British short story writer, critic, lecturer and
novelist. Robert Aickman is considered by many to be one of the
finest modern writers of ghost stories. But Aickman himself
referred to his tales as "strange stories", for they are often
open to more complex interpretations. The writing is subtle and
poetic, presenting us with both psychological and more material
terrors. He edited
The
Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories between 1964 and 1972, and
his own eight books of strange stories were published as
The
Collected Strange Stories of Robert Aickman in 1999.
Short
Stories
We Are
For the Dark - Six Ghost Stories, Cape (London), 1951
Including, by Aickman: "The Trains", "The
Insufficient Answer", "The View".
Dark
Entries,
Collins (London), 1964
Including: "The School Friend", "Ringing the
Changes", "Choice of Weapons", "The Waiting Room", "The View",
"Bind Your Hair".
Powers of
Darkness,
Collins (London), 1966
Including: "Your Tiny Hand is Frozen", "My Poor
Friend", "The Visiting Star", "Larger Than Oneself", "A Roman
Question", "The Wine-Dark Sea".
Sub
Rosa,
Gollancz (London), 1968
Including: "Ravissante", "The Inner Room", "Never
Visit Venice", "The Unsettled Dust", "The Houses of the Russians",
"No Stronger Than a Flower", "The Cicerones", "Into the
Wood".
ditto, Gollancz (London), 1968 (40
signed copies)
Cold Hand
in Mine,
Gollancz (London), 1975 [1976]
Including: "The Swords", "The Real Road to the
Church", "Niemandswasser", "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal",
"The Hospice", "The Same Dog", "Meeting Mr Millar", "The Clock
Watcher".
ditto, Scribner's (New York), 1975
[1977]
Tales of
Love and Death, Gollancz (London), 1977
Including: "Growing Boys", "Marriage", "Le
Miroir", "Compulsory Games", "Raising the Wind", "Residents Only",
"Wood".
Painted
Devils: Strange Stories, Scribner's (New York), 1979
Reprint collection including: "Ravissante", "The
Houses of the Russians", "The View", "Ringing the Changes", "The
School Friend", "The Waiting Room", "Marriage", "Larger Than
Oneself", "My Poor Friend".
Including: "Hand in Glove", "No Time Is Passing",
"The Fetch", "The Breakthrough", "The Next Glade", "Letters to the
Postman".
Night
Voices: Strange Stories, Gollancz (London), 1985
Including: "The Stains", "Just a Song at
Twilight", "Laura", "Rosamund's Bower", "Mark Ingestre: The
Customer's Tale".
The
Wine-Dark Sea, Arbor House (New York), 1988
Reprint collection including; "Introduction" by
Peter Straub, "The Wine-Dark Sea", "The Trains", "Your Tiny Hand
Is Frozen", "Growing Boys", "The Fetch", "The Inner Room", "Never
Visit Venice", "The Next Glade", "Into the Wood", "Bind Your
Hair", "The Stains".
ditto, Mandarin (London), 1990
(pbk)
The
Unsettled Dust, Mandarin, (London) 1990 (pbk)
Reprint collection including: "The Unsettled
Dust", "The Houses of the Russians", "No Stronger Than a Flower",
"The Cicerones", "The Next Glade", "Ravissante", "Bind Your Hair",
"The Stains".
The
Collected Strange Stories, Tartarus/Durtro (Horam, Sussex/London), 1999 (2
vols)
Reprints all original short stories, including:
"The Trains", "The Insufficient Answer", "The View", "The School
Friend", "Ringing the Changes", "Choice of Weapons", "The Waiting
Room", "Bind Your Hair", "Your Tiny Hand is Frozen", "My Poor
Friend", "The Visiting Star", "Larger Than Oneself", "A Roman
Question", "The Wine-Dark Sea", "Ravissante", "The Inner Room",
"Never Visit Venice", "The Unsettled Dust", "The Houses of the
Russians", "No Stronger Than a Flower", "The Cicerones", "Into the
Wood", "The Swords", "The Real Road to the Church",
"Niemandswasser", "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal", "The
Hospice", "The Same Dog", "Meeting Mr Millar", "The Clock
Watcher", "Growing Boys", "Marriage", "Le Miroir", "Compulsory
Games", "Raising the Wind", "Residents Only", "Wood", "Hand in
Glove", "No Time Is Passing", "The Fetch", "The Breakthrough",
"The Next Glade", "Letters to the Postman", "The Stains", "Just a
Song at Twilight", "Laura", "Rosamund's Bower", "Mark Ingestre:
The Customer's Tale".
Novels
The Late
Breakfasters,
Gollancz (London), 1964
ditto, Portway, 1978
The
Model, Arbor
House (U.S.), 1987
ditto, Robinson (London),
1988
Anthologies edited by Robert
Aickman
The
Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Fontana (London),
1964
Includes: "Introduction", "The Travelling Grave"
by L. P. Hartley, "The Ghost Ship" by R. Middleton, "Squire Toby's
Will" by J. S. Le Fanu, "The Voice in the Night" by W. H. Hodgson,
"Three Miles Up" by Elizabeth J. Howard, "The Rocking-Horse
Winner" by D.H. Lawrence: "The Wendigo" by A. Blackwood, "The
Crown Derby Plate" by Marjorie Bowen, "The Trains" by R. Aickman,
"The Old Nurse's Story" by Mrs. Gaskell, "Seaton's Aunt" by W. de
la Mare.
The
Second Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Fontana (London),
1966
Includes: "Introduction", "Playing With Fire", by
Sir A. C. Doyle, "Man-Size in Marble" by Edith Nesbit: "How Love
Came to Professor Guildea." R. Hichens, "The Demon Lover" by
Elizabeth Bowen, "A. V. Laider" by Sir M. Beerbohm, "The Facts in
the Case of M. Valdemar" by E. A. Poe, "Our Distant Cousins" by
Lord Dunsany, "The Inner Room" by R. Aickman, "Thurnley Abbey" P.
Landon, "Nightmare Jack" by J. Metealfe, "The Damned Thing" by
Ambrose Bierce, "Afterward" by Edith Wharton.
The Third
Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Fontana (London),
1966
Including: "Introduction", "Negotium Perambulans"
by E. F. Benson, "The End of the Flight" by W. S. Maugham, "The
Beckoning Fair One" by Oliver Onions, "The Dream" by A. J. Alan,
"The Stranger" by H. MacDiarmid, "The Case of Mr. Lucraft" by Sir
W. Besant & J. Price, "The Seventh Man" by Sir A.
Quiller-Couch, "No Ships Pass" by Lady Eleanor Smith, "The Man Who
Came Back" by W. Gerhardi, "The Visiting Star" by R.
Aickman.
Fourth
Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Fontana (London),
1967
Includes: "Introduction", "The Accident" by Ann
Bridge, "Not on the Passenger List" by Barry Pain, "The Sphinx
Without a Secret" by O. Wilde, "When I Was Dead" by Vincent
O'Sullivan, "The Queen of Spades" by A. Pushkin, "Pargiton and
Harby" by Des MacCarthy, "The Snow" by Hugh Walpole, "Carlton's
Father" by Erie Ambrose, "A School Story" by M. R. James: "The
Wolves of Cernogratz" by Saki, "Mad Monkton" by W. W.
Collins.
Fifth
Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Fontana (London),
1969
Including: "Introduction", "The Firmin Child" by
Richard Blum, "Lord Mount Prospect" by John Betjeman, "The Library
Window" by Mrs. Oliphant, "The Dancing Partner" by Jerome K
Jerome, "The Swords" by Robert Aickman, "The Mysterious Stranger"
by Anonymous, "A Question of Time" by Elizabeth Walter, "Venus" by
Maurice Baring, "Jerry Bundler" by W W Jacobs, "The Great Return"
by Arthur Machen.
Sixth
Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Fontana (London),
1970
Including" by no introducton" by "Clarimonde" by
Theophile Gautier, "The Grey Ones" by J. B. Priestley, "The Door
in the Wall" by H. G. Wells, "Priscilla and Emily Lofft" by George
Moore, "Sorworth Place" by Russell Kirk, "Where Their Fire is Not
Quenched" by May Sinclair, "Oke of Okehurst" by Vernon Lee, "The
Lips" by Henry S. Whitehead.
Seventh
Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Fontana (London),
1971
Including: "Introduction", "Levitation" by Joseph
Payne Brennan, "Dearth's Farm" by Gerald Bullett, "Esmeralda" by
John Keir Cross, "The Dead Valley" by Ralph Adams Cram, "The Visit
To The Museum" by Vladimir Nabokov, "Gone Away" by A E Coppard,
"Governor Manco And The Soldier" by Washington Irving, "The
Cicerones" by Robert Aickman, "Old Mrs Jones" by Mrs Riddell,
"Over An Absinthe Bottle" by W C Morrow , "Where The Woodbine
Twineth" by Davis Grubb.
Eighth
Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Fontana (London),
1972
Including: "Introduction", "The Haunted Haven" by
A E Ellis, "The Red Lodge" by H R Wakefield, "Midnight Express" by
Alfred Noyes, "Meeting Mr Millar" by Robert Aickman, "The Gorgon's
Head" by Gertrude Bacon, "The Tree" by Joyce Marsh, "The Haunted
and The Haunters" by Lord Lytton, "Bezhin Lea" by Ivan Turgenev,
"The Last Seance" by Agatha Christie.
Further Reading
Robert
Aickman: An Introduction, by Gary William Crawford, Gothic Press, 2003.
