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There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.

Simon Newcomb was born in 1835. He was a Canadian-American astronomer, applied mathematician and autodidactic polymath. He was fluent in several languages, and also published several popular science books, a science fiction novel and short stories.

Herbert Currington Ridout was born in 1881. His literary life included being a journalist, editor, and short story writer although he also had various jobs in the music business and was later a radio broadcaster on the BBC. He died in 1948.

Frederick George Loring was born in 1869. He was an English naval officer and writer, and an early expert in wireless telegraphy. As a writer his talents extended to both poetry and the short story; ‘The Tomb of Sarah’ being a classic of the genre. He died in 1951.

William James Wintle was born in 1861. His talents extended to journalism and writing. He wrote and worked for various magazines and was later the director of a publishing house. He was deeply interested in nature and was a member of many societies as well as a celebrated collector of shells.

Edmund Gill Swain, born in 1861, was an English cleric and author. As a chaplain of King's College, Cambridge, he was a colleague of the scholar and author M R James. Swain is best known for his 1912 short story collection ‘The Stoneground Ghost Tales’. He died in 1938.

Alice Askew (born in 1874) along with her husband, Claude (born in 1865) wrote over 90 novels and short stories in various magazines between 1904 and 1918. Alice and Claude both died on 6th October, 1917.

Amyas Stafford Northcote was born in 1864 to an aristocratic family. His literary career was mainly centered on one book ‘In Ghostly Company’ which, at the time, were favourably compared to those of M R James. He died in 1923.

Richard Henry Malden was born in 1879. During his career he was a prominent Anglican churchman, editor, classical and Biblical scholar, as well as a writer of ghost stories. He died in 1951.

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born on the 30th August 1797 in Somers Town, London. Her mother, the famous feminist philosopher, educator, and writer Mary Wollstonecraft died when Mary was only 11 days old and she was raised by her father. Her short stories, some based in Europe, tackle difficult situations and genres as well the obstacles that women were burdened with in society. Her editorship of her late husband’s poetry was also widely praised.

Stefan Zweig was born on the 28th November 1881 in Vienna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and into a wealthy Jewish family with interests in banking and textiles. Zweig first published in 1900 and two decades later was a popular and highly regarded author in many parts of the world, although not in England. He was also the librettist with Richard Strauss of two operas and a keen collector of autographed musical manuscripts. His collection of over two hundred pieces was later donated to the British Library.

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.

Joseph Conrad was born on 3rd December 1857 in Berdychiv in the Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. His birthplace had been part of Poland which its neighbours dismembered into their own Empires. Conrad brought to English Literature both narrative mastery, compelling prose and fully formed characters as well as a deeper examination of the human psyche in a wealth of work. He wrote many novels, short stories, nonfiction, and memoirs which are rightly regarded today as some of the finest in English literature. Jospeh Conrad died on the 3rd August 1924 at Bishopsbourne, Kent in England.

Richard Ellis-Roberts was born in 1879. In his literary career he was primarily a writer and translator and for short spells the literary editor of the New Statesman and Time and Tide. His short stories frequently investigate dark and malevolent forces. He died in 1953.

John Ferguson was born on the 18th August 1881 in Stirling in Scotland. His literary canon is exceedingly small, this being the only volume of his poems ever published. What is known is that he suffered from ill-health and these poems were written whilst in a sanitorium. The book itself was very successful after its publication in 1912, with at least 14 editions published during his lifetime. John Ferguson died on the 8th March 1928 and is buried in the cemetery at Stirling Castle. He was 46.

Sax Rohmer was born on February 15th, 1883 as Arthur Henry Sarsfield in Birmingham to working class parents. Rohmer started his career as a civil servant but soon had ambitions to change careers and write full time. Not content with just fiction he wrote poetry, songs as well as comedy sketches for music hall performers. From these varied beginnings he reinvented himself as Sax Rohmer.

Richard Bernard Heldmann was born on 12th October 1857, in St Johns Wood, North London. By his early 20’s Heldmann began publishing fiction for the myriad magazine publications that had sprung up and were eager for good well-written content. Marsh was a prolific writer and wrote almost 80 volumes of fiction as well as many short stories, across many genres from horror and crime to romance and humour. His unusual characters, plotting devices and other literary developments have identified his legacy as one of the best British writers of his time.

Móric Jókay de Ásva was born on the 18th February 1825 in Komárom, then in the Kingdom of Hungary but now part of Slovakia. Due to his timid and delicate constitution he was educated at home until the age of 10 and then sent away to complete his studies at the Calvinist college at Pápa. He found a career in law to be dull and, encouraged by the positive reaction to his first play, he moved to Pest in 1845. There he published, first in a newspaper, and then as a novel ‘Hétköznapok’ (‘Working Days’). It was acclaimed as a masterpiece.

Richard Garnett C.B. was born on the 27th February 1835. Educated in Bloomsbury he then joined the nearby British Museum as an assistant librarian in 1851, shortly after his father’s death. As an author he wrote several volumes of verse, a book of short stories and several biographies and history books.

Richard Garnett C.B. was born on the 27th February 1835. Educated in Bloomsbury he then joined the nearby British Museum as an assistant librarian in 1851, shortly after his father’s death. As an author he wrote several volumes of verse, a book of short stories and several biographies and history books.