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Richard Henry MaldenR H Malden was born in 1879 in England and died in August 1951. He was brought up in East Anglia. He was educated at Eton and King\u2019s College Cambridge and was a long-standing friend of M R James.He spent his career as a churchman, working across England from Salford to Cambridge then Leeds and Ripon and then Wells in Somerset. He married a Yorkshirewoman, the daughter of a clergyman. He was president of the Somerset Archeological Society. It is said he was a well-known sight in Wells as he wandered round in his top hat and from coat.\xa0He wrote a good deal and most of his works are on Christian themes, but he did publish a book of ghost stories in 1943: Nine Ghosts.. This book was written as a tribute to his friend M R James who had died in 1936.\xa0Malden was one of the circle of the chosen at Cambridge who heard M R James read his stories on Christmas Eve.Because of his connection to M R James, he is often compared with the great man. M R James is probably one of the best writers of ghost stories so the comparison is perhaps unfair, but Malden\u2019s stories are certainly reasonable examples of their genre.Between Sunset and MoonriseBetween Sunset and Moonrise has certain folk horror themes. We have a remote country area where things go on far from the eye of civilisation. The remoteness and backwardness of the area are emphasised by the droves or poor roads that go out to remote, poorly-maintained cottages. There is even a boy who is what they called simple then and he can see supernatural things that others can\u2019t.In fact that very motif was used in the 2019 folk horror movie Midsommar where the boy with the congenital defects interprets the sayings of the gods by drawing rudimentary pictures that the scholars of the tribe need to interpret.Malden was a churchman and his hero is also a clergyman. He goes in duty, on New Year\u2019s Eve to see a woman whom he doesn\u2019t really like and to his surprise sees her reading an obscure part of the Bible that deals with the story of the devil Asmodeus.\xa0Whether we are to think that Mrs Vries has entered into some kind of pact with an evil creature, I\u2019m not sure, but the witness boy says that the mysterious \u2018they\u2019 had been out to get Mrs Vries. Perhaps because she was an outsider?Most if not all of James\u2019s monsters are not exactly Satanic, whereas this one has more of the character of an adversary of the church, something from the dark books of the Bible.\xa0In fact, England is full of these strange spirits that haunt lonely roads and byways. Where I live they are called boggles and can assume all sorts of terrible shapes and shift between them.\xa0Call to Action!This week, because of the success of the previous Call to Action, we are growing, fast and the Classic Ghost Stories Podcast is getting 12000 downloads a month. This is fantastic, but it trips us into the next cost category for Podcast Hosting.\xa0As this is a big leap up, if you would like the Podcast to keep going, and if you are able and willing, I would like to ask you to consider becoming a monthly http://bit.ly/barcudpatreon (Patreon.)Support Us!Ways to support Tony to keep doing the show:\xa0https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/classic-ghost-stories-923395 (Share and rate it!) \xa0\xa0http://bit.ly/2QKgHkY (Buy Tony a coffee) \xa0to help with the long nights editing!Become a \xa0http://bit.ly/barcudpatreon (Patreon) \xa0to get additional stuff and allow the show to go on in the long term.\xa0Website\xa0http://bit.ly/ClassicGhostStoriesPodcast (Classic Ghost Stories Podcast) \xa0MusicBeginning music \u2018Some Come Back\u2019 is by the marvellous \xa0https://theheartwoodinstitute.bandcamp.com/album/witch-phase-four (Heartwood InstiSupport the showVisit us here: www.ghostpod.orgBuy me a coffee if you're glad I do this: https://ko-fi.com/tonywalkerIf you really want to help me, become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barcudMusic by The Heartwood Institute: https://bit.ly/somecomeback\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices