Show Notes
Illustration by M. Grant Kellermeyer
In this bumper episode we examine M.R. James’s favourite story by his favourite author, ‘The Familiar’ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu! Praise doesn’t get much higher than that, but is it all it is cracked up to be? If you are a fan of owls, diminutive, angry men in fur caps and incredibly long sentences, then you are in for a treat.
This episode also features an interview with noted Le Fanu expert Brian J Showers of Swan River Press and readings by Debbie Wedge.
This episodes artwork comes curtesy of M. Grant Kellermeyer of Oldstyle Tales Press.
Story notes
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (Wikipedia)
Some biographical information on the man himself.
‘In a glass darkly’ by Le Fanu (Wikipedia)
This is the volume of ghost stories in which this story most famously appears, featuring the ‘occult detective’ Dr. Martin Hesselius.
M.R. James on J. S. Le Fanu (Ghosts and Scholars)
An article based on the presentation on Le Fanu that M.R. James gave to the Royal Institution of Great Britain on March 16th, 1923.
Haunted Holidays – The Terrible Occult Detectives (Tor.com)
A very amusing essay on the ‘occult detective’ in literature, which singles out Le Fanu’s Dr Hesselius as the first occult detective.
Reminiscences of a bachelor by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Swan River Press)
We mention this title in our interview with Brian J. Showers. The book features ‘The Watcher’ and other stories, as well as its original companion piece ‘The Fatal Bride’ and notes on both stories.
Also mentioned in this episode
Monsters – Don’t treat them gently! (Pleasing Terror Games)
The new M.R. James board game from friend of the show, James Drewitt.
‘No Diggin ‘ere’ and ‘Barchestering’ T-shirts (redbubble.com)
Two new MRJ T-shirts from our regular reader Debbie Wedge! Also available as baby-grows, mugs, phone cases etc.
More from A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast
This episode Mike and Will examine Curfew by Lucy M. Boston, a childhood tale of haunted bells, unearthed coffins and post-Jamesian highjinx aplenty.
M.R. James said that sex had no place in a ghost story. But was he right? This episode we attempt to answer this question and more, as we cover The Nature of the Evidence by May Sinclair, a tale from 1923 about a couple who just want to enjoy their wedding night. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, yes.
Hold on to your mummy! This episode Mike and Will discuss Mark Gatiss’s recent Ghost Story for Christmas TV adaptation Lot 249, as well as the Arthur Conan Doyle short story it is based on.
This episode, Mike and Will grab their literary toboggans and gallop joyously out into the snow, only to be hit in the face by a terrifying fictional snowball in the form of Louisa Baldwin’s The Real and the Counterfeit!
Who would win in a fight between a man and a bed? Find the answer to this question and more in our new episode on The Weird of the Walfords by Louisa Baldwin! Also, if you like emotionally-repressed Victorian husbands, you will not leave disappointed.