Visible and Invisible

Visible and Invisible is an entertaining collection of supernatural tales from E. F. Benson. His writing is surprisingly readable, and his stories are both vivid and haunting.It is a collection of ghost stories contains three powerful tales featuring the type of "spectres" that Benson seems to have been most haunted by: large ("Junonian," as he might say), attractive, cheerful, outgoing, middle-aged women. In "The Outcast" she is a reincarnation of Judas, in "Inscrutable Decrees" she is an emotional sadist and a murderer by omission, and in "Mrs. Amworth"--one of the best supernatural tales ever written--she is a conventional but nevertheless terrifying vampire.There are other good tales here too, particularly "Negotium Perambulans" (featuring a giant slug acting as an instrument of divine vengeance) and "Roderick's Story," that rare tale about a benign haunting that still produces a shiver and the consciousness of a world beyond. Contents "And the dead spake----" -- The outcast -- The Horror-horn -- Machaon -- Negotium perambulans -- At the farmhouse -- Inscrutable decrees -- The gardener -- Mr. Tilly's séance -- Mrs. Amworth -- In the tube -- Roderick's story.

About the Author

Edward Frederic Benson OBE was an English author who lived from July 24, 1867, to February 29, 1940. He wrote novels, biographies, memoirs, histories, and short stories. E. F. Benson was born at Wellington College in Berkshire. He was the fifth child of Edward White Benson, who was teacher and later became chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, bishop of Truro, and archbishop of Canterbury, and Mary Sidgwick ("Minnie"), who was born. There were three brothers named E. F. Benson: Arthur Christopher Benson wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory"; Robert Hugh Benson wrote several stories and works defending Roman Catholicism; and Margaret Benson (Maggie), who wrote books and liked learning about Egypt. I lost two other siblings very young. There were six kids and no grandkids in Benson's family. Benson went to Temple Grove School and then Marlborough College for his education. It was there that he wrote some of his earliest works and the ideas for his book David Blaize came from. He went to King's College, Cambridge, to finish his education. In college, he was a part of the Pitt Club at Cambridge. Later in life, he was made a senior fellow of Magdalene College.

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