This is a book from the "British Library Tales of the Weird" series.
Here's a link to the book should anyone wish to check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Am-Stone-Gothic-Murray-Gilchrist-ebook/dp/B09B3WX639/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NG3QV8ESJ9G2&keywords=i+am+stone+the+gothic+weird+tales+of+r.+murray+gilchrist&qid=1697468431&sprefix=I+Am+Stone%2Caps%2C113&sr=8-1

This book is a collection of reprinted short stories of the mostly
forgotten author R. Murray Gilchrist. Mr. Gilchrist wrote in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods.

It's hard to characterize Mr. Gilchrist's writings. He intentionally
embraces the use of archaic language which makes his stories a bit
difficult to follow. On the other hand I've added a few interesting
words to expand my vocabulary--e. g. cheeseparing. A really cool new
word (at least to me) to say "extremely stingy with money".

He also seems to revel in obscuring details with a level of obfuscation
that would do H. P. Lovecraft proud. While Lovecraft seemed to never
have met an adjective he didn't like, Gilchrist seems to have never met
a plot point that he couldn't make hard to decipher.

I might be able to tolerate those authorial quirks but the last section
of the book "Peak Weird" has three stories written with a dialect
seemingly local to some region of the UK which is fairly difficult to read.

Unlike most of the other books I've read so far in the British Library
Tales of the Weird series (indeed I've also read most of the Wimbourne
Book of Victorian Ghost Stories series) this book was really a chore to
read. The stories seemed to ramble without much point and the
denouement of most of the stories only seemed to add to the confusion.

Others may find this book entertaining but as for me, I only finished
this book due to a determination to reduce my habit of failing to finish
what I start.


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