August Heat

“August Heat” is one of W. F. Harvey’s best-known stories. It tells a most peculiar tale of James Clarence Withencroft, an artist who is inspired to draw a sketch of a prisoner in the dock, being sentenced. Later the same day, he goes out for a walk and happens upon a stonemason’s workshop, where he meets the very man he drew in his earlier sketch. The stonemason is working on a tombstone bearing the name of James Clarence Withencroft, with the artist’s correct birth date … and a death date of today. What can it all mean? As the story hurtles to its terrifying denoument, the reader is swept breathlessly along with the narrative. Fabulous!