James Hogg (1770-1835), commonly known by his penname "The Ettrick Shepard," was self-educated. He eventually made his way out of the rustic life of country living. He began writing short stories and articles for
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. While Hogg's novels did not leave a deep mark on literature, his short stories were penned at a very high level. In my estimation he is greatly overlooked as a writer of horror and ghost short stories in this important half century. Of the four horror stories he wrote, two have made my list of the Top 40 horror short stories from 1800-1849, with the other two close behind. In my next post I will provide a link to one of them.
