Shownotes
About this episode
You can listen and download the New Ghost Stories Podcast from a number of platforms. And if you enjoy this UK horror podcast, please take a moment to leave a review. It really helps the show. Though he wrote exciting genre fiction, Graham Greene generally kept his stories grounded in reality. He seldom let the supernatural into his fiction; The End of the Affair being one exception, A Little Place Off the Edgware Road being another notable one. It was first published in Greene’s first short story collection, The Basement Room . Critics were unkind and the collection would later be reprinted under two different titles. In a foreword to one edition, Greene expressed his apprehension at re-publishing these early works, suggesting he had never quite mastered the art of short fiction. It’s hard to give credence to that opinion, considering the strength of this particularly nasty offering, which manages to balance aspects of psychological horror, weird fiction, and tactile, gross-out revulsion. Fans of Greene will be able to notice themes that feature in his more famous works. Sin, the body and the soul, the nature of evil; they all tie into his explorations of his Catholic faith. And there is, more obviously, a troubled male protagonist at war with himself at its centre. But this is a very distinct piece, unlike (at least to my knowledge) anything else he put to paper. If you’d like to support this gothic horror podcast, please consider becoming a patron at Patreon.com/newghoststories This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newghoststories.substack.com