Casting The Runes

By: Montague Rhodes James

Narrated by: David Collings

This is the unabridged audio recording of M R James' excellent ghost story "Casting The Runes". Read by David Collings, this is sure to scare and delight in equal measure.Public Domain (P)2009 Andrews UK Ltd under exclusive license from Craftsman Audio

Critic reviews

"David Collings Reads Wonderfully Well." ( The Observer)

An apt allegory for the fate of..

...the heterodox in the academy in any era.

These days, it's Conservative runes versus Socialist runes, and the Beast forms when there are Men (or Women) In Groups.

At that point, Man Is Wolf To Man, and the arch and unforgiving sharpened barbs of wit (or at least if verbalized cruelty, anyway) do their work, while the packs rend academic from career in intellectual villages throughout the Harz Mountains that are the Humanities.

When horror meant being horrified

What made the experience of listening to Casting The Runes the most enjoyable?

This is a classic horror story where much is left to the reader's imagination - and isn't your imagination usually far worse than the explicit descriptions of a narrator? This story is the basis for the absolute classic horror film

What was one of the most memorable moments of Casting The Runes?

The section where the protagonist is struggling to get rid of the cursed parchment to save himself is quite thrilling, but perhaps the most horrifying bit is the brother of a dead victim of the curse explaining what transpired before his brother's terrible demise.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene was where the protagonists tried to pass the parchment on to Karswell.

If you could rename Casting The Runes, what would you call it?

I wouldn't rename it. The title is fantastic and contains a puns. Multiple meanings, each apt, is a difficult trick to pull off but James did it aptly here.

Any additional comments?

I wish more horror stories took this tack of intelligence and subtlety.