Axe Cop – Q & A with artist Ethan Nicolle – September 2012

Sep 102012
 

Axe Cop

 

It all started with two brothers messing around one day; they came up with idea of a cop who fights crime, with, you guessed it it, his axe.

Oh, sorry, I should also mention; the two brothers are called Ethan and Malachai Nicolle. Ethan was twenty-nine when all this started, and Malachai was just FIVE years old.

Now right away that might lead to you have some misgivings about the quality of this on-line comic (www.axecop.com).
Forget em.
Axe Cop is one of the greatest things I have ever been introduced to.
(Thanks to a mean bearded old man with whom I work. Reluctantly.)

Malachai has one of the most vivid imaginations I’ve ever come across, and Ethan skillfully crafts that outpouring of creativity into one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.
I will write a full blown review of Axe Cop soon, but until then you can check out the comic on-line, and feast your eyes on my interview with the excellent Ethan Nicolle, artist of Axe Cop…

 

Kate West: Your website says that you have no formal training as an artist, and you mentioned in one of
your video posts that you were Malachai’s age when you started drawing; have you always
wanted to draw comics? Do you think of particular comic or artist when you think of what
inspired you to draw?

Ethan Nicolle:  I don’t remember starting drawing.  I know I was doing it at about the time I was learning to talk because my mom has cassette recordings of her drawing with me and you can hear her saying “circle” then baby me tries to say circle as she holds my hand and draws a circle on a small chalkboard.  She tells me it didn’t take long for me to start drawing everything myself.  She says I just lit up when I discovered that illustration was possible and it has been something that has fascinated me my entire life.  I did not go to art school but in full disclosure I did do two terms at my local community college as an art major then I quit.  I don’t count that much toward what formed me as an artist because it was mostly a lot of the teacher just having us sit there and do art while she sat in her office, which is what I would have been doing anyway.  I did ask professionals constantly what I needed (to) work on and I sought out to work on those things… anatomy, perspective, layout, design, etc.  I always wanted to go to art school because I do think that if I had gone to a good one I would be a tighter artist today, but I only wanted to go to a really good school, yet I did not want to go into debt for it, so in the mean time I just tried to teach myself as best I could.  Before I managed to pull off art school my art took over my life on its own.

KW: You obviously have a great relationship with Malachai; do you think he’s been influenced by
you in that he might wanna carry on in the comics business as an adult?

EN: I don’t know how it will affect him in the future, but right now Axe Cop is much more of an activity we do when I visit rather than a profession to him.  I don’t think his career goals are big on his mind, and I am totally fine with that.  If I had to guess, I see him doing something much more technical when he gets older, but who knows what will happen.  Before Axe Cop Malachai didn’t read comics.  It wasn’t until Dark Horse started giving him free comics to read after we had gotten a publishing deal with them that he even started to crack them open altogether… and there are so few comics that are appropriate for him to read that it was never a world I planned on involving him in until maybe when he got older.  I never would have imagined we would be sitting at conventions signing books together.

KW: Do you have plans for any other series coming up? Or is Axe Cop still your main focus?

EN: Axe Cop is my main focus for sure, but I have never been a one project guy.  I have a lot of other stuff in me I need to get out and I have tried my best to do it while staying on top of Axe Cop, which is a lot of work.  In about a year and a half of Axe Cop we have produced enough material for three trade paperbacks.  On the side I still work on pitch ideas for animated TV shows when I can.  I also have recently taken a more bold step and started a second web comic that is written and drawn by me and colored by the talented Noah Maas.  It’s called Bearmageddon.  It only started a couple weeks ago and I can only put out two pages a week while I am putting out three a week of Axe Cop but I am very proud of it so far and it has had a great response.  If anyone would like to check it out they can visit www.bearmageddon.com

KW: If there ever was an Axe Cop movie, who would you like to play Axe Cop?

EN: I get this question a lot and I never have a real good answer.  That’s because when I look at Axe Cop I don’t see a celebrity… I see Axe Cop.  He is definitely a Burt Reynolds or Tom Selleck archetype, but I would not necessarily want him played by either of them.  I would rather let the surrounding characters be celebrity cameos and have Axe Cop himself be an unknown who is good at being dead serious, is buff, has a nice square jaw and can pull off a great moustache.

KW:  Are there any other comics, online or in print that you would recommend to your fans?

EN: Yes, for web comics definitely Dr. McNinja and Ratfist.  Both great comics made by good friends of mine.  Ratfist actually finished posting recently but I believe you can still read it.  I also really dig REmind by Jason Brubaker.  Some of my favorite print comics are the Goon, Walking Dead, just about any Doug TenNapel graphic novel and I have been digging the Invincble and Chew a bit too.  I also really love art books and one my all time favorites is the Daily Zoo by Chris Ayers.  I actually have started a ritual called “RecomMonday” on the Axe Cop Blog where I post a new thing I love and recommend every Monday and talked about the Daily Zoo last week if people want to know more.

KW:  Who is your favourite Axe Cop character?

EN: I assume you mean besides Axe Cop.  I have a lot of love for Baby Man and Sockarang.  I thought Malachai really loved the Moon Warriors until he killed them with a bear god.

KW: Ralph Wrinkles, Presty the pug, Army Chihuahua; Malachai seems to like dogs, does he have
one? And if so what kind?

EN: Yes, the family dog’s name is Rofie and it is some kind of mix they got from an animal shelter.  Definitely some terrier in it… not really sure what the heck it is really, but Rofie is a very sweet, calm dog.  Presty is named after Preston, a Pug that lives next door and yaps through the fence anytime we enter the back yard.  Ralph Wrinkles is based on a stuffed dog I got for Christmas when I was six, then I gave to  Malachai for Christmas when he was five.  I assume Army Chihuahua comes from his exposure to these obnoxious Chihuahua movies that keep coming out.  He and I actually worked on a story recently where all of the dog characters go on an adventure together along with a new dog character.  I’m not sure if we wrote enough for a complete story or not but I’m hoping to make it an upcoming story arch on the site at some point.

KW:  Have you ever thought that you might call it a day with Axe Cop, or do you enjoy it as much as
when you made the first episode?

EN: There is of course always going to be days when it just feels like work, as with any job, but all in all it remains a blast for me and it still gives me plenty of laughs.  The thing about this profession is that you don’t pick your projects so much as your projects pick you. My only plan is to not make any plans at this point.  I usually say I did not plan for Axe Cop to begin so I am not going to plan for it to end.  Axe Cop found me, and when he is done he will probably hug me and fly off like Pete’s Dragon.

KW:  So, I’ve seen and heard that there is to be an Axe Cop game, anything at all you can tell us
about that? Or is it all still very ssssshhh?

EN: All I can really say is that many video game companies are very interested, but beyond that I’m as eager as you are to know who is going to be the one brave enough to make the coolest video game in the last hundred years, and what it will be like.

KW:  Is Axe Cop mad that the God of Bears ate the moon warriors?

EN: I think it is safe to say that Axe Cop is mad at all evil… though his morality in recent comics has been questionable… I think he’s mad for sure, and when he needs to team up with the Moon Warriors I assume he will just go chop the God of All Bears’ stomach open and pull them out, but I really don’t know.  That’s all up to Malachai.  We truly may never see them again.  That is why we read Axe Cop, because we literally have no idea what is going to happen next.

Interview conducted by the ever-exotic Kate “Mae” West.
If you haven’t already, do the next sensible thing and check out www.axecop.com.
There are currently three Axe Cop trade-paperback volumes available, published by Dark Horse Comics. 

Lawless (EIFF 2012)

Jul 112012
 

This year the organisers of the Edinburgh Film Festival decided to bring back the popular ‘Surprise Movie’ event which has been absent from its programme for the last couple of years.  The event was a sell-out, and as the audience settled into their seats before the film began there was a palpable sense of excitement in the cinema.  It is just this sort of electric atmosphere which accompanies a real sense of event – one which befits a festival setting – that the EIFF has arguably been lacking for the last few years, and it was nice to get the sense that we, the audience, were in for something special.  As the lights dimmed, that something special was revealed to be the new film from Australian director John Hillcoat; Lawless.

Fresh from the critical triumph of his rendering of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic thriller The Road, Hillcoat has re-teamed with prolific musician and writer Nick Cave, who scripted the gritty Australian western The Proposition for the director back in 2005.  Lawless is the new fruit of their continuing collaboration; a prohibition-era crime drama set in rural Virginia which proves to be a perfect showcase for the director’s twin recurring themes of bleak landscapes and morally ambiguous protagonists.  Based on Matt Bondurant’s historical novel The Wettest County in the World, the film tells the real-life story of the Bondurant brothers (Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke and Shia LeBeouf), a family of bootleggers who run moonshine across county lines and turn a tidy profit.  But times are changing, and the steady stream of gangsters, cops and runaways fleeing the blood-soaked streets of Capone’s Chicago bring with them new challenges to the brothers’ way of life.  Glamorous gangster Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman) presents a fresh but risky business opportunity, former dancer Maggie (Jessica Chastain) a possible romantic entanglement, and monstrous Deputy Charley Rakes (Guy Pearce) an ever-growing threat to both the Bondurants’ business and their lives.  Against this backdrop of crime and conflict, the youngest brother, Jack (LeBeouf) slowly comes of age, and through his clumsy courtship of a local preacher’s daughter (Mia Wasikowska) begins to see that there might be more to life than running moonshine.

The film is narrated by Jack Bondurant, and our sharing of his perspective seems to suggest that his is the central role, but the viewer’s attention is constantly drawn back to the film’s two larger-than-life characters, and the captivating performances of the actors who portray them.  Tom Hardy’s Forrest Bondurant is an almost mythic figure, a stoic and principled man of action who thrives on local legends which say he cannot be killed.  Hardy utterly inhabits the role, compounding Forrest’s oblique façade by often communicating in little more than unintelligible grunts, occasionally to great comic effect.  His adversary, Deputy Rakes, is a skeletal, eyebrow-less ghoul, a man whose appearance seems to have been constructed specifically to create unease in those around him.  His unsettling look and his tendency to commit sudden acts of brutal violence make him a compelling villain, and Pearce gives life to this deeply unpleasant character with one of the finest performances of his career.  The bloody war of attrition between the two men runs parallel to Jack’s journey of self-discovery, and as the bodies pile up on both sides of the conflict it begins to look as if the Bondurant boys’ rumoured immortality will soon be put to the test.

Lawless falls just short of being the ‘rural gangster’ epic it aspires to be, and Cave and Hillcoat don’t leave themselves quite enough room to adequately incorporate such a large cast of characters.  Oldman, Clarke and Wasikowska in particular suffer with too little screen time, but whether this is down to the film’s scripting or editing remains unclear.  What does make it to the screen, though, is a well-crafted story about lost innocence and personal principle, featuring unflinching violence, memorable characters and some bleakly beautiful locations.  John Hillcoat can consider Lawless yet another triumph, as Nick Cave’s screenwriting career goes from strength to strength.

“Lawless” will be released in the UK on 7th September.

Jim “Make Mine Moonshine” Taylor, geekzine correspondent, signing off from the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012.

The Lost Guardian: Fumito Ueda and The Last Guardian

Mar 212012
 

Hmm, will we ever see this game released?

 

The Lost Guardian

A single white feather floats in the darkness and alights next to a round stone structure which appears to be a well with a rusted chain disappearing into its depths. A blackbird lands on the structure, dwarfed by the seemingly huge white feather, caws and then flies away, startled as a giant creature with glinting eyes steps out of the shadows…

These are the opening seconds of a 2009 trailer for The Last Guardian, the third game from Sony’s own development team known as Team Ico, headed by Fumito Ueda. A game that has yet to be released.

Fans of developer Fumito Ueda are no strangers to patience. Early initiates into the cult of Ueda who picked up Ico for the PS2 in 2001 had to wait until October 2005 for spiritual successor / prequel Shadow of the Colossus. That said, when a third game was announced in 2008 (under the working title Trico) few expected that there would be no release in sight some 4 years later. There was a leaked trailer < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATl4RHYHm0w> around May 2009, and then a slightly different (but better quality and official) version of the trailer < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4E0e-ZCn14 >in June 2009 (originally shown at E3 that year). Speaking to Edge magazine in June 2009 about the leak of the “proof of concept” trailer, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios boss, Shuhei Yoshida said: “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed [about the leak]…. But the reason we didn’t show early footage was because the team wanted to feel comfortable that the vision they created could be delivered. So everything we showed here was from the game engine, and they’ve got to the point where they know they can make this game and can see how it’ll be completed.”

And then we had a shorter trailer (originally shown at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxXmZbU9ez0 > which ended with a tantalising “Coming Holiday 2011”.

And then there was silence.

And then came the news in November 2011 that Fumito Ueda had left Sony.

Which made fans anxious.

And then came the news a few weeks later that he was working on the game on a freelance basis.

Which made fans confused. What exactly was going on with The Last Guardian?

Some clarity was provided last month when Shuhei Yoshida gave an interview to gaming site 1Up < http://www.1up.com/news/shuhei-yoshida-last-guardian-update > .

So here’s what Yoshida had to say: “Fumito’s vision is really causing a very difficult challenge for the developers, so there’s some scrapping and rebuilding – iteration in the process. That’s why [it’s taking so long]”. No detail on what exactly the problems are, but my money is on the creature AI causing them grief, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were also having trouble moulding a consistent and playable game around the unprecedented dynamic between playable character and a non-playable character AI which happens to be a 10 metre tall baby griffin / bird-kitten creature.

“Scrapping and rebuilding” are worrisome words, but I’d rather see them get this right than rush it out half-finished or imperfect. Of course this might mean that the final game differs somewhat from the trailers that we have seen so far, but then SOTC wasn’t quite the game that the proof of concept trailer for Project Nico (as it was originally known) indicated it would be. Check that out here <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMARK1AsJ6A > if you haven’t already seen it.

Ueda’s followers will also take some comfort from Yoshida’s statements that the contractual status of the Man with the Vision may have changed, but he is working on this title every day, and putting in some long hours on it. Which can only be good news.

What the reasons were for the change in Ueda’s contractual relationship with Sony, and whether it is connected to the slow development of The Last Guardian, we will probably never know. What we do know is that work on the game continues, and that Fuimito Ueda, who has transported us to lands ancient and mysterious in two compelling and haunting games, still has a guiding hand over the project.

And so the faithful wait.

For myself, I missed Ico first time round and only caught up with it on the recommendation of our friendly neighbourhood Geekzine editor in 2005, but the combined allure of Ico and SOTC induced me to buy a second hand PS2 just so that I could play these wonderful games. If you haven’t played them, don’t worry. Just go out a buy a PS3 and the HD double-pack reissue, and prepare to fall in love. And then one day, possibly, hopefully, you will wake up to the news that The Last Guardian has a release date and you, and everyone else in the cult of Ueda will breathe a sigh of relief, mutter a prayer of thanks, and pre-order a copy immediately.

 

Jonny M.

 

Ico & Shadow of the Colossus collection is available exclusively on the PlayStation3 for approximately £30. 

My Take on Skyrim…

Mar 022012
 

Since I bought the game on its launch day on the 11th of November a lot of things have tried to get in the way of me playing Skyrim. I have started a new job, had a baby son to go with my 2 ½ year old daughter, done the Christmas thing and even moved house. Well now it is mid-January and I’ve still managed to put 105 hours in game so far……and I am nowhere near finished. This game is huge. HUGE. Which is pretty much something that you can say about most Bethesda RPG games really – Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout3 etc – all have been mighty titles of gaming that, to me, have eclipsed normal everyday life, but Skyrim in my view takes it to a whole other level again. Unlike its predecessors I find that I can’t walk a virtual mile in it’s varied and stunning landscapes without finding something to do, or being attacked by something. I love poking around and this game lets you poke to your heart’s content. I’ve put in over 100 hours and I am still only level 38 (of 81). And on top of all that, you get to fight dragons. DRAGONS.

A Story:

I was riding my horse slowly uphill to a bandit hideout, taking it easy, trying to scope the place out, my usual approach. Have a look about, don’t get too close. Leap off my trusty steed and sneak up the hill with my enchanted bow at the ready, pick them off one by one Spintercell-style ( without having to hide the bodies ), until the s.h.i.t hits the fan and I have to switch to a sword in the right hand and destructive magic fireballs in the left, with a shout or two to back me up. This particular foray was about to begin when suddenly, the ground shakes, the horse starts to jitter and a massive winged shadow slips over the ground and a mighty roar is let out overhead ( this is a game to play on LOUD by the way…) – a Blood Dragon flies over out of nowhere and turns a circle over the bandit camp. The bandits, still completely unaware of my presence, start to let loose on the Wyrm, which promptly lands and burns most of them to cinders.

Quick as a flash I’m off my horse, bow out and firing as I advance on the creature from the side – it was still being distracted by the few hardy bandits left with some fight in them. Under my volley of thunderbolt enchanted arrows the creature goes down, skin burning away and I stand by and absorb its very soul…

Skyrim to me, more than any other game I’ve played, is a game of stories. Not a game of achievements or kills and leveling up or grinding for gold. Most of my playing time in Skyrim has been accompanied by a very good mate on Xbox live chat, navigating his way through his own adventure in Skyrim. Almost all of our chat consists of “Wow, this just happened…” or “ Jesus, have you seen this…” or even in some cases “Ah crap! that was tough…”. Said mate and I get together with another friend and gamer once a fortnight for Magic the Gathering, and the last few month’s sessions have turned into “What are you doing in Skyrim?” talks, cards almost forgotten for hours on the table in front of us. A lot of people have complained about bugs and glitches, or have an preference to play it on PC – several mates of mine fanatically state – “ This is a PC only game, don’t play it on a console!”  I haven’t seen these things, and I don’t actually care about these things. Well yes, I’ve got it on PC as well but I get a LOT of pleasure out of the Xbox version. I’ve sat there with both the PC and Xbox version loaded up and yes the PC version looks better. It doesn’t play any different and the stories are the same and that’s all that matters to me with this game.

On the technical and gameplay side, Bethesda have improved on the previous titles with a more streamlined interface which at first I thought was a little too simplistic but as I’ve gone on I’ve actually come to love it. The menu system almost fades in from the gameplay P.O.V. and starts out from your basic top level items of Magic, Map, Items and Skills.

Bethesda have integrated the skills system from Fallout3 into the leveling system. 251 perks in 19 categories, such as light and heavy armour wearing, one and two handed sword wielding, alchemy, enchanting, archery and different schools of magic such as destruction and conjuration. Every time you level up you choose to level one of the three major stats. Magicka, which increases your mana pool. Health which increases your hit points and Stamina which determines some special moves and how much weight you can carry around.

But you also get one point to spend on a perk, which is used to enhance your chosen skill path. With my character, for example, I have spent some perk points on the black-smithing skill which gives me the ability to forge different types of weapons and armour, like dwarven or elven pieces, and you can also improve existing armour and weapons. This system really opens up the game to be played over and over again with a different approach each time – and I can hardly wait.

One thing that has been removed from this game is items degenerating through use and needing repair. Thank the gods I say. The world is a lush environment full of things to pick over for selling, books for reading; filling out masses of lore and background, and some even (upon opening the pages) level up different skills, and some books start new quests. There is food to gather and cook, and herbs and flowers etc to gather-taste-test and blend into various potions by using the different alchemy tables scattered through out the world. There is wood to chop – making good money and even ore to mine – which is especially handy if your character is a blacksmith like mine.

The quests are varied and numerous, quite often chained and send you all over the world to complete. And it’s a BIG world but this doesn’t pose much of an issue as the map is easy to navigate and nicely presented with goals clearly marked and the quest journal a button touch away when you’re in map mode, making organising yourself simple. Various guilds and factions can be joined such as The Thieves Guild or The Dark Brotherhood that have their own quest lines and activities as well. I’ve found Skyrim far easier to understand with regards to what I’m supposed to be doing, more so than in the previous iterations of Elder Scrolls games. Although with that said I still spend an awful amount of time just poking about…

A Story:

I was wandering off road looking for a way to ford a river, carefully avoiding being spotted by a nearby giant’s camp. I crept up over a rock straight into the path of 3 roving higher level bandits who immediately turned and started in on me. I stood and ran back the way I came. With arrows shooting past my ears I suddenly remembered the giant’s camp I had so deftly avoided minutes previously – I headed straight for it, the bandits followed. I ran up over a rise and cut across the edge of the camp, the bandits still following,  firing arrows as they went. Which the giants for some reason took offense at, so it was on. Two giants stepped forward, massive clubs swinging, taking out the three bandits in very short order – one of them flying 30 feet in the air with the force of blunt justice…I was still chortling 5 minutes later as I cross the river further upstream.

I haven’t got too much negative to say about this game except maybe that it’s called Skyrim, which presents itself for plenty of jokes involving “rimming” – most of them coming from my wife. The one drawback I have found is that sitting on my games shelf in the computer room at my house I have got Deus Ex: HR, Arkham City, Saints Row 3 and Space Marine all still in their shrink wrap, and Forza 4 and Portal 2 to navigate fully. Skyrim makes you want to play, think, breathe and eat nothing else but Skyrim.You’ve been warned.

by Chris “Thane in the App” Shooter, co-creator and webmaster of www.geekzine.co.uk

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is out now on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, prices vary.

Embedded by Dan Abnett

Feb 192012
 

Embedded by Dan Abnett

(published by Angry Robot, PB, 2012 *OUT NOW* £7.99)

This is the author’s second novel for indie genre publisher Angry Robot, following on from the lauded alternate history swashbuckler, Triumff.

Embedded is more akin to Abnett’s staple output of future war hijinks produced for Games Workshop’s publishing arm, the Black Library (excellent Abnett starting place for BL newbies: Horus Rising). But Embedded is perhaps Abnett’s most ambitious and innovative novel to date. And, perhaps, his best. With Embedded, we are seeing an author at his most confident and able.

The setting is the Cold War of the far future, where an uneasy peace exists between the two intergalactic superpowers of the U.S (United Status) and the Bloc. Enter Lex Falk, a veteran investigative journalist (complete with aches, pains & grumbles) who is on a seemingly dull and routine assignment to the backwater colony planet Eighty-Six. Events soon transpire that there is something more troubling at work that mere agricultural development. Conflict has erupted between the U.S. and the Bloc, and our man Falk manages to wangle his way to the frontline to get the scoop – but in the mind of a soldier.

This central conceit is so well executed that from your initial ‘What the -‘ you are transported to the frontline of this hidden war on Eighty-Six, through the mind’s eye of Private Nestor Bloom / Lex Falk. Abnett teases you along a twisting, turning SF tale of broken, merging  identities, outdoing similar antics as created by the legendary Philip K. Dick. Except Dick never did it as well as this. When the Nestor Bloom segment of the book arrives, about a third of the way in, Abnett drip-feeds the sensory awareness of his protagonist(s) through to the reader in such a convincingly unsettling manner that you cannot help but share in their paranoia and confusion. The threat of violence feels near and real.

Abnett is on high concept ground here and marches his narrative along with confident skill that his fans will already be accustomed to; once this author has you gripped, he doesn’t let go. All the requisite boxes are ticked (SF action plot, heavy duty future tech, vibrant characters, thrills n’ twists, unique lingo; see the patented swearing – genius!) – and then more are invented as the plot hurtles along. Just as you are beginning to feel that you have a handle on what is actually going on, another narrative curveball throws things into the next thrilling sequence of plot development. And what an ending.

Dan Abnett has really outdone his own impressive standards, in what is possibly one of the finest action SF novels of this or any other century.

Andy Jamieson, Editor 

Midwinter Chills: The Ghost Stories of M.R. James

Dec 132011
 

The British national tradition of Christmas ghost stories is something of which I was uttely ignorant until one December a couple of years ago, when a friend introduced me to the work of M. R. James.  Widely regarded as being one of the finest writers of ghost stories in the English language, James would hold small gatherings every Christmas Eve in his study at King’s College,Cambridge, where he was a Mediaeval scholar and provost from 1905 to 1918.  In this presumably warm and comfortable setting, James’ stories, read aloud by the author, would regularly induce a chill that no amount of brandy could banish.

Although his academic work was much celebrated, it was for these ghost stories that James would become famous, and even reading them nearly a century after they were first written it’s not difficult to see why.  Eschewing cheap scares and obvious gore, James’ tales have an incredible sense of atmosphere, something which is far rarer and more valuable in the telling of an effective ghost story.  The most gruesome elements are often merely implied by the author, leaving them instead for the mind of the reader to fully envisage.  This use of suggestion, coupled with an inescapable, creeping sense of dread characterised much of James’ writing, and it comes as no surprise to learn that H.P. Lovecraft was known to be an admirer of his work.

But frightening though they frequently are, James’ tales still seem imbued with an almost pastoral warmth, mainly through his choice of setting.  Most of his stories are framed as real-life accounts related to the author second hand, with the protagonist usually a fellow academic visiting a country estate, abbey or rustic lodging house, only to discover that the pleasant veneer of their surroundings conceals something unexplainable and terrifying.  This jarring juxaposition of such quaint and idyllic locations with shocking supernatural events works particularly well in creating an unsettling reading experience.  James was in fact considered somewhat revolutionary in his day for this choice of setting, as it marked a departure from the gothic style that had characterised the work of many of his predeccesors.  He enjoyed using this more realistic approach, he said, as it was easier to make the reader believe that their own humdrum existence was only one wrong turn away from a waking nightmare.

It’s certainly difficult to choose a personal favourite from amongst James’ many wonderful creations, but the three that stick in my mind most vividly are the demonic occupant of Number 13, the sinister “black pilgrimage” of Count Magnus and the cautionary fable of Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.  The latter has been adapted twice for television by the BBC; first as a surreal and disturbing short film in 1968 (which is now sadly unavailable), and more recently as a much inferior modern reimagining in 2010.  All of these stories capture the essence of James’ writing, steeped as they are in the sort of atmosphere he loved to conjure up in aCambridge study every Christmas Eve.  If you’re looking for chills of a different kind this winter, the ghostly tales of M. R. James will remind you just how good a scary story can be.

Jim Taylor, Senior Bookseller, Waterstone’s Edinburgh Cameron Toll 

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