Robert Aickman, thoughts?

[Fried Egg]

I'm loving this collection. Now I only have one more story left. I will have to seek out some more of his collections.

 

[nomadman]

I'm loving this collection. Now I only have one more story left. I will have to seek out some more of his collections.

Interesting to know what you thought of The Swords. That is, to date, the Aickman story I've found myself rereading the most.

Next collection I'd recommend would be Wine Dark Sea. It's equally as strong, featuring one of Aickaman's strangest and most haunting pieces Into the Wood.

 

[Fried Egg]

Interesting to know what you thought of The Swords. That is, to date, the Aickman story I've found myself rereading the most.

That was the first story in the collection and hence the first of his stories that I read. I thought all of the stories in this collection were very good, this being no exception. It was weird and strange but looking back, after reading the whole collection, I would have said this was one of his least ambiguous. He does effectively convey the grim setting of Wolverhampton and the sordid activities that the protagonist almost falls into against his will.

I think my favourites of the collection we "The Hospice" and "The Same Dog".

 

[Fried Egg]

Next collection I'd recommend would be Wine Dark Sea. It's equally as strong, featuring one of Aickaman's strangest and most haunting pieces Into the Wood.

Ooh, lo and behold this very collection has turned up in my christmas stocking!

 

[blacknorth]

Yay, found a printing of Ringing the Changes tucked away in a horror anthology titled Terror!, edited by Bryan A. Netherwood.

 

[Fried Egg]

I'm reading "The Wine-Dark Sea" now and the first three stories are all very good.

"The Wine-Dark Sea" (story) reminded by somewhat of Tanith Lee's "The Gorgon" although presumably Aickman's story came out first. Comparitively straightforward and a non-baffling ending (by his standards).

"The Trains" and "Your Tiny Hand is Frozen" are typical Aickman bafflers...

 

[blacknorth]

I did get around to reading Ringing the Changes, which was bloody brilliant. Also the first story in We Are for the Dark, which was also excellent. I find that book a little confusing as it doesn't seem to indicate which stories are by Robert Aickman and which by EJ Howard. Unless they co-authored them all; I find that hard to believe as, glancing through the second story, the prose style seems very different by comparison with the first.

I suppose it shouldn't be very difficult to tell them apart once I move on into it.

 

[Fried Egg]

Apparently, Aickman's contributions to that collection are the following:

"The Trains"
"The Insufficient Answer"
"The View"

 

[blacknorth]

Apparently, Aickman's contributions to that collection are the following:

"The Trains"
"The Insufficient Answer"
"The View"

Which makes the first story, Perfect Love, one of EJ Howard's. It's an excellent piece of work; although the plot seems a little over-familiar (mysterious benefactor returns to collect his dues), it presents some wonderful prose.

 

[blacknorth]

I finally finished reading We Are For The Dark, after a few delays due to other matters.

All of the stories are outstanding. I can't help but say that Ms Howard just about gets the better of Mr Aickman. Although it's in no way a competition - in my mind I had expected to be or was biased toward Aickman, but Elizabeth Jane Howard deserves every credit in matching and often surpassing Aickman fear by fear and horror by horror.

A really splendid volume of stories. I know it's very rare and expensive to buy but it's a book you'll become passionate about, and they're worth their weight in gold.

 

[Fried Egg]

Wow, Elizabeth Jane Howard must be very good indeed to compare and, indeed, get the better of Aickman. I wonder if there are any more widely available collections of her work available?

 

[GOLLUM]

Wow, Elizabeth Jane Howard must be very good indeed to compare and, indeed, get the better of Aickman. I wonder if there are any more widely available collections of her work available?

Another Aickman fan here. I've heard of Elizabeth Jane Howard but that's about it. Appears to be very well regarded and set alongside authors of the caliber of Muriel Spark and Iris Murdoch. OH and Alice Munro, not Horror per se, is another excellent female novelist.

Anyway, Howard's main collection appears to be Mr. Wrong. Here's a link that I found to Amazon...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0330327968/?tag=brite-21

 

[Fried Egg]

Thanks for the link Gollum. Looking at the Amazon page, it appears that at least one of her stories from "We Are For The Dark" are in the "Mr. Wrong" collection: "Three Miles Up".

 

[jonathan122]

To the best of my knowledge, Howard only wrote four horror stories, namely the three in We Are for the Dark and "Mr. Wrong". Her novels and other stories are mostly excellent, but they're not genre pieces.

 

[Fried Egg]

To the best of my knowledge, Howard only wrote four horror stories, namely the three in We Are for the Dark and "Mr. Wrong". Her novels and other stories are mostly excellent, but they're not genre pieces.

Well, I did get that impression looking at her bibliography. It would be nice to find a collection that contains those four horror stories and then maybe I can tolerate a through non-genre pieces thrown in as well!

 

[jonathan122]

Well, I did get that impression looking at her bibliography. It would be nice to find a collection that contains those four horror stories and then maybe I can tolerate a through non-genre pieces thrown in as well!

The four stories are collected in Three Miles Up and Other Strange Stories, from Tartarus Press.

Unfortunately it's out of print, but it might be possible to get it second-hand somewhere.

 

[Fried Egg]

Yes, it does appear to be hard to get hold of (although not as hard as "We Are For The Dark") but thanks for the info.

 

[nomadman]

Well, I did get that impression looking at her bibliography. It would be nice to find a collection that contains those four horror stories and then maybe I can tolerate a through non-genre pieces thrown in as well!

You can pick up Three Miles up and Mr Wrong in the short story collection Mr Wrong and Other Stories. It includes quite a few other "non-genre pieces" however...

Not sure where you can get Perfect Love or Left Luggage unless you want to splash out for the Tartarus Press collection though.

Both Mr Wrong and Three Miles Up are great pieces however, worth picking up a copy for, even if you're not especially inerested in the rest. The first is a rather gently disturbing serial killer tale with supernatural elements. The second reads almost like a lost Aickman tale with its metaphysical canal journey and slightly off beat characters.

 

[blacknorth]

Did anyone hear the BBC Radio 4 adapatation of Ringing the Changes, broadcast a couple of years back? I had a quick listen to it last week and was very disappointed - Mark Gatiss may love horror but he is unable to act and plays the pivotal male lead like a jolly fat man which completely dissipates anything of value in the story.

 

[Connavar]

I'm loving this collection. Now I only have one more story left. I will have to seek out some more of his collections.

Which collection ?

Suprisingly i can find Aickman books in library system and i need only recommendation for good collection. He sounds like the kind of quality horror i like.

I trust the views of you, JD,nomadman.