For the last few years, James has been at work on his book Malignant Heroes: The Art of the Horror Actor. It is an exploration of thirteen key actors in classic horror cinema, ranging from Conrad Veidt and Lon Chaney to Christopher Lee and Barbara Steele. James's horror scholarship has seen him give talks on vampire films with Jonathan Rigby and Reece Shearsmith - recently for Exeter's Hell Tor and the Dracula Society - and appear on discussion panels at venues including the Regent Street Cinema, Cineworld Leicester Square and Hyde Park Picture House. He is also a frequent guest on The Evolution of Horror, the biggest horror podcast in the UK, and contributes special features to the rejuvenated Hammer's Blu-ray releases.
Much of James's writing has taken the form of the monologue. His Frankenstein's Creature - a solo reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - debuted at prestigious new-writing venue Theatre503. It became a feature film in 2018, in honour of the novel's bicentenary, and premiered at Leicester Square's FrightFest. A follow-up one-man monster film is in development. James has also appeared at the London Horror Festival in Irving Undead, his one-man resurrection of Victorian actor and Dracula inspiration Henry Irving. This followed on from the play's pre-pandemic showings at York Medical Society. In 2024, James gave a lecture on Irving at Bradford's Midland Hotel, where the great actor died in 1905.
James is also a teller of ghost stories. His adaptations of A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Haunted Man have made annual appearances at London's Charles Dickens Museum since 2017. These were followed by The Signal-Man & The Trial for Murder in 2024 and Killing Dickens in 2025. James is also an occasional reader for The York Ghost Merchants, with whom he has performed his versions of M. R. James's 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad', The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral and Canon Alberic's Scrap-book.
James's other theatre-writing includes his West End vehicle Sikes & Nancy (Trafalgar Studios) and Scrooge & Marley (Waterloo East Theatre), a raucous two-man Christmas Carol with comic genius George Fouracres. He has also tinkered with opera librettos when hatching new monologues for In the Penal Colony (Arts Theatre) and Die Fledermaus (West Road Concert Hall).
Much of James's writing has taken the form of the monologue. His Frankenstein's Creature - a solo reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - debuted at prestigious new-writing venue Theatre503. It became a feature film in 2018, in honour of the novel's bicentenary, and premiered at Leicester Square's FrightFest. A follow-up one-man monster film is in development. James has also appeared at the London Horror Festival in Irving Undead, his one-man resurrection of Victorian actor and Dracula inspiration Henry Irving. This followed on from the play's pre-pandemic showings at York Medical Society. In 2024, James gave a lecture on Irving at Bradford's Midland Hotel, where the great actor died in 1905.
James is also a teller of ghost stories. His adaptations of A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Haunted Man have made annual appearances at London's Charles Dickens Museum since 2017. These were followed by The Signal-Man & The Trial for Murder in 2024 and Killing Dickens in 2025. James is also an occasional reader for The York Ghost Merchants, with whom he has performed his versions of M. R. James's 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad', The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral and Canon Alberic's Scrap-book.
James's other theatre-writing includes his West End vehicle Sikes & Nancy (Trafalgar Studios) and Scrooge & Marley (Waterloo East Theatre), a raucous two-man Christmas Carol with comic genius George Fouracres. He has also tinkered with opera librettos when hatching new monologues for In the Penal Colony (Arts Theatre) and Die Fledermaus (West Road Concert Hall).