Re: Robert Aickman
 

"The Hospice" is one of my favorites.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I would suggest starting with Cold Hand in Mine. Its in my opinon his best collection.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I'd second Cold Hand in Mine. But have to idiosyncratically disagree as Sub Rosa is my vote for his best collection. Think Cold Hand in Mine was the first Aickman collection I read. Brilliant.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Already ordered. REALLY looking forward to this one.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Does anyone know if this book was ever published? I read about it in mid 2014.

Next anthology from Noose and Gibbet is going to be: AICKMAN: A CENTENARY ANTHOLOGY - published on what would have been his 100th birthday. Artwork is by Terry Oakes, who I've dragged out of retirement for one last painting. Inners will be done by Richy Sampson.

There will be essays from

TED Klein (on meeting Robert)
Lisa Tuttle (on nearly meeting Robert)
John L Probert (essay on the adaptations)
Hugh Lamb (essay on the obituaries and Aickman's work on the waterways)
Jeremy Dyson (either an essay or a story)
Roger Clarke (essay on The Cicerones)
Reece Shearsmith (essay or Introduction)
Richard Dalby (essay on Aickman's life and their friendship)
Philip Challinor (new essay on Aickman's stories)
LTC Rolt's wife, Sonia (on the falling-out between LTC and Aickman)
David A. Riley (essay on getting Aickman to the British Fantasy Convention)

Original stories from

Adam Nevill
Pete Crowther
Johnny Mains
Lynda E. Rucker
Simon Strantzas

and a few others still to be confirmed and a whole lot more. There will only be 100 numbered copies + additional contributor copies.


http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps4a446ef4.jpg

Re: Robert Aickman
 

bendk, I have had it on pre-order since outset and I understand from the publisher's Facebook comments that it is still in the pipeline.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I have just completed a review of the novel 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' by Joan Lindsay, and its previously missing last chapter that I consider to be seriously Aickman-like:
Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay | THE DES LEWIS DREAMCATCHERS

Re: Robert Aickman
 

My concurrent reviews of two new books:

THE STRANGERS – Robert Aickman

Aickman’s Heirs

Re: Robert Aickman
 

- Once again, I am left feeling the odd man out concerning Aickman; I have read all his prose save Late Breakfasters (and would very much like to do so), and have uniformly enjoyed and appreciated what I've read, but that is where the extent of my enthusiasm ceases. I've long felt I should love his fiction; after all, Kafka and Lynch, two individuals often compared to him, are defined by an element of the uncanny, their works featuring dislocations between everyday reality and otherworldly dread that I absolutely live for; and yet in the case of Aickman's stories, such similar effects often leave me cold or confused in the end more often than not - I'm not going to say how many readings of 'The Hospice' over the course of adolescence into young adulthood it took before I finally begin to understand what the story was going for. Now, I treasure the use of subtlety in weird fiction - I rank Sarban's Ringstones as one of the absolute masterpieces of the genre - but with Aickman I'm often left feeling there's something too subtle for my gross perceptions going on that I'm missing; heaven knows I'm not a fetishist of the 'unity of effect' a la Joshi, but Aickman's stories give (to me at least) the appearance of randomness: something happens, then something else happens, then there's an ambiguous conclusion. Perhaps this the result of my viewing these "strange stories" as weird/supernatural fiction; the conventional modes of interpretation break down and are unsuccessful at divulging meaning because this is an entirely different sort of story. Personally, I find MR James' work far more unnerving and effective as weird fiction in a way that I have never viewed Aickman's, but this is almost certainly no fault of his; in the end, I think his fiction works better when viewed as experimental/modernist fiction of the type that portrays and documents internal reality (as did Kafka, or Ballard in the realm of 'sf'), rather than as horror fiction in the conventional sense.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I know how ChildofOld feels. Every decade or so I end up reading quite a bit of Aickman in a very compressed time period. The stories are well-written, some quite effective, and then I move on, seldom thinking of the guy for another ten years or so. I like his stories but they just don't haunt me.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

More than any other writer, even Ligotti, James' characters remind me of puppets in the hands of a malign Fate. A real Punch and Judy show. If you're sensitive to it (many aren't, it's a matter of taste as well), even the studied urbanity can't quite dissipate the chill atmosphere of inescapable Doom. Count Magnus is one of the best examples.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

It's funny, despite the fact I have a very good memory, and also despite the fact that it's been less than 5 years since I last read anything by Aickman, last night, inspired by this thread, I looked over the contents of Sub Rosa and was somewhat distressed when, upon gazing at the table of contents, was unable to remember a single thing about any of the stories. Even flipping through a few random pages couldn't jog any memories at all. Now, you could say, well, I've only read all those stories once, so that explains why they aren't ingrained in my memory very well. Then again, I only ever read Stephen King's Misery once, when I was probably 9 or 10, like 25 years ago or whatever, and I can still remember almost everything of that book in vivid detail (then again, I suppose when you're ten years old and you read about a man's head being run over by a lawnmower, that'll stick with you). This isn't to say that I find Aickman a forgettable writer (as most of the stories in Cold Hand in Mine I can still recall fairly well). It's just that his stories don't leave me with a lot I can grasp onto. I think my biggest issue with his work is that I find his style somewhat dry... when it comes to weird fiction I prefer the more evocative and poetic prose of writers such as a Ligotti or Clark Ashton Smith.

Having said that, the man certainly knew how to name his collections: Sub Rosa, Powers of Darkness and Dark Entries are all incredibly awesome book titles (and I wonder if the latter inspired the Bauhaus song of the same name)? In some ways, I think that Aickman's book titles might even be my favorite aspect of his work. I find them more mentally suggestive than the actual content, in a way.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I have this incredibly weird experience when I go back through my Aickman books and recollect the stories and the experience of reading those stories. I noticed it with Sub Rosa first. It's like I'm remembering a dream. And I'm not sure if it was a good dream or a bad dream. There always seem to be details out of reach as I try to recollect the stories, like details seem to be out of reach when I try to remember dreams. Maybe that's just me but I noticed that it's only with Aickman stories. It doesn't happen with any other writer. It's simultaneously frustrating and soothing.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Pleased to report that 'The Strangers' as a separate story within the new Tartarus Press book of the same name is a genuine major 'strange story' classic by Robert Aickman. Fifty-eight pages of it.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Awesome to hear. Don't know if you can answer this but have copies started shipping out? Didn't know if you had an advanced proof or you had the finished product. And if you can't answer no worries. Good to hear this story is just as polished as the rest of the jewels.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I bought the book as a normal customer from the publisher. Judging by Facebook, lots of others received it the same day as I did. I'm just waiting for someone to disagree with my contention above about the eponymous story!

Re: Robert Aickman
 

James, this is actually how I feel about Smith and Lovecraft (in that I prefer Smith's prose style, but feel that Lovecraft is better at plotting and story).

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Mine arrived on Wednesday. Haven't read many of the stories yet but the documentary is a gem.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Same here too. I've not read the book yet (Clive Barker's Scarlet Gospels is currently holding my attentions) but the documentary I have indulged in and it is indeed a gem as Robin says. The interviews with friends as well as other authors are great value and through the generous smattering of rare photos and clips too you do get a little closer to the great man himself. In so many ways, there persists a veil of sadness whenever you see him throughout the documentary, as though he deliberately kept himself apart from others, time and time again. One envies the writers side of him I think without ever coming close to envying him his everyday life; a constant contradiction that seems to inform many of the very best authors out there.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Scarlet Gospels - Is it any good?

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I'm only 60 pages in but its very good so far. Pinhead (sorry Clive - 'Hell Priest') has never been so brutal and it's great to finally get a full length Barker horror novel again after far too long a time.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

AICKMAN'S HEIRS: This book as a whole is a delight, truly worthy of its connection with Aickman. And I don’t say that lightly.
These authors seem to be upon the fulcrum or cusp of the act of automatically writing with the preternatural power of Aickman within them and of simply writing their own diverse stories in his tradition. The creative tension between these two phenomena has produced a number of masterpieces in their own right and an overall communal gestalt that is stunning.
I may be wrong but this is possibly the first multi-authored anthology of explicitly Aickman-connected stories that have deliberately been put together as such with his name in its overall title. If so, it is certain to make literary history. Deservedly so, as it happens.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

There's a list of "Aickmanesque" films here: Letterboxd
I'm pleased, but also amused to see Don't Look Now on there.
Aickman hated it!

Re: Robert Aickman
 

"For the infantile creature which man still remains, ghosts and turnips are commonly indistinguishable;” - Robert Aickman

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I didn't see this movie listed on the Letterboxd site, but maybe I missed it.
Either way, it's pretty decent, and based on Aickman's short story The Cicerones. Check it out:

The Cicerones

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Having just used the word ‘arational’ in a review, I think that this is the best word for Aickman’s fiction.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I read somewhere--it might have been an essay by Ramsey Campbell--that one of Aickman's favorite films was The Blue Light (1932). The plot of the movie The Blue Light has a family resemblance to the fiction of Robert Aickman.

Here is the Wikipedia article on The Blue Light:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Light_(1932_film)

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Just got in The Strangers. As usual, the book is beautiful. I get to watch the documentary tomorrow. Very, very excited about it

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I'm intrigued by the picture of Aickman on the wrapper. What is that white-clad figure behind him? An award? A doll?
National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG x131016; Robert Fordyce Aickman

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I want to know if that's his house! I'm assuming it must be. The furniture, what little we can see of it, makes for a fascinating psychological portrait in itself - the velvet painting, the fabric print of the couch (dark teal and gold?) against the stark white walls, the contrast between the elegant little cabinet behind the couch and the built-in bookshelves. And then of course there's Aikman himself - between his pose, the way he holds his hands, the look on his face, even the contrast between tie and jacket, here is a man who doesn't look comfortable in the slightest. I like to believe that the doll and the portrait conspire to reveal vicious little truths which one would perhaps prefer not to hear.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I also find it interesting that the Aickman portrait was by Ida Kar. She was an early associate and portraitist of the Surrealists...

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Some thoughts on The Strangers.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

A great review, Brendan.
Just to answer one of your points in it - 'Some Notess on Delius' is indeed a great article on Aesthetics etc. I also feel it's very good on Delius and his music, too.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Its pose is similar to that of the "figure" in the film of The Cicerones at 3.25. :eek:

Re: Robert Aickman
 

"Nothing is more personal than fear.” - Robert Aickman

“As there is no intrinsic virtue in denigration, the critic who resorts to it, should be required to pass a test of qualification and sensitivity, at least twice as stringent as that imposed upon a critic who loves. Normally, love is not blind but clairvoyant.” - Robert Aickman

Just finished my review of all this new Aickman material:
THE STRANGERS Robert Aickman | THE DREAMCATCHER REAL-TIME REVIEWS

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Keep forgetting to post this. Don't know if anyone else had problems with the DVD but my DVD player said it couldn't play it cause it was "outside of region". Now, I have an OLD DVD player so it may be just that and it played perfectly fine on my computer. But didn't know if anyone else ran into that.

More importantly, this documentary was outstanding. I was especially impressed with Russell and Parker's ability to put in something I've always thought very, very boring (Aickman's work on the Inland Waterway Association) and 1) make me care a great deal about how important this was to Aickman and his life and 2) show the direct and indirect influences this had on his (and others) writings. I was highly impressed with the work Parker and Russell did on this documentary. Now I get to read The Strangers :)

Re: Robert Aickman
 

PAL vs NTSC DVD's.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Aickman's best stories (The Trains, The Stains, Into the Woods, Bind Your Hair, The Swords, The Inner Room, The Hospice) set up a palpable aura of mystery and then offer practically no answers, which means that they live on in my head as if they're still happening. I feel like I've never finished reading them.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I'm doing a slow reread of Cold Hand in Mine. The Swords remains powerful, perhaps especially due to me having spent three seedy years at university in Wolverhampton, but I'd quite forgotten The Real Road to the Church, which struck me as a curiously redemptive story.

Unless I am under some sort of misapprehension, the ending seemed to be one of optimism? The woman's soul is carried off identical to how she is now, giving her the courage to try and move on to a happier life?

I did enjoy the story, but I prefer weird tales to end with doomed melancholy.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Nobody else is posting and I may incur death-by-mod due to arguable spam, but nothing shall stop this bilious jackanapes from sharing his Aickman thoughts, as I have nobody else to talk to and have to let these feelings out somehow.

I have finished Cold Hand in Mine.

My general thoughts:

The Swords – A scathing critique of the commodification of sexuality and women in particular in our society. A haunting story of rape, and a condemnation of the male gaze. This would probably be the story I'd show to a newbie, as the story itself is largely easy to understand whilst maintaining the ambiguities that make Aickman work so well.

The Real Road to the Church – Elegiac melancholy until the optimistic ending, which is well earned and ambiguous enough not to be schmaltzy. Some Machen-esque folk horror elements build an atmosphere of solid dread, elevated by Aickman's natural gift at characterisation.

Niemandswasser – The correlation between darkness and depth seems to be key here. Not a favourite of mine, but an effective story to be sure and the description of the woman at the end displayed an MR Jamesian ability to creep with a sentence.

Pages from a Young Girl's Diary – It was readable enough, but I'm baffled why it was the one to win a big award, when most of the others would have been decent contenders instead. Le Fanu-lite, and all so done, which is odd due to the originality of the writer.

The Hospice – It has all been said. Its reputation is deserved.

The Same Dog – Nightmarishly unpleasant despite little in the way of explicitness. It plays on very basic fears of how even our most personal, beloved bonds with others are one wrong gaze away from being shattered forever. With each passing hour this story seems scarier to me.

Meeting Mr Millar – Aickman's great skill at building anxiety from somewhat banal events comes to the forefront once more. I'm actually finding it difficult to articulate what I was dreading, and that is the sign of a well told weird tale. I'll revisit this again tomorrow.

The Clock Watcher – Wow, this was actually the highlight of my reread experience, and immediately shot near the top of my Aickman rankings (joining The Trains and The Stains). The most disturbing image from the collection for me was the 'strangled' large clock, and the sounds of the various clocks conjured up horrifying clamours within my mind. I'm not ashamed to say that I shed a tear at the end, too.

'There are no beautiful clocks. Everything to do with time is hideous.'

Perfect uncomfortable oneric melancholy.