Border Ghost Stories

美国Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 296K words
Chapters: 30

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Border Ghost Stories by Howard PeaseAuthor: Pease, Howard, 1863-1928,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 8, 2008

Editor's review

Border Ghost Stories is a collection of supernatural short stories in English by Howard Pease, released as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. A product of the early ebook era, it preserves the original text and offers readers low-cost access to the tradition of early twentieth-century English ghost fiction. Most of the stories are set in border regions, and this combination of geography and the supernatural tends to create an ambiguous atmosphere suspended between reality and legend. For readers who want to understand the genealogy of English supernatural fiction or experience the narrative rhythm of old-style ghost stories in the original, this book provides a valuable textual sample. It is best read as a slice of genre literature: one may attend to how the stories build suspense and horror, and also note the period traces in the language. As a public-domain ebook, its typesetting and annotations remain largely in their original state; reading it alongside background materials is recommended for a fuller understanding.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy English supernatural stories and Gothic atmosphere
Learners who want to encounter early English genre fiction in the original
Those interested in border legends and regional ghost lore
English learners who need free public-domain texts for reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting the intense shocks and fast pace of modern horror fiction
Beginners who need detailed annotations and an introduction
Readers who are not used to reading English originals and rely on Chinese translations

Reading tips

Read one or two stories first to get a feel for the language, then decide between close and extensive reading
Read the stories at bedtime or in quiet hours to better appreciate the atmosphere
Mark unfamiliar expressions first and look them up after finishing each story
Read alongside a brief history of English supernatural fiction for comparison

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

This is the original English edition released by Project Gutenberg; the main text is in English. It suits readers with some foundation in English reading, or those who want to encounter early English supernatural stories in the original.

Is the collection meant to be read in one sitting?

As a short-story collection, it is better read in several sessions. Each story stands relatively independently, and reading in installments helps capture the differences in atmosphere between stories and avoids fatigue from the relatively dense language.

What are the features of the Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free public-domain ebooks, and the text mainly preserves the original content, usually without a modern introduction or detailed annotations. Readers can obtain it free of charge but need to supplement the background materials themselves.

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About the author

美国 Author · 1863 · 1928

Howard Pease (1863-1928) was an American writer best known for his sea adventure stories for young readers. Two of his works are included here, Tales of Northumbria and Border Ghost Stories. Judging from their titles, the former draws on local legends of Northumberland in northern England, while the latter belongs to the genre of border ghost stories, showing his interest in regional lore and the supernatural. He remains best known, however, for his sea adventure fiction, which is typically set against maritime experience, with tightly plotted narratives and a strong sense of adventure suited to younger readers. Overall, Pease was a writer of adventure reading for young people, and his sea stories together with his regional legends and ghost tales form two facets of his work. Because public information is limited, the details of his life and writing career cannot be described in depth, and knowledge of him rests mainly on the works mentioned above.