CoN Sus F mN Eg a ae Coe Clee ,eah Moore ans CCE eee home osstGhost Storie aa! I BGray mn of SI ories by M.R. James dante Soper aay sna John Reppion SELF ri HERGlish Decor: Er aly Sate tng Menage Sm onsen er Fete Franca ‘ts esd No parton of hs may eeu, ac rei! sem anon ny am by ny mes mechan Slecrone, toa coger, wet rte eso MAR, James (1862-1936) refined the tale PICTURES THAT LIVE ‘can be conjured up by remembering ‘of supematural terror and, len his | just a few words ~ “of crumpled linen, fondness for narrate play and overt references to generic tropes, can be cited ‘as one of the fils first modernists. His {ghost stories are a British institution. Ive seen them pralsed for their cosiness, their atmosphere of academia and Edwardian ‘mole camaraderie, and their reputation for providing @ comfortable shiver or two. | would say allthis underrates and misrepresents the author's contbuton to the genre. Far from being cosy. his stories ‘eequenty present 3 reassuringly ordinary setting that is invaded by the malevolent ‘and terble. Sometimes everyday objects take on or harbour hideous tfe, and at times the juxtaposition of these elements borders on surrealism. He was among the first fo make the tale of supematural terror as fightening as possible, an effect he achieves by an inspired and precise selection of language. Many of his most effective moments are inseparable from Fis style. No writer better demonstrates how, at its best, the ghost story or supernatural horror story (ether term fis his work) achieves its effects through the eloquence and skil of ts prose style = and, | think, no writer in the fletd has shown greater wilingness to convey dread, He can convey more spectral terror in a single glancing phrase than ‘most authors manage in a paragraph oF ‘book. He is stil the undisputed master of the phrase or sentence that shows Just enough to suggest for worse. Often these moments are embedded within paragraphs, the better to take the reader Unavates; the structure ofthe prose and Its appearance on the page contribute to the power of his work. Ifyou know his tales, think about this: how many of them "a lungless laugh’, “a mouth, with teeth” filed and sealed’, “and put ts arms round ‘my neck? They/re a great memorial ois ‘commitment to horror wit reticence ~ in his essay Ghosts - Treat Them Gently! he cites both as essential elements — and proof of his posthumous power. His Influence remains crucial to the fel. Given that his effects depend so strongly on the selection of language and the timing of hs prose, we might wonder if ft would be redundant to ilustate his work. He didn’ think so himself. His first collection, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, was illustrated at his behest by his friend James McBryde, who drew four images but died before he could complete his version of Count Magnus (unless, as some sources have it, the piece went missing after his death) Since then there have been many visual bids to conjure up his species, and now the talented team ff Leah Moore and John Reppion have transformed the first four tales from that first book into graphic narratives. Let me say at once how many Jamesian qualities they preserve. Their selection of the original prose is judicious, ‘and as much of James's dialogue as possible is used, though some invention Is unavoidable (and, | think, very much In the spilt of the author. Like James, their adaptations take time to establish the setting and a sense of history, that clement that persistently and in general malevolently Invades the present in his stories. Indeed, the pacing of these adaptations ig authentically Jemesian, Moore and Reppion are adept at conveying the gradual accumulation of Unease his work depends upon, as theminor characters in particular betray fears they can't quite conceal and knowledge hey might prefer to keep to themselves ‘see not just thelr expressions but their fearful postures too). When the horrors are revealed, they're both true to their iterary source and powerfully reimagined: for instance. Aneke's de lor peraps Hearts’ has been visualised before, ane of Lawrence Gordon Clark Christmas teats on BBC television, but the Moore-Reppion treatment is quite as effective and affecting, from is overwhelmingly avuncular Abney to he Interplay between Stephen and the servants = all the suggestive subtleties of dialogue and behaviour are here, Nor does it stint on terror, and the two nocturnal scenes glow with the light of nightmares, eandered visible by Kt Buss. In @ sense “The Mezzotint” is ideal material fer graphic adaptation, since its central issue is a kind of comic stip ~ an engreving invaded by a ghostly Intruder, which goes about its ghastly business but is never observed in thus transforming the mezzotint equivalent of a series of fram ight James have had such a emblance in mind when conceiving the tale, or was he perhaps thinking of the motion picture? Moore and Reppion summon up a sense of cosy academia, and Fouad Mezhers Images impart an leglac quality, not least in the nostalgic Use of colour (which is expressive in all four of the stories here). His pictures come to life, rather asthe engraving does hithetale. “The Ash-tee” is a strikingly bleak version ofone of James's bleaker tums into a hare — and ends by mustering ar more monstrous manifestations. While several ofthe author's tales make us look at pictures that are ominous or worse, me of which we've seen here, this story takes the voyeuristic notion further and makes us tors at a scene where there are no human witnesses, the horrid death of Sir Richard Fell. Where the original tale shows this purely through simile and indirection, Alisdair Wood lets Us glimpse the nature ofthe creatures that share SirRichard's bed. fancy they are as crsly as their creator would have wished ‘And what might he have made of this latest incarnation of his. work? He wasn't always too gracious about accepting tributes. Adrian Ross dedicated a fine supernatural novel - The Hole of the Pit tohim, and | assume James must have seen it, but there's no record of any response. When he was sent a copy of ‘Supernatural Horror in Literature, in Wihich HP. Lovecraft enthused at length ‘about his work, he simply scoffed at Lovecraft prose. Nevertheless !™m going to presume he might have liked the ccolebration of his work within our pages here, and I certainy think t's worthy of his memory. Otherwise, who knows? Perhaps. that cold draught atthe back of my nec Is more than that, and the object that has landed on my shoulder to claw ati isn't rounded off this, Introduction and sent Itto the publishers | hall have to turn and look. Ramsey Campbell Wallasey, Merseyside 18 May 2016 een Rea nes Canon Alberic’s Serap-book rected gala Ages reece A raileaaenit el get oa a taKgeregad See Ee Tarr) ae pted by Leah Moore and John Reae) The Ash-treeCastringhanconrbuted « But ts «digi T E wetim to the auto-da-fé. tall you of carious er evens which happen i sich “thous a5 have dsb sel publ farmers of the prth Thy habs to ‘esti ther caeater, ‘ard shoe conse satya the verse if the ary ‘She differed from theory ra of illage witches nly bg rather eter ff ard ina mre flutist The on futur, howe marked out the hase rem 0 nan othr i gee. 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Only he lose pon thos that Tchad her with so veonaus en Aaa, sth Hang ase me Hower, that she is reported to oo — - have sed was the senigly us pecily repememnepremng * & “The scar sa the moving crests, eines werd bse wih te ich rg nai a ane colts the mock The sharp cute, however, tn fran instant, ws init ens branThat here were ang marks of id no the manent ew Was oe eve 0 the cro. 1 Chena sick ashe mah ts the fal ard was hom to throm the the asd eying out the Cry and whit fe cane tome htt Pano Dasa of Md end Bay,” "An from Borg cxanit t thy fe eg ic as n= ahi — ad Fett ein cal td ahr uo cul ofall Pants Pris "Loyd he Bsa pce Pg open tas ads a ae “Lathe end, Lich x 20, “Te shll wer be habitNeth ortedar marked there Barns ei, se sary cst nora ong bs ate and Pesto In gera ‘One merig 154, woke ter aint of confor.= — i ed vt go bro within ’ tl J rex rg asta eo vent ‘eal pes ql ) ie Khor tale of Ks guna Ths Prelate ule may rh Bas of isda vised is se, rd ned, resided hee fr sme tine St Reds sts eh So with offers of hs, the Bihy of lar Lai Mery wich nr ged ear, ‘Heres, 9 Willan Keil rd the part thas ~ arid son after.‘beter night. The nether - fur no iter that thee “Thou sal sale me he naring card I shal wtb.” Hi Ly = eeADAPTERS _ LEAH MOORE AND JOHN REPPION Husband and wife writing team Leah Moore and John Reppion have been working 2003, During their career, the duo have adapted works by Bram Stoker, and have writen original stories featuring erlock Holmes, Doctor Who and Red Son. ARTISTS ANEKE Aneke isan illustrator and animator from Madrid, with degrees In aud Smmunication and digital and visual art. Following her move into comics ‘around five years ago, extensively for Including Damsels, Battlestar Galactica 1880, Red Sonja and Vampirelia. While stiving to dea Kir Buss Kit Buss Is @ London-based artist with a long-standing passion for comics ‘and the macabre, Her previous works include Channel 4's The Thrill Electric and howto-draw books for Barron's Educational Series, and she is currently an official artist for Geek and Sundry's D&D-based show Crtical Role. She Is etemally troubled by the irony of loving xror while belng too afrald to watch it, leading to a complex relationship akin to that of a cat's witha fish tank FOUAD MEZHER as an illustrator on a range with @ primary focus on comi children’s. books. Comics he has co. authored have appeared in Samandal Comics Magazine, isha Project and frene. They have death ‘used by pens, glant feet and an assortment of mutant animals. ALISDAIR WOOD Alisdair Wood is an illustrator and designer Although primarily working In video games, including such franchises as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne, he hhas also worked on projects with Ghosts & Si A Pode co-creates and draws going classic horror comic anthology. He lives and »