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Rats
A sole guest in a Suffolk rural inn decides to check out what's in the other empty rooms.
ebook
First published March 23, 1929
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About the author
M.R. James
1,520 books908 followersMontague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted English mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
M.R.^James
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
November 7, 2020
Classical eerie tale about a mysterious room in an inn by the sea. The tension was slowly building up but the denouement was a bit too quiet. Recommended for cold winter evenings!
July 16, 2019
First published in the periodical At Random (1929), “Rats” may well be the last of M.R. James scariest stories. It takes place—as many of his best stories do—in an inn near the coast (this time in Suffolk) where Thomson, currently at Cambridge, has retired for a little quiet reading. While out on his afternoon walk one day, he encounters “a square block of white stone fashioned somewhat like the base of a pillar, with a square hole in the upper surface.” That night, at the inn bar, he inquires of the locals what that thing might be:
‘A old-fashioned thing, that is,’ said the landlord (Mr Betts), ‘we was none of us alive when that was put there.’ ‘That’s right,’ said another. ‘It stands pretty high,’ said Mr Thomson, ‘I dare say a sea-mark was on it some time back.’ ‘Ah! yes,’ Mr Betts agreed, ‘I ’ave ’eard they could see it from the boats; but whatever there was, it’s fell to bits this long time.’ ‘Good job too,’ said a third, ‘‘twarn’t a lucky mark, by what the old men used to say; not lucky for the fishin’, I mean to say.’ ‘Why ever not?’ said Thomson. ‘Well, I never see it myself,’ was the answer, ‘but they ’ad some funny ideas, what I mean, peculiar, them old chaps, and I shouldn’t wonder but what they made away with it theirselves.’One day, Thomson doesn’t go on an afternoon walk. He checks out the other rooms on his floor instead, and gets more than he bargained for in one of them:
Thomson close the door very quickly and yet quietly behind him and lean against the window-sill in the passage, actually quivering all over. It was this, that under the counterpane someone lay, and not only lay, but stirred. That it was some one and not some thing was certain, because the shape of a head was unmistakable on the bolster; and yet it was all covered, and no one lies with covered head but a dead person; and this was not dead, not truly dead, for it heaved and shivered. If he had seen these things in dusk or by the light of a flickering candle, Thomson could have comforted himself and talked of fancy. On this bright day that was impossible.Lucky for the reader, things get even worse. But I’ll leave the rest of it up to you.
June 23, 2019
This story is a neglected jewel. In a very short space, with gentle and nuanced expressions, the Master succeeds in stoking one of the most deep-seated fears. Revising it rekindled those fears again, after so many years!
Please read it, IF you want to be terrified.
Please read it, IF you want to be terrified.
October 30, 2024
”If you was to walk through the bedrooms now, you’d see the ragged, moldy bedclothes a-heaving and a-heaving like seas!”
“And a-heaving and a-heaving with what?” he says.
“With the rats under ‘em!”
This is one of James’ more direct ghost stories — one where the scary thing confronts directly instead of being sidled around and come at by hints and allusions. A guest staying at an inn near the coast has a curious nature. He asks the locals about an odd, large stone with a hole in it he saw on a nearby hill, and receives evasive and incomplete answers. He examines some of the other inn rooms one bright afternoon and discovers a room with only a bed, and in it…
”Under the counterpane someone lay, and not only lay, but stirred. That it was someone, and not something was certain, because the shape of a head was unmistakable on the bolster, and yet it was all covered, and no one lies with covered head but a dead person, and this was not dead, not truly dead, for it heaved and shivered.”
He exits the room disturbed, as in the bright light of day he cannot easily explain away what he saw. Many of James’ tales would stop here, hinting at dark things without making them explicit, but this tale goes on. On the day the guest was to take leave of the inn, he once again looks into that same room, but for what he discovered on that occasion I will leave it to you to discover.
“And a-heaving and a-heaving with what?” he says.
“With the rats under ‘em!”
This is one of James’ more direct ghost stories — one where the scary thing confronts directly instead of being sidled around and come at by hints and allusions. A guest staying at an inn near the coast has a curious nature. He asks the locals about an odd, large stone with a hole in it he saw on a nearby hill, and receives evasive and incomplete answers. He examines some of the other inn rooms one bright afternoon and discovers a room with only a bed, and in it…
”Under the counterpane someone lay, and not only lay, but stirred. That it was someone, and not something was certain, because the shape of a head was unmistakable on the bolster, and yet it was all covered, and no one lies with covered head but a dead person, and this was not dead, not truly dead, for it heaved and shivered.”
He exits the room disturbed, as in the bright light of day he cannot easily explain away what he saw. Many of James’ tales would stop here, hinting at dark things without making them explicit, but this tale goes on. On the day the guest was to take leave of the inn, he once again looks into that same room, but for what he discovered on that occasion I will leave it to you to discover.
January 18, 2021
This first piece in a collect of chilling stories was very short. It had a quick build-up, which I liked. Nothing like that creepy uncanny chill surrounding a mysterious body not quite alive. Unfortunately, the ending was lacklustre. I didn't really understand it, in the way that it left so many logical questions unanswered. The author could have expanded it to make it richer.
June 17, 2019
Due to his unchecked curiosity, a man lets loose a horror which haunts him everywhere that he goes. I use the term "horror" loosely, and the attempt to imitate a dialect on the author's part make the story nearly unreadable.
April 2, 2016
M.R James is one of my favorite classic horror story writers. This one is very short, but it's big on creepy.
January 2, 2026
Upon reflection, perhaps the advocate for marmalade frost is no more nor less important than the sugar of icing upon a freshly baked cake, & proof of this conclusion is found in the burst of imagination as noted within James’ stories. For a reader to nestle amongst the salivary glands of horror stories comfortably enough to clearly gauge the analogy, one must venture through prickly weeds in the darkness of the woods. For without the sun, what light might be shed on the dark rooms, whence turmoil lies dead like the corpse of a scarecrow, abandoned to its solitude?
One comes across James & his tales nearly by chance. His meandering words often undertake the wiggle of a threat not yet potent enough to harm the reader, but whose intention remains gallantly distinguished. Imbued with the ease of the early stages of a ghost story, James’s selected approach to writing about terror comes up short.
Certainly, a reader will appreciate his boyish eagerness; his plot revolves around a man who has a friend, or perhaps an acquaintance, who experienced something strange. In the present tense, the narrator of this story attempts to share that which has been passed on to them & here, the reader finds themselves with a story.
It is not so much that I am beyond appreciating early horror for what it is, regardless of its contribution to the genre writ large, but more so that I view literary prowess with hope that is never fawned over like a fireside flame. The setting is one I choke on, so eager am I to consume it, & yet by the end, I find that the rippling eagerness of my open mouth & wide eyes has been for naught.
In essence, this is a story about secrets. The narrator presents the reader with a tale he has begun to remember, though it happened long ago. His recollection draws the reader to the events that occurred to a friend of his—Thomson—& he admits that the events are murky as neither his friend nor himself is quite able to discern the depth of consequences resulting from the actions the narrator is about to describe.
To the reader, the narrator shares that his friend was a man with many thoughts, a person who spent the mornings engulfed in his work. The afternoons spent in the quaint Inn near the English seaside were spent walking the beautiful landscape, which was when he could spare the time for.
One afternoon, having dedicated all his time to his work, Thomson decided it was time to explore the house in which he was staying. The Inn was quite old & showed signs of being well-loved; once a place where many people might flock, in part due to its geography & because of the warm folks who ran it, the Thomson found himself the lone guest. Somehow, he came across a key that would unlock every door & behind the furthest door from the room in which he was staying, this man found a corpse, or so he thought.
Here, the reader notes a bizarre shift. Whereas in reality, the discovery of a moving sack of skin would send Broadmoor knocking, the story teeters on its hinges. At once, Thomson believes that there is a chained man in the backroom, but he wonders how a person might survive in these conditions. The Inn Keepers note that this was never something they ventured to wonder or check, having bought the property from someone else, they promised never to unlock the door behind which a demon lay silently, waiting for his moment to strike.
Admittedly, this gave me pause. I paused for so many moments that I figured I had missed something of crucial importance. I therefore went looking for an audio version of this story, one that might, through the intentional pronunciation of another, gleam clarity where muddy murk caressed my mind’s eye. My search was quickly satiated by coming across TheRealChrisWheelie’s channel, in which I found an audio narration by Sir Michael Hordern.
What I found most odd about this story was its lack of necessity. It did not insist that it was a tale of scary fiends & foolish follies; in fact, it did nothing of the sort, & yet I came upon it holding the belief that the rats, as noted in the title, would be feverish with fury & horrors would be cast my way. I feel that I have perhaps tricked myself into believing the invisible sobs of my longing, those that have led me to James’ door on more than one occasion, but which I find locked & abandoned.
It would be unfair to say that I despised this story or that I found it a total waste of my time. I found the secrecy of the Inn Keepers & their promise to the mysterious former owners absurdly funny. I could not imagine a reality in which a property was bought under the guise of not becoming acquainted with every corner. Here were these lovely, kind people who welcomed strangers into their space with the promise to care for them & all the while, a corpse-like decay was rambling in the backroom where rats rummaged over its stiffness.
Ultimately, readers who can forgive James for spewing something like phlegm onto the pages may find this story more to their fancy. I have a beloved & consuming adoration for the tale that begins through the amputated experiences of a stranger—as a favourite show of mine once noted, the story that happened to a friend of a friend, see “Freaky Stories” (1997).
For this fact alone, I admit defeat, I could hardly prevent myself from leaning forward onto the lap of the narrator as he recalled the garble of pesky rats & their screeching, scratching claws, undisturbed until his dear friend opened the bolted door.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•
One comes across James & his tales nearly by chance. His meandering words often undertake the wiggle of a threat not yet potent enough to harm the reader, but whose intention remains gallantly distinguished. Imbued with the ease of the early stages of a ghost story, James’s selected approach to writing about terror comes up short.
Certainly, a reader will appreciate his boyish eagerness; his plot revolves around a man who has a friend, or perhaps an acquaintance, who experienced something strange. In the present tense, the narrator of this story attempts to share that which has been passed on to them & here, the reader finds themselves with a story.
It is not so much that I am beyond appreciating early horror for what it is, regardless of its contribution to the genre writ large, but more so that I view literary prowess with hope that is never fawned over like a fireside flame. The setting is one I choke on, so eager am I to consume it, & yet by the end, I find that the rippling eagerness of my open mouth & wide eyes has been for naught.
In essence, this is a story about secrets. The narrator presents the reader with a tale he has begun to remember, though it happened long ago. His recollection draws the reader to the events that occurred to a friend of his—Thomson—& he admits that the events are murky as neither his friend nor himself is quite able to discern the depth of consequences resulting from the actions the narrator is about to describe.
To the reader, the narrator shares that his friend was a man with many thoughts, a person who spent the mornings engulfed in his work. The afternoons spent in the quaint Inn near the English seaside were spent walking the beautiful landscape, which was when he could spare the time for.
One afternoon, having dedicated all his time to his work, Thomson decided it was time to explore the house in which he was staying. The Inn was quite old & showed signs of being well-loved; once a place where many people might flock, in part due to its geography & because of the warm folks who ran it, the Thomson found himself the lone guest. Somehow, he came across a key that would unlock every door & behind the furthest door from the room in which he was staying, this man found a corpse, or so he thought.
Here, the reader notes a bizarre shift. Whereas in reality, the discovery of a moving sack of skin would send Broadmoor knocking, the story teeters on its hinges. At once, Thomson believes that there is a chained man in the backroom, but he wonders how a person might survive in these conditions. The Inn Keepers note that this was never something they ventured to wonder or check, having bought the property from someone else, they promised never to unlock the door behind which a demon lay silently, waiting for his moment to strike.
Admittedly, this gave me pause. I paused for so many moments that I figured I had missed something of crucial importance. I therefore went looking for an audio version of this story, one that might, through the intentional pronunciation of another, gleam clarity where muddy murk caressed my mind’s eye. My search was quickly satiated by coming across TheRealChrisWheelie’s channel, in which I found an audio narration by Sir Michael Hordern.
What I found most odd about this story was its lack of necessity. It did not insist that it was a tale of scary fiends & foolish follies; in fact, it did nothing of the sort, & yet I came upon it holding the belief that the rats, as noted in the title, would be feverish with fury & horrors would be cast my way. I feel that I have perhaps tricked myself into believing the invisible sobs of my longing, those that have led me to James’ door on more than one occasion, but which I find locked & abandoned.
It would be unfair to say that I despised this story or that I found it a total waste of my time. I found the secrecy of the Inn Keepers & their promise to the mysterious former owners absurdly funny. I could not imagine a reality in which a property was bought under the guise of not becoming acquainted with every corner. Here were these lovely, kind people who welcomed strangers into their space with the promise to care for them & all the while, a corpse-like decay was rambling in the backroom where rats rummaged over its stiffness.
Ultimately, readers who can forgive James for spewing something like phlegm onto the pages may find this story more to their fancy. I have a beloved & consuming adoration for the tale that begins through the amputated experiences of a stranger—as a favourite show of mine once noted, the story that happened to a friend of a friend, see “Freaky Stories” (1997).
For this fact alone, I admit defeat, I could hardly prevent myself from leaning forward onto the lap of the narrator as he recalled the garble of pesky rats & their screeching, scratching claws, undisturbed until his dear friend opened the bolted door.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2018
Easily one of my favorite short stories ever. Considering the time period it was written, the pacing and style might have been ahead of its time. And, of course, the ending would join the rest of the description.
January 3, 2026
This one confused me
June 20, 2025
Rats by MR James
8 out of 10
“Rats” is a short ghost story by the British author M.R. James. It was first published in the March 23, 1929 issue of the magazine At Random. The story revolves around a young man named Mr. Thomson, who is the sole guest at a small seaside inn. One sunny afternoon, Thomson decides to explore the inn’s other bedrooms. He discovers that only one room has a locked door. Inside that room, he finds a bed with a completely covered human form on it. The head is covered, as if the person were dead, but the form is moving…’
The above is what Copilot gives you, the Artificial Intelligence available with edge, Microsoft’s search engine, and it looks like I will start my notes with whatever this pilot brings out, because then I can relax and get off on my tangents, with the assurance that the essence is already on the page, provided by an entity with higher IQ
Consolation might be provided by the idea that they do not have EQ, Emotional Intelligence https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/08/... the ultimate expert on that would be Daniel Goleman, and I think I have read that EQ is twice as important as IQ, so we have the last laugh
However, I now think that EQ may have some explanation in Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, albeit I have to think about that, on the spur of the moment, it seems as if you take decisions in the blink of an eye, it is the Thin Slicing Theory at work, and therefore you ‘read the person in front’ and that is EQ
But if we look more carefully, it must be more complicated than that -or maybe not – I had the impression that, after a couple of decades of working with people, I could see if the one I just met will be trouble, obnoxious or somehow interesting, worth exploiting – but there is more to this than just anticipating that side
Having a good, or better than that emotional intelligence would be more than just seeing some things about the one you have in front, and just for some seconds, but it is a good start, I think Blink does explain so much https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/... and it is a spectacular read anyhow
Let us just stop here for a moment, or the rest of the note, although feel free to leave this space, as stated before, the only real good thing about Rats is in the first few lines, provided courtesy of Microsoft, Edge and their Copilot, the ‘rest is silence’ as in Hamlet…so you meet somebody for the first time, and you can analyze him
Let us work with a male subject, not because of misogyny, but on the contrary, to avoid exposing a female subject to this ordeal
If you work fast, that is ‘you think without thinking’, then you see if there is a potential for compatibility there, or the opposite is true – now, on cue, I just jump on another tangent, and look at proverbs, and how silly they are, take the ‘opposites attract’, such insight in this and this popular folklore, wisdom of the crowds
Bullshit, as our most venerated Constantin Noica said - he was and still is also very disputed and controversial, but then nobody is an absolute maverick and sage, you should read Intellectuals https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/... by Paul Johnson and see about Leo Tolstoy, Ibsen and so many others
Constantin Noica wrote about proverbs and concluded that they are not worth the respect they get, one example is ‘you can’t have the cake and eat it’, on one level that is clear, but then from a different angle, this is when you really have it, when you put it inside you, and let us move to another, even more obvious
‘All is fair in love and war’ and Putin, his buddy Kim, and many others would agree, they do whatever the hell they want anyway – now for another tangent this is what Orange Jesus said about NATO, he invited Russia to ‘do whatever the hell it wants’ unless they pay protection money, it is simple for him, this is the ultimate fool in my book
The trouble is that, cave man that he is, he has the support of about seventy, maybe seventy-five, we will soon see, other ghouls that will likely put him in the White House again – moving from topic to topic, what about this CEO of Black Rock, who I supposedly smart, not EQ clever maybe we can conclude, and who supports Trump?
So back to Constantin Noica https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/02/... alongside ‘all is fair in love and war’, there was that other saying ‘in love you never say I am sorry’, which was so popular some decades ago that we saw it printed on t-shirts, even in the Ceausescu regime
It was promoted in Love Story, first the book, then the blockbuster movie with Ali McGrow and Ryan O’Neill, produced by Robert Evans, a major box office hit https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/06/... a narrative where tragedy is front and center, the heroine falls sick and dies of cancer
There is no ‘they marry and live happily forever after’ unless we think Evans and Erich Segal, we read about the motion picture in The Kid Stays in The Picture https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/09/... the innuendo, the despicable behavior of Ryan O’Neil, but also about The Godfather, Chinatown and so much more
Finally, with no connection, there is this joke about lawyers and rats – scientists have decided to stop testing on lab rats and use lawyers instead, for three reasons – 1) there are not enough lab rats, 2) people get attached to rats, 3) there are some things even rats won’t do
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
8 out of 10
“Rats” is a short ghost story by the British author M.R. James. It was first published in the March 23, 1929 issue of the magazine At Random. The story revolves around a young man named Mr. Thomson, who is the sole guest at a small seaside inn. One sunny afternoon, Thomson decides to explore the inn’s other bedrooms. He discovers that only one room has a locked door. Inside that room, he finds a bed with a completely covered human form on it. The head is covered, as if the person were dead, but the form is moving…’
The above is what Copilot gives you, the Artificial Intelligence available with edge, Microsoft’s search engine, and it looks like I will start my notes with whatever this pilot brings out, because then I can relax and get off on my tangents, with the assurance that the essence is already on the page, provided by an entity with higher IQ
Consolation might be provided by the idea that they do not have EQ, Emotional Intelligence https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/08/... the ultimate expert on that would be Daniel Goleman, and I think I have read that EQ is twice as important as IQ, so we have the last laugh
However, I now think that EQ may have some explanation in Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, albeit I have to think about that, on the spur of the moment, it seems as if you take decisions in the blink of an eye, it is the Thin Slicing Theory at work, and therefore you ‘read the person in front’ and that is EQ
But if we look more carefully, it must be more complicated than that -or maybe not – I had the impression that, after a couple of decades of working with people, I could see if the one I just met will be trouble, obnoxious or somehow interesting, worth exploiting – but there is more to this than just anticipating that side
Having a good, or better than that emotional intelligence would be more than just seeing some things about the one you have in front, and just for some seconds, but it is a good start, I think Blink does explain so much https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/... and it is a spectacular read anyhow
Let us just stop here for a moment, or the rest of the note, although feel free to leave this space, as stated before, the only real good thing about Rats is in the first few lines, provided courtesy of Microsoft, Edge and their Copilot, the ‘rest is silence’ as in Hamlet…so you meet somebody for the first time, and you can analyze him
Let us work with a male subject, not because of misogyny, but on the contrary, to avoid exposing a female subject to this ordeal
If you work fast, that is ‘you think without thinking’, then you see if there is a potential for compatibility there, or the opposite is true – now, on cue, I just jump on another tangent, and look at proverbs, and how silly they are, take the ‘opposites attract’, such insight in this and this popular folklore, wisdom of the crowds
Bullshit, as our most venerated Constantin Noica said - he was and still is also very disputed and controversial, but then nobody is an absolute maverick and sage, you should read Intellectuals https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/... by Paul Johnson and see about Leo Tolstoy, Ibsen and so many others
Constantin Noica wrote about proverbs and concluded that they are not worth the respect they get, one example is ‘you can’t have the cake and eat it’, on one level that is clear, but then from a different angle, this is when you really have it, when you put it inside you, and let us move to another, even more obvious
‘All is fair in love and war’ and Putin, his buddy Kim, and many others would agree, they do whatever the hell they want anyway – now for another tangent this is what Orange Jesus said about NATO, he invited Russia to ‘do whatever the hell it wants’ unless they pay protection money, it is simple for him, this is the ultimate fool in my book
The trouble is that, cave man that he is, he has the support of about seventy, maybe seventy-five, we will soon see, other ghouls that will likely put him in the White House again – moving from topic to topic, what about this CEO of Black Rock, who I supposedly smart, not EQ clever maybe we can conclude, and who supports Trump?
So back to Constantin Noica https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/02/... alongside ‘all is fair in love and war’, there was that other saying ‘in love you never say I am sorry’, which was so popular some decades ago that we saw it printed on t-shirts, even in the Ceausescu regime
It was promoted in Love Story, first the book, then the blockbuster movie with Ali McGrow and Ryan O’Neill, produced by Robert Evans, a major box office hit https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/06/... a narrative where tragedy is front and center, the heroine falls sick and dies of cancer
There is no ‘they marry and live happily forever after’ unless we think Evans and Erich Segal, we read about the motion picture in The Kid Stays in The Picture https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/09/... the innuendo, the despicable behavior of Ryan O’Neil, but also about The Godfather, Chinatown and so much more
Finally, with no connection, there is this joke about lawyers and rats – scientists have decided to stop testing on lab rats and use lawyers instead, for three reasons – 1) there are not enough lab rats, 2) people get attached to rats, 3) there are some things even rats won’t do
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
August 3, 2016
Rats by M. R. James is yet another classic by the master. This short story is about a man named Mr. Thomson who decides to stay at an inn in Suffolk, England. The next day, while he is roaming through the inn he finds a strange room. However, there seems to be something laying on the bed. As he is looking at it, it stirs, he quickly leaves the room. The rest of his stay at the Inn he can not forget what he has seen. On the day he checks out he goes back to look in the room that has bothered him so much. You will need to read the story to find out what the conclusion is, however, I will tell you that the ending is not a let down!
January 4, 2019
Weak short story
February 4, 2024
Finally, someone who writes in passive tense almost as habitually as myself has been found
January 7, 2023
And if you was to walk through the bedrooms now, you’d see the ragged, mouldy bedclothes a-heaving and a-heaving like seas.’‘And a-heaving and a-heaving with what?’ he says. ‘Why, with the rats under ‘em.’ - excerpt from 'Tom Tiddler's Ground' by Florence Marriat.
The story concerns a young man named Mr. Thomson who is the only guest at a small seaside inn of repute in Suffolk, near the coast. On a fine sunny spring afternoon, Thomson decides to explore the inn's other three unused bedrooms believing the innkeepers could not possibly object to him looking at the other rooms in the passage. He finds that only one of those rooms has a locked door which the key to one of the other empty rooms fits. Inside the room, he finds a bed with a completely covered human form on it. The form not only lay but heaved and shivered.
"Rats by M.R. James Trailer - YouTube"
The story concerns a young man named Mr. Thomson who is the only guest at a small seaside inn of repute in Suffolk, near the coast. On a fine sunny spring afternoon, Thomson decides to explore the inn's other three unused bedrooms believing the innkeepers could not possibly object to him looking at the other rooms in the passage. He finds that only one of those rooms has a locked door which the key to one of the other empty rooms fits. Inside the room, he finds a bed with a completely covered human form on it. The form not only lay but heaved and shivered.
"Rats by M.R. James Trailer - YouTube"
July 31, 2020
Blimey, no one does that nightmarish feeling of being chased quite like MR James. The 'scarecrow' shambling off the bed towards our hero is truly the stuff of nightmares and the subtle, quiet description, that is James trademark just works so perfectly when turned on his ghosts.
Mr Gatis needs to turn this into a TV adaptation stat.
Short but perfectly formed.
Mr Gatis needs to turn this into a TV adaptation stat.
Short but perfectly formed.
August 25, 2025
A classic, creepy short story from M R James. Beautifully and efficiently written as always. An old English Inn, a seaside backdrop and a mysterious room....what's not to love? A tale about not succumbing to your curiosity.
June 9, 2018
Kind of reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Visit' ... creepy.
November 8, 2020
Better than fish and chips!
October 4, 2022
Although the story was enjoyable, but I still can't understand the relationship between the name and the story.
September 6, 2024
Ah! Scarecrow!
November 28, 2024
A short and reasonably effective chiller perfect for giving boys of the early 20th century nightmares.
September 19, 2025
horror short story by a master
November 8, 2025
Not one of my favorite mysteries. I think because of the writing style in this one? An interesting concept just not my favorite.
August 28, 2020
Not bad, definitely disquieting.
December 15, 2022
One of my all-time favourite tales of terror.
It's a short one, but since reading it many moons ago this story stayed with me for a long time and even gave me nightmares as a child.
I read it again this year, which confirmed the story as a huge favourite of mine.
James' style of writing never fails to draw me into a story, and this one in particular still gives me chills to this day.
If you like old-fashioned horror, written in an old-fashioned style, you really must give this a read.
Brilliant.
It's a short one, but since reading it many moons ago this story stayed with me for a long time and even gave me nightmares as a child.
I read it again this year, which confirmed the story as a huge favourite of mine.
James' style of writing never fails to draw me into a story, and this one in particular still gives me chills to this day.
If you like old-fashioned horror, written in an old-fashioned style, you really must give this a read.
Brilliant.
April 13, 2016
Mr. Thomson spends sometime in Suffolk, when exploring, he finds a locked room, curiosity takes over and he ends up opening it, what he sees seems an illusion, but it keeps troubling him, when checking out, he pays the room a last visit and what he sees.. you read the story :p
October 11, 2023
Mr. Thomson is staying at a country inn by the sea to do some reading and writing. While there he lets curiosity get the better of him and learns a lesson about sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, like locked rooms in country inns. Audible edition, narrated by Derek Jacobi.
February 27, 2025
For a four page story it’s a little slow to start but most of James’ stuff is in my opinion.
Yet when it gets going the scares are there.
Never would have guessed the scare of this story was a zombie(or at least undead) landlord that helped highwaymen though.
Yet when it gets going the scares are there.
Never would have guessed the scare of this story was a zombie(or at least undead) landlord that helped highwaymen though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2015
Pretty good
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