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Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian
I like your tastes. But, do you mean Montague is better than Lovecraft?
If it is so, I should find out about him.
I myself am obsessed with Lovecraft.
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Yes, I love M R James more than H P Lovecraft despite the whole Mythos of cosmic horrors HPL created. Actually, HPL was abit of hack but you don't say that to someone's face like myself whose absolutely adores the universe HPL introduced generations of readers to. Because he spent quite abit more time and detail. The imagination of HPL is simply awesome.
But yes, I love M R James more who wrote mainly ghost stories. Stories one would tell over a campfire or dark stormy night. But very simple ones. I love James because frankly instead of thrilling me with otherworldly dimensions and creatures, he genuinely has creeped me out. Things that go bump in the night or shadows on your peripheral vision. No, MRJ who lived between 1862-1936 is considered by many to be the world's greatest ghost story master and for good reason. Very influential -- HPL, Serling, King, the list goes on.
I would recommend getting the Oxford World's Classics 1999 edition of
Casting The Runes And Other Ghost Stories with Monty scholar Michael Cox's annotations.
Avoid the 2002 edition with Michael Chabon's forward as Cox's wonderful annotations are entirely absent from the volume. Both versions are still in print.
If you by chance have a library or a second hand bookstore available, try
The Collected Ghost Stories of M R James by Montague Rhodes James. That one has a whopping 31 short tales compared Oxford's 21.
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