Speaking of lists...

[rich]

can't agree more

one writer who never got the acclaim he deserved was Robert Aickman.
good brooding brit fiction--

Though sometimes given the mass-market label of horror fiction, the
"strange stories" of Robert Aickman (1914-1981) are as dark and
mysterious as they come -- "enigmatic, disorienting spiritual
journeys," as one astute critic described them. Just murmur a few of
the titles: "Ringing the Changes," "The Stains," "Pages from a Young
Girl's Diary." Half the time you won't even know exactly what has
happened in an Aickman story, but their eerie and brooding tension --
they are, for the most part, stories about waiting, waiting for
Something that will justify or destroy a life -- is all too visceral.
In "Ringing the Changes," for instance, a middle-aged man marries a
much younger woman. On their honeymoon the wife's sexual hunger is
awakened by mysterious ghostly bells, and the new couple's entire
future is left irrevocably blighted. Look for such collections as The
Wine-Dark Sea, Painted Devils and Cold Hand in Mine.

rich

On 11/18/08, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> I love these occasional interludes on the List where everyone's recommending
> (or warning against) books.  Being someone who approaches being a suicidal
> maniac on occasion, I try to avoid books that are gratuitously downbeat,
> horrifying or mean-spirited.  I feel I'm in safe waters with Pynchon,