Formidable Visitants: A Celebration of M.R. James and Ghosts & Scholarsedited by Roger Johnson for the convention held at the Royal Victoria & Bull Hotel in Rochester, 30th & 31st October 1999, to mark the first twenty years of Ghosts & Scholars and to celebrate the ghost stories of Dr M.R. James(1999, Pyewacket Press)Contents;Cover illustration by Jeff Decker
Foreword - Ramsey Campbell
A Festscrift - Roger Johnson
Twenty Years of Ghosts & Scholars - Rosemary Pardoe
(Illustration - Old Johannes - David Lloyd)
The Ominous Thing - Chico Kidd
(Extract - Ruth Rendell's Introduction to 'A Warning to the Curious: The Ghost Stories of M.R. James')
My Idea of Fun - Terry Lamsley
Civilized Chills - David G. Rowlands
The Dennistoun Effect: From the Chitchat Society to Ghosts & Scholars - Steve Duffy
(Illustration - Canon Alberic's Scrapbook - Nick Maloret)
(Extract - Michael Cox's Introduction to 'The Ghost Stories of M.R. James')
Ghosts, Scholars and Floorboards: The Untold Story of 'The James List' - Hugh Lamb
(Illustration - Alan Hunter)
(Illustration - Count Magnus - Dallas Goffin)
(Extract - Karl Edward Wagner's Guest Introduction to 'The Best of Ghosts & Scholars')
'Come Inside, Little Girl' - Jan Arter
(Illustration - Dallas Goffin)
(Illustration - Rochester Castle - Duncan Moule - from 'Picturesque Kent')
The Garden of Ghosts - Mike Ashley
(Extract - Keith Spence, 'The Companion Guide to Kent & Sussex')
Now Read the Book - Richard Dalby
(Extract - John Betjeman's Introduction to 'M.R. James - Book of the Supernatural')
A Haunting Presence - C.E. Ward
(Extract - Aswarby, from 'History, Gazeteer, and Directory of Lincolnshire, and the City and Diocese of Lincoln' - William White)
(Extract - H.P. Lovecraft, 'Supernatural Horror in Literature')
(Illustration - Alan Hunter)
The Danish Connection - Jacqueline Simpson
An Old Friend - John Gordon
Bedtime for M.R. James - Katherine Haynes
(Illustration - Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad - Paul Lowe)
(Extract - Robert M. Price, 'Invocation', Spectral Tales Number 1)
The Maze - Michael Chislett (Fiction)
(Illustration - Rochester Cathedral: The West Door, from 'Cathedrals, Abbeys and Churches of England and Wales, edited by Prof. T.G. Bonney)
A Rather Remarkable Visitant - Antonio Monteiro
(Illustration - F. Barnard, from 'Sketches by Boz' by Charles Dickens)
The Crack in the Teacup - Tina Rath
(Illustration - St Bertrand de Comminges - Roger Johnson)
(Extract - Clive Bloom, 'M.R. James and his Fiction')
M.R. James and the Cat Call - Sheila Hodgson
(Illustrations - Jean Upton)
'He Was Laughing In The Church': M.R. James's Uses of Humour - David Longhorn
(Illustration - He was laughing in the church - Paul Lowe)
(Extract - Christopher Lee, 'A Tribute to M.R. James' from 'M.R. James - Book of the Supernatural')
The Edwin Drood Syndicate - M.R. James (From 'The Cambridge Review', 30th November & 7th december 1905)
(Illustration - Durdles and Deputy in the Cloisters of Cloisterham Cathedral - Douglas Walters)
(Illustration - Rochester Cathedral - Duncan Moule - from 'Picturesque Kent')
(Extract - Victor Sage: 'Horror Fiction in the Protestant Tradition')
Afterword: Mea Culpa - Darroll Pardoe
(Illustration - Dallas Goffin)
(Extract - Julia Briggs, 'Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story')
This 74 page commemorative magazine turned up in the post today thanks to AbeBooks. While I've only had a chance to glance through it while compiling the above list, I suspect that I will be immersed in these articles as soon as I finish the book I'm currently reading. The fact that it turned up in the same mail run as pristine copies of Terry Lamsley's
Dark Matters and Steve Duffy and Ian Rodwell's magnificent
The Five Quarters (a book I already own and love, but sometimes a back up copy is a nice thing to have) and the second
Misty reprint collection means I'm not going to be short of reading matter for some time to come. But the range of articles in
Formidable Visitants puts it top of the reading pile.