Product Description

A collection of horror tales by the recipient of the 1981 World Fantasy Award, and author of "Cold Hand in Mine" and "Painted Devils".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #893609 in Books
• Published on: 1990-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Since his death several years ago, British writer Aickman's reputation has continued to grow among connoisseurs of the horror story. Unlike much of the current form, full of blood, monsters and melodrama, Aickman's stories achieve a quieter, more subtle and, in several ways, more lasting sense of disquiet. His lucid, finely tuned prose moves imperceptibly from the small crises and celebrations of ordinary life into another sphere. In these 11 stories, the occasion may be a walking tour of Northern England, a birthday present of a Victorian dollhouse or a stay at a Swedish sanatorium for insomniacs, but it simultaneously traps the characters with dread and opens them up to a new awareness of a greater, deeper and more dangerous world. A remarkable collection by an author who deserves to be better known.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A traveler finds and loses paradise on an island in "The Wine Dark Sea" while another voyager's dreams come all too true in "Never Visit Venice." Together with nine other stories (uncollected in the United States) by the late author of The Model , this collection of subtle, sometimes ethereal horror tales provides a welcome antidote to more blatant examples of dark fantasy. Recommended. JC
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Peter Straub introduces this volume by writing: "Robert Aickman at his best was this century's most profound writer of what we call horror stories." Proof? This collection of 11 tales (many new to the US) in which Aickman, an Englishman who died in 1983, is at his very best. A meticulous craftsman grounded in the school of subtle horrors founded by Henry and M.R. James, Aickman never resorts to gore, raw sex, or classic monsters in these tales. Their terrors arise from a flow of fearful incongruities that culminate not in shock but in a freezing sense of wrongness. In the title story, for instance, an upperclass Englishman (the social strata that spawns nearly all of Aickman's heroes) becomes obsessed with a shunned Grecian island; landing there in a stolen dinghy, he finds a trio of self-proclaimed "sorceresses" who transport him to a seemingly Edenic life - but why does the surrounding sea begin to glow blood-red? In "The Stains," a man happens upon an untutored woman in the countryside; as he romances and weds her, the lichenous stain on her body disappears even as a similar stain grows on his. In the truly terrifying "Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen," a recluse falls in love with a woman who repeatedly telephones him. Yet why does the phone company insist hers is a "dead number," and why does she refuse to visit him until, as she says, "You can't live without me"? A barred room near train tracks ("The Trains"); too-large twin boys ("Growing Boys"); a carlie ("The Fetch"); a dollhouse with a hidden sanctum ("The Inner Room"); a nightmare gondola ride ("Never Visit Venice"); a forbidding caller ("The Next Glade"); an asylum for insomniacs ("Into the Wood"), a monstrous maze ("Bind Your Hair") - each story here tingles with a vital current of the uncanny. This powerful assemblage of stories matches in artistry, vision, and dark effect the finest work of Aickman's two prime inheritors, Ramsey Campbell and Clive Barker, and enthrones him as a horror master. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

subtle and haunting
I strongly recommend the sadly hard-to-find fiction of Robert Aickman to ghost story aficionados, lovers of British literature, horror fiction readers willing to try something different and challenging, or just lovers of the short story form. Aickman's compelling, beautifully written, dreamlike stories are often puzzling, always atmospheric, and generally extremely memorable. The title story, a "strange story" (as the author liked to call his fiction) of a British tourist who journeys to a very strange Mediterranean island and meets three even stranger women, is typical of Aickman's bizarre, unsettling fiction. These stories are among his most accessible (although some readers will still undoubtedly find them opaque). If you are willing to risk being confused, Aickman's fiction is well worth your time. If you ever come across a copy of his first novel "The Late Breakfasters," which I don't believe has ever been published in this country, I would recommend that book perhaps even more highly.

Truly Strange Stories
Robert Aickman's "strange stories" are far from the usual horror fare, and readers who prefer straightforward, no-nonsense spectres are well-advised to steer clear of Aickman's work. But if you are a fan of the beautifully-crafted supernatural stories of Henry James and/or Walter de la Mare, Aickman will be *essential* reading for you. At his best, his stories are small masterpieces of the uncanny that are all the more disturbing because it's often not entirely clear what has happened. *The Wine Dark Sea* is an excellent collection, which brings together a number of Aickman's most evocative tales. Try "The Inner Room" if you're skeptical--if it doesn't work for you, then Aickman may not be your cup of tea. Some of the stories in this volume are a bit uncharacteristically direct--"The Fetch and "Never Visit Venice" for example--but even they have layers of multiple meaning that make them very rich and rewarding reading. ...................... so don't give up on finding some of the stories of this great and sadly under-appreciated master of the supernatural story.

Dazzling collection of the spooky and bizarre
'The Wine Dark Sea' is a fabulous collection by an unjustly neglected author. Robert Aickman writes stories unparalleled by any other writer. It's not hyperbole to call him the finest spooky story writer of the 20th century.

This particular collection, published several years after Aickman's death, gathers together several of his later stories. My favorite story is the eerie 'The Wine-Dark Sea' which tells the tale of a vacationer in Greece who, against the admonishments of his Greek hosts, takes a boat out to a deserted island. Once there he finds three exotic women who claim to be sorceresses. What follows is a magnificent story of magic, love, and betrayal. Quite simply one of the finest novellas I've ever read.

The rest of the stories in the collection are all fine reading, but none approaches the level of the title story. Of particular note is 'The Trains', the creepy story of two girls bumming through Europe who stumble across a mansion with a mysterious past.

As a previous reviewer noted, Aickman's stories aren't easy to read. You get the most out of an Aickman story if you go slowly, read every word, and occasionally re-read paragraphs. This method, combined with his lengthy stories, means that one story can take you up to an hour to read. It's a lengthy process, but the stories are worth it.

I'm only exaggerating a little when I say that it's a tragedy Aickman's stories are out-of-print. There was a very ..., complete collection released in the UK in 2000, but that doesn't help us Americans!