Montague Rhodes James (1862 - 1936), who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905-1918), and of Eton College (1918-1936). He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre. James redefined the ghost story for the new century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic cliches of his predecessors and using more realistic contemporary settings. However, James's protagonists and plots tend to reflect his own antiquarian interests. Accordingly, he is known as the...

Hans Christian Andersen (1805 -1875) was a Danish author best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories, called eventyr in Danish, or "fairy-tales" in English, express themes that transcend age and nationality. Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The...

If you read the title-page of this book--a thing which young persons very seldom do--you will see that it (the book) contains stories taken "out of some of the less-known apocryphal books of the Old Testament." You will very possibly not understand what that means; but if you will read this preface--another thing which young persons do even seldomer than they read a title-page--you will find the best explanation that I can give.

You remember that you were puzzled when I told you I had heard something from the owls-or if not puzzled (for I know you have some experience of these things), you were at any rate anxious to know exactly how it happened. Perhaps the time has now come for you to be told.