The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

Aickman, Robert

HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd

Anthology. Contributor Theophile Gautier (Clarimonde); Russell Kirk (Sorworth Place); Vernon Lee (Oke of Okehurst); Geoff Moore (Priscilla and Emily Lofft); J. B. Priestley (Grey Ones); May Sinclair (Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched); H. G. Wells (Door in the Wall); Henry S. Whitehead (Lips)

The Sixth Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

The Third Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

The Seventh Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

Cold Hand in Mine

Cold Hand in Mine was first published in the UK in 1975 and in the US in 1977. The story 'Pages from a Young Girl's Journal' won the Aickman World Fantasy Award in 1975. It was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy &amp; Science Fiction in 1973 before appearing in this collection. Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full, being more ambiguous than standard ghost stories. Throughout the stories the reader is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story ('Pages from a Young Girl's Journal') but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing. 'Of all the authors of uncanny tales, Aickman is the best ever . . . His tales literally haunt me; his plots and his turns of phrase run through my head at the most unlikely moments.' Russell Kirk

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Faber and Faber

Robert Aickman, the supreme master of the supernatural, brings together eight stories where strange things happen that the reader is unable to predict. His characters are often lonely and middle-aged but all have the same thing in common - they are all brought to the brink of an abyss that shows how terrifyingly fragile our piece of mind actually is. 'The Next Glade', 'Bind Your Hair' and 'The Stains' appeared together in The Wine-Dark Sea in 1988 while 'The Unsettled Dust', 'The House of the Russians', 'No Stronger Than a Flower', 'The Cicerones' and 'Ravissante' first appeared in Sub Rosa in 1968. The stories were published together as The Unsettled Dust in 1990. Aickman received the British Fantasy Award in 1981 for 'The Stains', which had first appeared in the anthology New Terrors (1980), before appearing in the last original posthumous collection of Aickman's short stories, Night Voices (1985). 'We are all potential victims of the powers Aickman so skilfully conjures and commands.' Robert Bloch

The Unsettled Dust

FABER

Peter Straub called Robert Aickman 'this century's most profound writer of what we call horror stories'. Aickman's 'strange stories' (his preferred term for them) are a subtle exploration of psychological displacement and paranoia. His characters are ordinary people that are gradually drawn into the darker recesses of their own minds. First published in the USA in 1988 and in the UK in 1990 The Wine-Dark Sea contains eight stories that will leave the reader unsettled as the protagonists' fears and desires, at once illogical and terrifying, culminate in a disturbing yet enigmatic ending. For fans of the horror genre Robert Aickman is a must read. As Peter Straub notes in his introduction 'Aickman's originality was rooted in need - he had to write these stories, and that is why they are worth reading and rereading'. 'Superb tales of suspenseful unease . . . a contemporary master of the genre.' Publishers Weekly 'Aickman's effects are so concentrated you'll be well advised not to read more than one story at a time.' Books

The Wine-Dark Sea

Peter Straub called Robert Aickman 'this century's most profound writer of what we call horror stories'. Aickman's 'strange stories' (his preferred term for them) are a subtle exploration of psychological displacement and paranoia. His characters are ordinary people that are gradually drawn into the darker recesses of their own minds. First published in the USA in 1988 and in the UK in 1990 The Wine-Dark Sea contains eight stories that will leave the reader unsettled as the protagonists' fears and desires, at once illogical and terrifying, culminate in a disturbing yet enigmatic ending. For fans of the horror genre Robert Aickman is a must read.

Genre Fiction

Faber&Faber

Robert Aickman, the supreme master of the supernatural, brings together eight of his self-proclaimed "strange stories". The stories in this collection are constructed immaculately; the neuroses of his characters painted in subtle shades. He builds dread by the steady accrual of realistic detail, until the reader realizes that the protagonist is heading towards their doom as if in a dream. His characters are often lonely and middle-aged, but all have the same thing in common - they are all brought to the brink of an abyss that shows how terrifyingly fragile our piece of mind actually is.

Cold Hand in Mine was first published in the U.K. in 1975 and in the U.S. in 1977. The story 'Pages from a Young Girl's Journal' won the Aickman World Fantasy Award in 1975. It was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy &amp; Science Fiction in 1973 before appearing in this collection. Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full, being more ambiguous than standard ghost stories. Throughout the stories the reader is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story ('Pages from a Young Girl's Journal') but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.

United States

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Books by Aickman, Robert

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Aickman, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

The Sixth Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

The Third Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

The Seventh Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

Cold Hand in Mine

The Unsettled Dust

The Wine-Dark Sea

The Wine-Dark Sea

The Unsettled Dust

Cold Hand in Mine