The Greatest Ghost and Horror Stories Ever Written: volume 2

by M.R. James, E.F. Benson, Ambrose Bierce

If you were looking for the Holy Bible of the horror anthologies, consider yourself lucky, because you just found it!
Cosmic horror, supernatural events, ghost stories, weird fiction, mystical fantasies, occult narratives, this book plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities.

This second volume of “The Greatest Ghost and Horror Stories Ever Written” features 30 stories by an all-star cast, including Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Robert W. Chambers, M. R. James, H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Machen, Sheridan Le Fanu, Walter De La Mare, Marjorie Bowen, Vincent O’Sullivan, John Metcalfe, Magaret Oliphant and A. M. Burrage, among many others!

Genres: Short Stories, Horror

429 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 5, 2019

About the author

Montague 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

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read 5 stories in this collection, and they are NOT the greatest 😣😒😞.
So this is a DNF for me.
Moving on to another short story collection.

[Leo McBride · Rating 2 out of 5]

When will I learn? This is one of those annoying repackages of collections of stories where a bunch of out-of-copyright stories are thrown together. The big names entice - Lovecraft, Bierce, Blackwood, MR James, Le Fanu, etc - but really it's a bunch of lesser stories.
Interesting as a bargain or to fill out gaps you might have in your reading of some of these writers, but not terribly well put together. Greatest ever written? Many of these aren't even the greatest written by these authors. Very much could do better.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Collection

A mixed bag with some better than others but on the whole a good collection of Gothic horror stories by well known and lesser known writers of the time. At the price it is an absolute bargain and well worth reading.

[Colleen Taule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greatest ghost stories

Although the stories were pretty good I didn't really find any of them scary. In fact, I hesitate to call any scary