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Title: Highly recommended tales of the weird
Review: Highly recommended. This is the first collection of ghost stories by M.R. James, one of the masters of the form (though in truth some of these stories would probably best be regarded as "weird tales" rather than ghost stories per se). The effect of the stories is created by a combination of factors: the author's clear feel for moldy, musty old places, and his knack at describing them; the articulate manner in which the stories are narrated and in which the scholarly characters express themselves; and the fact that limited description is given to the supernatural creatures themselves, so that the reader's imagination is sensitized to the horror of what is (not) described. This collection includes some of James's best-known stories, including "Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad," widely regarded as his masterpiece.
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