The Outcast: and Other Dark Tales by E F Benson

An anthology of the best stories of E F Benson, a beloved though now less well-known ghost story writer. Featuring a mixture of Benson’s classics with rare tales from literary magazines in the Library collection, this title includes a new introduction which sheds light on this fascinating character of an author, himself an ‘Outcast’ from family and society.

The terrifying presence of a restless spirit on the top deck of a London bus; a possession at the bridge table on a cruise up the Nile; a nightmare encounter with druidic sacrifice in the innocuous setting of a terraced back garden...

E F Benson’s ‘spook stories’ pushed the boundaries of the ghost story tradition by exploring new, previously ‘out of bounds’ settings – such as public transport and even hauntings by daylight – to frighten his readers from the 1890s to the 1930s.

Benson delighted in twisting every idea and image and experimenting with the unexpected; this new collection of short stories from across his long career in writing draws together the most innovative, satisfyingly dark and still resonant tales to thrill anew, and to give a clear picture of this playful master of the form, to whom many writers of supernatural fiction have been indebted. This edition also features a detailed introduction containing the fascinating story of Benson’s life, and the never before republished story ‘Billy Comes Through’.