| Author | Message | ||
     Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 195.59.153.201 |
So without forking out £300+ for the out-of-print Tartarus Press edition of his Collected Strange Stories, what do I need to buy to have the most complete collection of Robert Aickman's "strange fiction"? Tararus still have in print Sub Rosa, Dark Entries, Powers of Darkness, Cold Hand in Mine and We are for the Dark. I doubt I even need ask here, but can anyone advise me? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Thank you for asking the same question that has been plaguing me, more than any other, with regard to my weird fiction reading, these long years past, Patrick. | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 195.59.153.201 |
Having done a little research (which, to be honest, I should have done anyway rather than expecting people here to do the hard work for me), as far as I can see, other than the five Tartarus Press volumes I mentioned, the only other Aickman volumes needed for the completist are Tales of Love & Death, Intrusions and Night Voices. Faber Finds have reprinted the collections The Wine-Dark Sea and The Unsettled Dust but I think the first is a reprint of Powers of Darkness (published by Tartarus) and The Unsettled Dust is compiled of stories from the said same volume and also Sub Rosa, also published by Tartarus. Please, please correct me if I'm wrong here! | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 220.138.167.53 |
Patrick, you're correct, the stories you'd need (assuming you already have the ones Tartarus have reprinted) are in Tales of Love and Death, Intrusions and Night Voices. The latter is an odd one, as it contains a few slighter tales (Rosamund's Bower', 'Laura', etc.), but also two of his absolute best: 'The Stains' and 'The Trains' (a very early tale). There's also the uncollected tale 'The Fully Conducted Tour' which was first published in the journal Wormwood, dedicated to weird and decadent literature. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Thanks for this, guys! | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.115.204 |
I have those original two volumes and considered selling those and buying the seperate ones (hopefully leaving me with a few pounds left over) but shelf space is at too much of a premium to replace two (admittedly hefty) volumes with six or seven others. | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 195.59.153.201 |
Okay, well seeing as I seem to have answered my last question myself, here's another one: I have Machen's Tales of Horror and the Supernatural from Tararus Press. What else do I need to have the most complete collection of his weird fiction? I know Tartarus have published a few and I'm not bothered about his non-fiction writings. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 2.24.29.95 |
Patrick, you need the novels The Hill of Dreams and The Secret Glory, the stories 'The Red Hand' and 'A Fragment of Life', and the prose-poem sequence 'Ornaments in Jade'. The stories and prose poems are all available in the three-volume Machen omnibus edited by S.T. Joshi and published a few years ago in the USA. A UK Penguin Classics volume is out in the UK about now, so check that first. All the works I've mentioned have also been published by Tartarus Press. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.207.23 |
I can barely read my big Aickman doubler. It's breeze block stuff with micro-writing, puts not only your arms and legs into contortion but also your eyeballs. It's a bad combo. I think we should all be writing to Penguin. He's literature, fer Gawd's sake. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
Tony - ditto. Those Tartarus Aickman's are horribe to read. I bought the recent Faber Finds editions of Aickman's collections just so i could read the stories. I'd probably sell my Tartarus set if someone made me an offer. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
I think we should all be writing to Penguin. He's literature, fer Gawd's sake. Please don't pin him with that label. Then no one will ever want to read him.  | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.51.35 |
Patrick, I agree with Joel's Machen recommendations. A good companion volume to Tales of Horror and the Supernatural is Ritual (also by Tartarus). Also indispensable, in my opinion, are Far Off Things and Things Near and Far, his first two autobiographical books. Tony and Zed, I agree that the Tartarus 2-volume Aickman set is hard to read. While it's good to have all the stories in one set, the individual volumes are much better in terms of reading comfort and convenience. And yes, Penguin - or some other reputable mainstream publisher - should be publishing his work, already. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
>>I'd probably sell my Tartarus set if someone made me an offer.<< I'll give you a tenner here and now, Zed. (mind you, it sounds like I'd probably need a magnifying glass too if I bought them) | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I have both volumes of the Panther editions of 'Tales Of Horror And The Supernatural' from the 1970s. What tales am I missing? As for Aickman, I only have those stories I've been lucky enough to stumble across in various anthologies over the years. No other author of short horror stories gives me a greater thrill to see his name on the contents list. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
Stevie, if you like Aickman that much why don't you buy the Faber editions? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Because they're rather pricey, Zed, and I like the thrill of working through my anthologies and coming across his tales when I least expect it. There's so little of the man's work that I want to savour each tale as they come to me, drip-drip fashion, and only when I've completed all his anthologised works will I seek out the rest. At whatever the cost. There are stacks of horror DVDs in my collection that I've owned for years and still haven't removed from their cellophane wrapping for much the same reason. Yes, I am quite possibly insane, but knowing these joys still await me is one way of keeping life fresh. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
Pricey? I paid less than a tenner for each one. That's a great price, if you ask me. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Where?! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
Amazon. But not the river. They're just paperback editions - issued by Faber Finds. I bought all three and got a discount. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
Zed - I love you! I didn't know about these. I've just bought Cold Hand in Mine and The Unsettled Dust for just over £20 for the pair. Stevie - there are still some left, I'm sure.  | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 195.59.153.201 |
I'm glad I didn't go looking for a good deal on the Aickman double-volume edition, then. Similarly I spent a small fortune on the three-volume/slipcased editions of the complete annotated Sherlock Holmes, and whilst being beautiful to look at, inside and out, and lovingly produced, they're a bugger to read. So I'll stick with the Penguin Paperbacks for the actual purpose of reading. I've ordered the individual Tartarus volumes of Aickman; I'll deal with the missing volumes/stories when the need for them arises. And I have also ordered the Tartarus editions of Machen's Ritual and The Hill of Dreams. Thanks for the help, everyone. | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 195.59.153.201 |
Funnily enough, I saw the Dover edition of The Great God Pan / Hill of Dreams in the local Second Hand Bookshop for £1.50 earlier today. I didn't buy it though. | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 195.59.153.201 |
My previous post there alone demonstrates why I'm not a storyteller and you all are. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
I'm not a storyteller, Patrick - just a reader.  | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 195.59.153.201 |
…so I was sorting through some old paperbacks back at my old house over the weekend an, lo and behold, I find that, unbeknown to me, I own a scruffy old paperback copy of Robert Aickman’s Dark Entries. And seeing as I now own the Tartarus editon, this is free to the first good home. Come and get it. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.145.210.119 |
Me please! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Seriously! I don't have a single book by Aickman and would be well chuffed! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
How'd that happen? Away you go, Weber. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
Stevie - look on Amazon for those Faber Finds ones. They're nice and cheap. I've just started reading Cold Hand in Mine. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Over a tenner a pop is a bit too pricey for me this month but thanks, Caroline. I'll get them at some stage. | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 195.59.153.201 |
Weber, drop me an email with your address included. distractedglobe@hotmail.co.uk | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
email sent |