{"product_id":"compulsory-games-paperback","title":"Compulsory Games - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eRobert Aickman\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eVictoria Nelson\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor), \u003cb\u003eVictoria Nelson\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe best and most interesting stories by Robert Aickman, a master of the supernatural tale, the uncanny, and the truly weird. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRobert Aickman's self-described \"strange stories\" are confoundingly and uniquely his own. These superbly written tales terrify not with standard thrills and gore but through a radical overturning of the laws of nature and everyday life. His territory of the strange, of the \"void behind the face of order,\" is a surreal region that grotesquely mimics the quotidian: Is that river the Thames, or is it even a river? What does it mean when a prospective lover removes one dress, and then another--and then another? Does a herd of cows in a peaceful churchyard contain the souls of jilted women preparing to trample a cruel lover to death? Published for the first time under one cover, the stories in this collection offer an unequaled introduction to a profoundly original modern master of the uncanny.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Aickman\u003c\/b\u003e (1914-1981) was the son of an architect and grandson of the Victorian Gothic novelist Richard Marsh (author of the occult bestseller \u003ci\u003eThe Beetle\u003c\/i\u003e). He did not attend university and subsisted on a small family income in London, working variously as a literary agent, editor, and theater and art critic. A prominent advocate for preserving and restoring England's extensive network of canals, he was cofounder, in 1946, of the influential Inland Waterways Association. Above all, Aickman wanted to be an author, and he realized this desire with an extensive oeuvre of quasi-supernatural tales. In addition to eight collections of \"strange stories,\" as he dubbed them (the first, \u003ci\u003eWe Are For the Dark\u003c\/i\u003e, included stories written by the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard), his writing includes a short novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Late Breakfasters\u003c\/i\u003e (1965), a posthumously published novella, \u003ci\u003eThe Model\u003c\/i\u003e (1987), and various unpublished fiction, dramatic, and nonfiction works. He published two memoirs, \u003ci\u003eThe Attempted Rescue\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe River Runs Uphill\u003c\/i\u003e, and two popular nonfiction books about the inland waterways. Aickman won the World Fantasy Award in 1975 for his story \"Pages from a Young Girl's Journal\" and edited eight volumes of \u003ci\u003eThe Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, writing introductions for six. He died of cancer in 1981. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eVictoria Nelson\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer of fiction, criticism, and memoir. Her books include \u003ci\u003eGothicka\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Life of Puppets\u003c\/i\u003e, a study of the supernatural grotesque in Western culture that won the Modern Language Association's Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies in 2001, and \u003ci\u003eWild California\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of stories. She teaches in Goddard College's MFA creative writing program.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 368\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 7.9 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 08, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51770372817184,"sku":"9781681371894","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/d66f565d4fa1393521df9059914eca76.webp?v=1780370379","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/compulsory-games-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}