Modern writers similar to Robert Aickman and Walter de la Mare?

I have read all of the notable comparable classic ghostly writers, such as Oliver Onions, L. P. Hartley, John Metcalfe, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Henry James, Edith Wharton or Elizabeth Bowen, but I'm curious which modern writers are writing in this sort of style. Reggie Oliver is the only one I'm aware of. Ramsey Campbell's older Demons by Daylight work is a good example, too.

I'm looking for writers of eerie and disquieting stories of quiet reflection and melancholy rather than cosmic horror.

I suspect you would like Grabinski, James, if you haven't already read him.

Druidic said:

I suspect you would like Grabinski, James, if you haven't already read him.

Click to expand...

I have read him, and I do like him.

Peter Straub's short fiction might interest you also, lad.

Unsure how they'll compare to de la Mare or Aickman (as I'm shamefully not well acquainted with their work yet), but as far as "eerie and disquieting stories of quiet reflection and melancholy" is concerned, I think Quentin S. Crisp's work might fit the bill. All God's Angels, Beware! might be a great place to start, namely because of his story "Ynys-Y-Plag."

That story of Quentin's is a good example of the sort of stuff I'm looking for. It's certainly comparable to some of de la Mare's work.

I need to check out more of Straub's fiction. I have only read Ghost Story. What else is good?

I enjoyed Ghost Story, Shadowland and If You Could See Me Now. Floating Dragon was the beginning of my lack of interest in Straub's novels.
Any collection of his short fiction is pretty representative.

E.F. Benson's ghost stories are worth a read, but he might not be considered modern. Then there is Simon Strantzas and Richard Gavin who are.

I have read the ghost stories of the Benson brothers. E. F. Benson's The Room in the Tower has that sort of dream-like atmosphere and emphasis on parallelisms found in Aickman.

I will check out the other two. I don't have anything of theirs, apart from the Strantzas edited Aickman's Heirs.

I suggest _Conference with the Dead_ by Terry Lamsley.
Conference with the Dead by Terry Lamsley — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

Some of the stories in the book are ghost stories, such as the M.R. James-style "Blade and Bone". I find that Lamsley's stories are like Aickman's in one important aspect, and unlike Aickman's in another important aspect. Lamsley's stories are like Aickman's in that strange things would be related for most of the tale, and it wasn't clear to me what was behind it all. But he is unlike Aickman in that the mystery does not last; at the end of the story the reader realizes why the events in the story happened. Even if I am mistaken in thinking that this is the kind of book you're looking for, I think Lamsley's fiction is well worth reading on its own terms.

Another suggestion is _Northwest Passages_ by Barbara Roden.
Northwest Passages by Barbara Roden — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists


Michael Dirda, who is a champion of our genre, wrote in his introduction to this book: "Besides these gifts, one other aspect to Roden’s imagination should be underscored. Along with a flair for creating atmosphere and feelings of increasing apprehension, her work is consistently pervaded by a quiet sadness about the human condition."

I though very highly of two stories, "Endless Night" and "Northwest Passages". I gave a slight edge to the former; my fellow goodreads members gave the edge to the latter.

I'm not sure if much of his work counts as "ghostly" but M. John Harrison's work has a similar enigmatic power to that of Aickman. Things That Never Happen and The Course of the Heart are essential.
Jeremy Dyson's work is more direct than Aickman but sometimes has a similar mood. His story A Last Look at the Sea feels a bit like an hommage to Ringing The Changes.

R.B. Russell's Literary Remains, as well as Putting the Pieces in Place (collected again in the Swan River Press volume 'Ghosts' ). LR for me is one of the best strange story collections of the decade, and it continues to be overlooked.

Some of the strange stories of Elizabeth Hand. Most notable is the tale Near Zennor in the collection Errantry. This story, from start to finish, was directly inspired by Aickman. I remember e-mailing back and forth with the author a few years ago about it. A masterpiece, and I think something Bob would have anthologized in his own time.

The work of Russell Kirk, especially Watchers at the Strait Gate. A lot of readers of horror fiction might take issue with his conservatism, but even as a progressive sort it has never bothered me. Dominating any sort of preaching is a very accomplished weird sensibility. Kirk was a huge Aickman fan too.

The fiction of Frances Oliver, especially 'Dancing On Air.' I'm thinking particularly of the tale 'Cyprian's Room' from that collection.

James, have you found your way to the fiction of Bernard Capes yet? Aickman was himself a fan, though not without criticisms from what I've gathered.

Some of Neil Gaiman's work is rather Aickmanesque. The short stories 'Closing Time' and 'Feeders and Eaters' spring to mind.

Shear said:

R.B. Russell's Literary Remains, as well as Putting the Pieces in Place (collected again in the Swan River Press volume 'Ghosts' ). LR for me is one of the best strange story collections of the decade, and it continues to be overlooked.

Click to expand...

That reminds me that I enjoyed The Old Knowledge by his Tartarus Press partner Rosalie Parker. Curiously, on Amazon her new book Damage seems to have got mixed up with a listing for a book by someone called Felix Francis.