Sam's Ghost cover

Sam's Ghost

Rating 3.0
Word count
19K words
Chapters
2

Tags

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.Sam's Ghost by W. W. JacobsAuthor: Jacobs, W. W. (William Wymark), 1863-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is a short work by the English writer W. W. Jacobs, made available as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Jacobs is known for short stories marked by humor, satire, and a touch of the grotesque; the word “ghost” in the title signals the blend of light horror and comedy typical of his narrative style. As a public-domain eBook, its value lies in giving readers very low-cost access to English short fiction from the late Victorian to Edwardian era, and in conveying the rhythm and tone of popular magazine fiction of the time. It is short enough to finish in one sitting during a commute or before bed. While reading, pay attention to the colloquial slang in the dialogue and the narrator’s dry humor—these are the hallmarks of Jacobs’s work. Because this is an early digitized text, the formatting is plain; reading alongside an annotated edition or dictionary is recommended to understand the period background and English idioms.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who want low-cost access to public-domain English short stories
  • Readers who enjoy humorous tales of the uncanny and light horror
  • Learners who need short English texts for extensive reading practice
  • Beginning readers studying late Victorian popular fiction

Not a good fit for

  • Readers expecting a full-length novel with complex character arcs
  • Readers who need modern annotations and a carefully edited edition
  • Complete beginners unfamiliar with English slang and period background

Reading tips

  1. Read through once to grasp the plot, then go back to the puns and irony in the dialogue.
  2. Mark unfamiliar English idioms first, then look them up together after finishing.
  3. Read it alongside other Jacobs stories to see his recurring narrative patterns.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a short story?
The source describes it as a short work by Jacobs, short enough to finish in one or two sittings rather than a long novel requiring sustained commitment.
What if the electronic edition has no notes?
Keep an English dictionary or online search tool at hand to check slang, place names, and period expressions as you go, or collect unfamiliar words and review them after reading, balancing reading flow with depth of understanding.
Is it suitable for learning English?
It suits readers with some English reading ability who want to practice extensive reading through short stories. The text is an early public-domain eBook with plain formatting and no notes, so complete beginners may find it difficult.

Comments

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About the author

William Wymark Jacobs Author · British · 1863–1943

William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was a British short-story writer, born in London in 1863 and died there in 1943. In his early years he lived around the Thames docks and was familiar with the lives of sailors and dockworkers, which led him to write a great many humorous sea stories, often in a light and witty tone. His best-known work, The Monkey's Paw, is a classic horror short story included in The Lady of the Barge (1902); noted for its tight suspense and sudden twists, it is still widely anthologized in horror collections. The library holds 109 of his works, including The Lady of the Barge and Others, Ship's Company, A Tiger's Skin, Captains All, and Night Watches; his common category is inspirational growth. Public information is limited and details of his life are largely unavailable, yet his fiction is distinctive in subject, blending humor with horror, and has had a lasting influence on later short-story writing.

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