I got this handsome softcover anthology at my local Barnes and Noble. It contains a number of my favorite horror stories - and has a beautifully atmospheric image of a graveyard by moonlight on the endpapers.

The contents include classic tales from Poe, Bierce, the Jameses (M. R. and Henry), Lovecraft, and more. Among my favorites:

"Count Magnus" - here, one of M. R. James' typical academic types gets in way over his head due to his curiosity over a long-dead local tyrant. (This one includes an insanely creepy tale-within-a-tale about the hideous fate of someone else who crossed Count Magnus.)

"Sredni Vashtar" by Saki, about a neglected boy who becomes fond of a pet - and takes deliciously gruesome revenge when his guardian tries to deprive him of it.

Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows," a creepy/vague tale that didn't impress me much in my youth but that has definitely grown on me. (Not least because of T. Kingfisher's The Hollow Places, which it inspired.)

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a classic of oppression and madness, which can be read as a powerful feminist tale or a singularly creepy horror story - or both... I still recall how disturbing I found it the first time I read it!

I left this book on a bench on the common, near the fountain with the statues of children - and one turtle on the rim! - and with a view of the impressive Rollstone boulder in the background. Hope someone enjoys the book!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2022 Spook-tacular challenge. ***