Short Story Collections

This is the first collection of sketches from John Buchan, author of ‘The Thirty-nine Steps’. The subtitle, ‘Moorland Tales of My Own People’, sets the theme of these fourteen stories. Shepherds, farmers, herdsmen and poachers are Buchan’s subjects and his love for the hills and the lochs shines through.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

These twelve stories are told by the old soldiers of the Runagates Club as they reminisce. Richard Hanny, hero of ‘The Thirty-nine Steps’, reappears recounting a trek into the bush in ‘The Green Wildebeest’. In ‘Dr Lartius’, John Palliser-Yeates describes an ingenious Secret Service operation during the First World War. A German code is finally broken in ‘The Loathly Opposite’.

A new selection of short stories by "the prince of thriller writers" ( The Times , London) The short stories of John Buchan are known for their authentically rendered backgrounds, taut pacing, and atmosphere of expectancy and international intrigue. These diverse tales combine Buchan's remarkable experiences and interests as a traveler, war correspondent, politician, and classical scholar. Edited by acclaimed author Giles Foden, this selection features the World War I thriller "The Loathly Opposite," the frequently anthologized "Sing a Song of Sixpence," and "Streams of Water in the South," one of Buchan's personal favorites. Addressing such themes as human frailty, strength, and redemption, the stories testify to Buchan's worldview that mastery of oneself leads to the fulfillment of one's destiny. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

This anthology of extracts from Buchan’s writings is well worth reading for its historical range and wide selection of subjects close to the author’s heart. Alongside portraits of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Virgil, Cromwell and Sir Walter Scott, to name but five, are lyrical descriptions of landscapes. Buchan’s love for the great outdoors comes to the fore in his account of the African veld and in the more domestic Wood, Sea and Hill. There are also short essays on fishing, shooting and golf, among other sports.

Supernatural Buchan - Stories of Ancient Spirits uncanny places and strange creatures. Buchan's stories of solid characters clad in tweeds and braving all odds armed only with a stout walking stick have become popular classics. Perhaps it is therefore no surprise that the same character types populate his highly entertaining tales of the strange and weird - here collected into a feast of supernatural delights. In a Buchan story the hauntings and other manifestations are far more subtle than the usual blood-curdling phantoms. The author brings finely crafted detail and a profound sense of the spirit of landscape (specially that of his native Scotland) and place to locales that are as disparate as the stories themselves. Whether they are acknowledged or not, ancient other-worldly creatures, deities and people intrude into Buchan's settings to influence and effect the lives of "modern" man. These wonderful tales of hidden threat and menace make dealing with the mundane concerns of our own world seem like child's play.

Eleven of John Buchan's best short stories, primarily about places - the haunted homes and wilds of the United Kingdom and the dangerous wilderness of Southern Africa -- and some rooted in ancient Celtic and Roman civilization.