Showing results for "MR James" in Fantasy

Sir Derek Jacobi reads a collection of tales from the master of ghost stories, M. R. James, whose stories have for many years inspired the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas TV adaptations. M. R. James was described as "a man who, in company with Sheridan le Fanu, is the best ghost-story writer England has ever produced".

A young wife becomes obsessed with the wallpaper in the room of her holiday home in The Yellow Wallpaper. A man is tormented by the embalmed hand of his deceased uncle in The Beast with Five Fingers. For the protagonists of these three supernatural stories, ghostly terror lurks beneath the surface of ordinary life, and reality can all too easily fray at the seams.... Evocatively read by three of our finest actors, and with atmospheric music, these eerie, enthralling tales are perfect listening for dark winter nights.

M R James is widely regarded as THE master of the ghost story. His stories abound with spectres skulking in the shrubbery, in shadowy corners and dark recesses. 'The Mezzotint' is a whimsical and apparently supernatural tale of art on the move; a dying man devises a gruesome plan for testing his heirs in 'The Tractate Middoth', and something is lurking under the bedclothes in 'Rats'.

A gentleman stumbles upon a curious old diary—an innocent discovery, or the key to something far more disturbing? In The Diary of Mr. Poynter, M. R. James once again conjures an atmosphere thick with dread, beauty, and the uncanny. This is a tale where the most ordinary object can become a gateway to forces beyond reason, and where curiosity may lead to quiet terror. With James's trademark subtlety and scholarly unease, the story whispers rather than screams—unsettling the soul long after the final word. Haunting, intricate, and elegantly unnerving.

The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James is an omnibus collection of ghost stories. Many of these stories are time-tested classics. Montague Rhodes James is best remembered for his ghost stories, which some consider among the best in the genre. He redefined the ghost story for the new century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic clichés of his predecessors and using more realistic contemporary settings. However, his protagonists and plots tend to reflect his own antiquarian interests.

This is the unabridged audio recording of M R James' excellent ghost story "Lost Hearts". Read by David Collings, this is sure to scare and delight in equal measure.

The powerful sense of evil – darkness, creepy hairy presences, cloaks, hoods, talons and tentacles – pervades these classic ghost stories by M.R. James. A Cambridge scholar himself, James explored what happens when academics dabble in things they don’t understand and unleash forces of which they know nothing.

This audiobook contains a collection of ghostly tales to send a shiver up your spine!

A relic buried. A secret watched. A warning unheeded. In this chilling tale by master of the supernatural M. R. James, the boundaries between legend and reality dissolve into coastal mist. A Warning to the Curious draws the listener into a bleak and beautiful world where ancient guardians still linger—and curiosity can awaken things best left undisturbed. A haunting meditation on the price of trespass, this is classic ghost storytelling at its most precise and unnerving.

Step into the quiet English countryside, where serenity hides shadows, and ancient grounds guard forgotten secrets. In M. R. James's chilling tale The Rose Garden, a simple act—planting roses on a peaceful estate—unearths more than just soil. Whispers in the wind, a cursed corner of land, and a long-buried injustice begin to stir. Elegant, eerie, and steeped in the uncanny, this masterfully told ghost story unfolds with James's signature subtlety and scholarly dread.

A young orphan. A sprawling country estate. A distant relative with unsettling interests. This is a tale where quiet dread builds behind closed doors, and the line between scholarly pursuit and ancient ritual begins to blur. Twelve-year-old Stephen Elliott arrives at Aswarby Hall expecting safety—but the deeper he explores its halls, the more he senses that something watches from the shadows. Whispers of vanished children, strange dreams, and spectral figures at the window speak of a secret both chilling and deliberate.

A curious traveler. A forbidden tomb. A name best left unspoken. When Mr. Wraxall digs into the past of a long-dead Swedish nobleman, he unearths more than just history. Something stirs beneath the surface—something ancient, waiting, watching. Count Magnus is a masterpiece of restrained horror by M. R. James, where dread builds slowly and silence says more than screams. Atmospheric, eerie, and unforgettable.

A sacred volume, a forgotten ritual, and the lingering presence of something not entirely gone— The Uncommon Prayer-book whispers of devotion turned to dread. M. R. James crafts a world where piety and peril overlap, where quiet study leads not to understanding, but to unease. This tale moves with the hush of cloisters and the rustle of ancient pages, all the while drawing the listener ever closer to an encounter best left unwritten. Dark, refined, and utterly disquieting.

M.R. James' second collection of ghost stories which he wrote whilst Provost of King's College, Cambridge to be read aloud.

This collection of M. R. James’ supernatural stories is read by critically acclaimed star of stage and screen Sir Michael Hordern. Included here are some of M. R. James’ most beloved stories, including 'No. 13', 'Count Magnus', 'Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book', 'The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral', 'Lost Hearts', alongside many more spine-tingling tales.

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first time. Horror, mystery and suspense abound in this collection of stories from the king of ghostly tales, M. R. James.

A tragic past comes back to haunt the present in The Ash Tree. When Sir Richard Fell inherits Castringham Hall, it comes with a curse that has caused the mysterious deaths of the previous owners.