Astonishing! I have never heard of M.R. James, but his influence on others I am quite familiar with is made clear in this article, so thanks Kathleen for another grand learning experience!
Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos is one of my favorites...as a visual artist I have been excited by the tentacle faced god Lovecraft envisioned. It seems that gods and ghosts are very similar beings.
I knew about his work as a librarian and not the ghost stories until I read an article that treated both....his Wikipedia page lists a boat load of outlets for his work. And yes, your work with Cthulhu founded on him but who knew?
"him but who knew?"-- Not me, I never lost control, your face to face with the man who sold the world....
Here's a freaky for ya: I saw Cthulhu before I ever read a description of it back in the 1980s.
I stepped into my garage late one night and flicked on the light. It went off like a flashbulb, lighting the space in a instance and then total darkness, what I had glimpsed in that short instance was a huge hulking figure with a face of squirming tentacles. I was rendered cold stonelike still horrified. I heard a mewing like faint cry outside the door. This woke me from my paralyses and I quickly turned and opened the door and stepped out into a warm moonlit night. I could still whimpering. It was coming from the yard behind mine, separated by a high wooden fence. It occurred to me that some small animal, perhaps a goat was being sacrificed on the other side of the fence... I heard muffled voices. I got chills up and down my spine and made for my house.
The only person I ever told about it was my pal across the street. He grinned and nodded like I was crazy and spoke of psychological reasons for my experience. I half believed him, and pretty much forgot the incident until today when the memory rushed in after posting to you.
Now, being an artist I did draw several sketches of what I had seen in my garage. Only later did I see other artist renditions of Cthulhu.
Now I think perhaps the thing in my garage was conjured by the ritual in the yard behind mine ... or I have an overactive imagination. Hmm..?
Haha my sig. other is a Nats fan and she hates the Braves (or, as she calls them, the Barfs) with a burning passion. Me, myself, I don't understand sports.
I have always equated M. R. James with Lemmy Kilmister. I am stealing this from a friend: "Motörhead only wrote one song, but it's a good song." James only wrote one story, but it's a good story. My favorite is "The Mezzotint," precisely because any danger to the narrator is off the table.
It's a question of personal taste, but I think Robert Aickman mastered the British ghost story, or, as he put it, "strange story." "The Same Dog" is the scariest thing I have ever read.
Thanks for the tip on Mezzotint. I'm going follow up on Rachel's recommendation. Now I will see M.R. everywhere. Braves were a funny team this year w/ so many players late to the party.
Thank you, Kathleen! Congrats to the World Champs Braves! A great team and franchise I was rooting for after my SF Giants got eliminated! And Buster Posey will be returning now to his home state of Georgia as well. :)
Yes, Buster! This WS win is so exciting. I've followed 3 teams--White Sox, Tampa Bay and Braves. This is the first time any team I was following won WS. The victory parade yesterday even included the organist, Matthew Kaminski on a trick with an organ. It's been a month of post-season edge of seat nights. And some of the players were locals fellows from small towns in Ga.
Librivox has an excellent reader of M.R. James stories if you're looking for a free listen.
I wish I had gotten this out on Halloween!
Astonishing! I have never heard of M.R. James, but his influence on others I am quite familiar with is made clear in this article, so thanks Kathleen for another grand learning experience!
Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos is one of my favorites...as a visual artist I have been excited by the tentacle faced god Lovecraft envisioned. It seems that gods and ghosts are very similar beings.
\\][//
I knew about his work as a librarian and not the ghost stories until I read an article that treated both....his Wikipedia page lists a boat load of outlets for his work. And yes, your work with Cthulhu founded on him but who knew?
"him but who knew?"-- Not me, I never lost control, your face to face with the man who sold the world....
Here's a freaky for ya: I saw Cthulhu before I ever read a description of it back in the 1980s.
I stepped into my garage late one night and flicked on the light. It went off like a flashbulb, lighting the space in a instance and then total darkness, what I had glimpsed in that short instance was a huge hulking figure with a face of squirming tentacles. I was rendered cold stonelike still horrified. I heard a mewing like faint cry outside the door. This woke me from my paralyses and I quickly turned and opened the door and stepped out into a warm moonlit night. I could still whimpering. It was coming from the yard behind mine, separated by a high wooden fence. It occurred to me that some small animal, perhaps a goat was being sacrificed on the other side of the fence... I heard muffled voices. I got chills up and down my spine and made for my house.
The only person I ever told about it was my pal across the street. He grinned and nodded like I was crazy and spoke of psychological reasons for my experience. I half believed him, and pretty much forgot the incident until today when the memory rushed in after posting to you.
Now, being an artist I did draw several sketches of what I had seen in my garage. Only later did I see other artist renditions of Cthulhu.
Now I think perhaps the thing in my garage was conjured by the ritual in the yard behind mine ... or I have an overactive imagination. Hmm..?
\\][//
Indeed, James had quite an influence on horror fiction.
And he gets so little attention for his library work.
The pedant's pedant!
In defense of Dr. Fauci
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lex-fridman-podcast/id1434243584?i=1000540919852
#238 – Francis Collins: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Lex Fridman Podcast
Haha my sig. other is a Nats fan and she hates the Braves (or, as she calls them, the Barfs) with a burning passion. Me, myself, I don't understand sports.
I have always equated M. R. James with Lemmy Kilmister. I am stealing this from a friend: "Motörhead only wrote one song, but it's a good song." James only wrote one story, but it's a good story. My favorite is "The Mezzotint," precisely because any danger to the narrator is off the table.
It's a question of personal taste, but I think Robert Aickman mastered the British ghost story, or, as he put it, "strange story." "The Same Dog" is the scariest thing I have ever read.
Thanks for the tip on Mezzotint. I'm going follow up on Rachel's recommendation. Now I will see M.R. everywhere. Braves were a funny team this year w/ so many players late to the party.
Congrats to the Braves. I’m a White Sox fan, so I was pleased to see the Astros go down.
Thank you, Kathleen! Congrats to the World Champs Braves! A great team and franchise I was rooting for after my SF Giants got eliminated! And Buster Posey will be returning now to his home state of Georgia as well. :)
Yes, Buster! This WS win is so exciting. I've followed 3 teams--White Sox, Tampa Bay and Braves. This is the first time any team I was following won WS. The victory parade yesterday even included the organist, Matthew Kaminski on a trick with an organ. It's been a month of post-season edge of seat nights. And some of the players were locals fellows from small towns in Ga.
When the White Sox won the WS back in, what, 2005? It was a blast. Can’t believe it’s been that long.