to the servants?
wish i had a case of Jim Beam for every time this next has been anthologised. Peter Haining, in particular, never tired of exhuming it.
A School Story: The new Latin master, Mr. Sampson has a nasty secret currently residing in Ireland at bottom of a well and not smelling so healthy. The nasty secret hands in a rather menacing excuse for homework, then comes looking for Mr. Sampson in his dorm after nightfall.
Martin's Close: Consists for the most part of what purports to be a transcript of a trial presided over by the notorious "hanging judge", Chief Justice George Jeffreys. George Martin is on trial for the murder of simpleton, Ann Clark, with whom he had and an affair and strung along for a laugh. However, when his wife-to-be learned of this dalliance, she broke off the engagement and a furious Martin stabbed the halfwit to death. But the pathetic girl's desire to be with him only increases in death and she haunts him beyond endurance. Needless to say, Martin goes the way of the majority of Jeffreys's prisoners, taking the magistrates ill-wishes to the gallows with him for good measure!
Rats: Young Mr. Thomson, Cambridge University student, takes a room at a remote Suffolk coastal inn to catch up on his reading. During his stay, his curiosity regarding the locked room opposite gets the better of him. A peek inside reveals a human shape writhing beneath a top sheet - Mr. Thomson has no inclination to draw back that sheet. On the final day of his stay, Thomson pays the room a final surreptitious visit. This time the inhabitant is up and about, but he's in bad shape - in fact, the nosey young man at first mistakes him for a scarecrow. And what's with the metal collar around his broken neck? Innkeeper Betts confides the local legend of his predecessor who fell foul of the locals on account of his consorting with highwaymen.
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Post by Steve on Mar 11, 2010 22:26:27 GMT
It's true that M. R. James hasn't exactly been blessed over the years when it comes to book covers. I quite like those painted covers on the Pan paperback editions of Ghost Stories of an Antiquary and More Ghost Stories from the early 50s (the four-poster bed complete with flimsy spook and the really knackered bloke looking in the mirror). They may not scream "M. R. James!" at you but they are at least nice looking old paperbacks. With the advent of ebooks and print on demand I can't help thinking that publishers have rather given up trying... Mind you, unlike Dodo Press (below), at least the publishers of the above book managed to spell the title correctly.
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Post by cw67q on Mar 12, 2010 8:53:49 GMT
>I don't know. that's a creepy looking gargoyle. I rather like it. Am I the only one put in mind of Gareth from "the Office" Attachments:
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