Robert Aickman (1914-1981)
If you've never read any of Robert Aickman's short stories, I urge you to do so immediately. Last night I read the first story in his collection Painted Devils, a story called "Ravissante." When I finished, I immediately read it again. I had to know how Aickman had succeeded in creeping me out so completely. Reading the story again only added to my unsettling feelings (in a good way). Aickman is too good a writer and I'm too weak a reader to be able to point to a certain paragraph or sentence and say "Here's where the story moves from conventional narrative into the surreal."
I'd read another Aickman collection years ago, Cold Hand in Mine, which left me with the same feeling: an unsettling discomfort that's absolutely delicious. Both of these collections are book club editions, but who cares? Just get your hands on some Aickman in any form you can. (You can probably find some of his stories in several horror anthologies such as David Hartwell's The Dark Descent.) If you love quality supernatural fiction, you won't want to miss Aickman.
(By the way, Aickman preferred the term "strange stories" over "horror stories" or "ghost stories." I can't think of a better term for them.)
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