Casting the Runes

This collection gathers supernatural tales by a scholar of medieval history, set mostly in early twentieth-century England. Its stories follow academics and curious outsiders who stumble into old, unsettling forces that lie just beneath ordinary life. Ancient objects, forbidden knowledge and the hunger for power drive much of the unease, and the danger tends to gather slowly, through small details that feel wrong before they feel dangerous. The narration is restrained and precise, with a dry, almost clinical voice that makes the strange events more unnerving. Each tale builds its tension carefully toward a moment when the boundary between reason and the uncanny gives way. Readers who enjoy ghost stories with a scholarly edge will find plenty here to unsettle them.