decided against buying the collected strange stories of aickman - it's a handsome set but i wouldn't be able to take them onto buses and trains, and it's infinitely more exciting to collect the individual volumes as they were published. i've just seen, on ebay, a lot of five collections, and will try to get those instead.

appendix: some evocative aickman titles

the insufficient answer
the wine-dark sea
the unsettled dust
ravissante
dark entries
a roman question
the swords
the next glade
the cicerones
sub rosa
the stains
painted devils
raising the wind
niemandswasser
ringing the changes
we are for the dark
night voices
cold hand in mine
into the wood
no stronger than a flower
the real road to the church
the houses of the russians