Monday 27 October 2014

Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book

(Before you read this post, please read and comment part 1 and 2 of my last Jack O'Lantern story. A warning: it gets violent and nasty near the end.)

Tonight for my countdown to Halloween post, I thought about making you discover a horror story from the great M.R. James. Since I mentioned plenty of ghost stories recently, I also thought it should be one when the antagonist is not a ghost. Although at the time all horror and supernatural stories were called ghost stories, Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book has as its villain a demon. And the protagonist, like in most of M.R. James' stories, is a mild-mannered academic. You can read it online here. But I would recommend that you get your hand on a paper copy. In any case, read it by a dim light and enjoy. It is not very long. This was the first horror story he ever wrote and the second I read. It is one where evil is at its most malevolent and most inhuman. And it is one ugly monster too. Anyway, read, enjoy, and tell me what you thought of it in the comments.

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