Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad

”Parkins, who very much dislikes being questioned about it, did once describe something of it in my hearing, and I gathered that what he chiefly remembers about it is a horrible, an intensely horrible, face of crumpled linen. What expression he read upon it he could not or would not tell, but that t......more

“Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad” is a classic, a must-read for all lovers of the English ghost story. (“But you always say that about M.R. James’ stories.” “Well, yes . . . at least for the stories in the first two collections, I do.) I don’t want to spoil its thrills by saying much about it......more

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT! this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review. this is the FOURTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day......more

This short is perhaps the best known of M R James stories certainly for Christmas. Certainly someone has blown a whistle in the UK as winds are high and this added to the atmosphere. Unlike many James stories this doesn’t have the sense of uncertainty or ambiguity. It’s a good old fashioned ghost st......more

This short story really pleasantly surprised me. Not only was it atmospheric and eerie, with a fantastic buildup of tension to the genuinely frightening climax, but it was full of unexpected humour and great characters, which were well-developed despite this story's short length. This was my first fo......more