The Stony Grin of Unearthly Malice. Selected Ghost Stories - M. R. James;Rayne Dugard;Ryan Petrie

28 October, 1893. Three days before Hallowe’en. For a gentle, soft-spoken, middle-aged don, his spectacles catching the firelight, history is about to be made.

The literary legacy of M. R. James, doctor of biblical archaeology, antiquarian, a fine prose writer, and perhaps the most formidable, perhaps even the greatest, cataloguer of ancient manuscripts and biblical arcana in the world, remains strong to this day. It is this learned authority that gives the stories their authenticity. When we read an M. R. James story with such a thing as an ancient manuscript, or some­thing that should not be disturbed, then the reader would be wise to not touch that something, for fear its guardian lies in wait for the unsuspecting prey to make the fatal error.

James’s ghosts are of a malevolent sort; they have ways of dealing with unwanted guests.

The ghost story has taken on, for want of better wording, a life of its own and is indeed very healthy and much in demand. We can see this new life taking its first unearthly breaths in the stories here collected.