Episode 186: Staff Pick 2015 – A School Story by M. R. JamesNarrated by
Alasdair StuartAudio production by
Rikki LaCosteOriginally published by the author in
More Ghost Stories, 1911
Every year in January, Cast of Wonders takes the month off to recharge our batteries, plan the year ahead, and highlight some of our favourite episodes. As part of joining the Escape Artists family, this year we’re pulling out all the stops. We’re running 10 staff pick episodes over the month, each one hosted by a different member of the Cast of Wonders crew.
We hope you enjoy artist and founder
Barry J. Northern’s favorite story from 2015,
A School Story by
M. R. James and narrated by
Alasdair Stuart. The story originally aired August 2, 2015 as
Episode 172.Two men in a smoking-room were talking of their private-school days. "At our school," said A., "we had a ghost's footmark on the staircase. What was it like? Oh, very unconvincing. Just the shape of a shoe, with a square toe, if I remember right. The staircase was a stone one. I never heard any story about the thing. That seems odd, when you come to think of it. Why didn't somebody invent one, I wonder?" Click here to listen to Episode 186Click here to read the text of A School Story by M. R. JamesOriginal Episode 172 notes:We present a public domain classic this week, M. R. James’ The School Story, originally published in the anthology More Ghost Stories in 1911.
And who better to narrate an English ghost story than the Lord of Pseudopod Towers, Alasdair Stuart. Alasdair is a narration regular across the fiction podcast landscape, as well as being the host of Pseudopod and co-host of EscapePod. You can follow him on Twitter, or read about everything from movies to travel to taquitos on his blog, The Man of Words. Tags: Alasdair Stuart, Barry J Northern, Cast of Wonders, coin, ghost story, Horror, M. R. James, murder, public domain, Rikki LaCoste, school, Staff Pick, well, Young Adult fiction