Re: Robert Aickman
 

My recollections of the story may not be much help here, and then too part of the beauty of Aickman's stories lies in their refusal to yield simple, straightforward answers. Still, as I recall, my reading of it (possibly involving spoilers) was that the children were probably not human. Their mother was apparently something of a mysterious, Circe-like character, as well, which may or may not help explain that. I seem to recall an oddly funny scene where somebody is peevishly pointing out the damage the "children" are doing to the windowsill of the room they've apparently been shut up in. Anyway, long story short, I got the impression that Enright had murdered his wife and children and was intent on disposing of the evidence towards the end of the story, at which time he received some unwelcome visitors.

I wouldn't be surprised if Aickman's dealings with the government, and any resulting antipathy towards the political class, played a major role here.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but Valancourt Books is publishing this book in early October.


Has anyone listened to the Aickman books narrated for Audible.com? What did you think?

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Reece Shearsmith is sometimes magnetic and sometimes intones in an uninvolving manner, which is particularly irksome when he's building up to the climax of certain stories. They seem to just stop as a result.

I don't regret getting them, as it's nice to listen to Aickman during walks, but definitive readings are still to be done.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Re: Robert Aickman
 

We Are For The Dark by Robert Aickman and Elizabeth Jane Howard


Tartarus Press came out with an edition of _We Are For the Dark_ a few years ago. However, the edition I read is one of the earlier ones, obtained via inter-library loan.

Three stories are by Robert Aickman, the other three by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Curiously, this edition does not specify who wrote what stories. One might think that these stories were written by the same person, if one didn't know that that this book had joint authors.

Although these stories are tied to the Gothic and ghostly genre, I think this book marked a major development in the genre. Robert Aickman preferred to describe his own work as “strange stories”, rather than horror fiction. These well written stories relate curious details and strange events and have a sense of mystery. When this type of story is done well, the plot is very interesting.

Two train stories in this book, the novella length "The Trains" and the short story "Left Luggage." I conjectured that a sign of an excellent weird/horror writer is that they wrote a fine story involving trains, and that conjecture is corroborated again here. In "The Trains", two teenagers, Margaret and Mimi, are walking through an area with train tracks and trains going by, seeking shelter. Here is an extract from the story which I think exemplifies Aickman's fiction. Here, a man tells Margaret and Mimi:

" Well, every time a train passes Miss Roper's house, someone leans out of a bedroom window and waves to it. It's gone on for years. Every train, mark you. The house stands back from the line and the drivers couldn't see exactly who it was, but it was someone in white and they all thought it was a girl. So they waved back. Every train. But the joke is it's not a girl at all. It can't be. It's gone on too long. She can't have been a girl for the last twenty years or so. It's probably old Miss Roper herself. The drivers keep changing round so they don't catch on. They all think it's some girl, you see. So they all wave back. Every train.' He was laughing as if it were the funniest of improprieties."

In the other train story, "Left Luggage"--a type of story that Grabinski could have written, I think--the protagonist is haunted by the legacy of a relative.

In the novella "Perfect Love" the narrator puts together information about the tragic life of a superb opera singer. In another medium length work, "The Insufficient Answer" a journalist meets a prominent sculptor in order to write an article about her. At her castle, the journalist interacts with two other women. An Aickman interpreter online makes a case that all three women are super-natural beings; I agree. In "Three Miles Up" two men, traveling on a canal, are led, I'm inclined to think, into a death trap. In "The View" our protagonist travelled to an island with time anomalies. Interesting that in these stories the protagonist(s) are traveling. Perhaps that is a sign of the "strange" story, like some of short fiction of Daphne du Maurier.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

What a book! I find myself rereading it often. Perfect Love is a forgotten classic of the genre. The ending opera sequence is dazzling and moving in its grandeur. Aickman took a lot of elements from it for his stories A Visiting Star and The School Friend. I also believe Three Miles Up must surely have influenced his ending for Never Visit Venice. Left Luggage is the simplest of Howard's tales in the book, but it is nevertheless effective. My favourite story in the collection may be Aickman's The Trains, but Howard shows herself to be every bit the equal of Aickman as a writer. It's a shame she didn't write more ghostly fiction.

Perhaps of interest is a recent BBC reading of The Hospice:

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Robert Aickman - The Hospice: Omnibus

Re: Robert Aickman
 

If any of you guys could list your top 5 favorite Aickman stories for me I'd much appreciate it. I own The Wine-Dark Sea, Dark Entries, and Cold Hand In Mine, and although I've read and enjoyed "The Hospice" and "The Swords" I still need a little direction, if only to conserve the time I allocate for study.

List your top 5!

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Meeting Mr Millar
The Same Dog
Wood
Into the Wood
The Trains

Plus the two you mention!

Re: Robert Aickman
 

My top 5 Aickman stories:

- The Hospice
- The Swords
- The Real Road to the Church
- The Inner Room
- Into the Wood

There are others that "go the other way" deep into the uncanny.Even a "weak" Aickman story is light-years beyond the usual horror "best-seller".

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Top 5 Favorites Aickmans:

The Hospice
The Wine-Dark Sea
Into the Wood
Pages From a Young Girl's Journal
The Swords