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Episode 566 - The Hospice - Part 1 (Patreon)

Published:
2021-10-08 21:23:57
Imported:
2022-01

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Content

We are thrilled to be joined by writer/director Jeremy Dyson to discuss the brilliant author Robert Aickman and his story The Hospice.

Special thanks to reader and Aickman aficionado Greig Johnson!

Comments

Anonymous

I also discovered Aickman when I was around 20. I think I have never had a similar experience with a new author since. Aickman's stories are just so different from anything else out there. And it's so hard to describe to someone else why he's so enjoyable to read because on a surface level, his plots make no sense whatsoever.

Anonymous

I discovered Aickman when they did the 2014 reprints and Reece Shearsmith (also of League of Gentlemen) read the audiobooks. I was 28. As one of the many people whose been bugging the guys to read him I'm so pleased they like his works. They have done so many in your face monster stories of late I was worried they would say "No one gets their face ripped off through a window once, what's the point!".

Anonymous

I know it's more than a bit clichey, but throughout your conversation describing the Hospice Hotel, I couldn't help but hear a certain song by the Eagles. Can't wait for next week to see if there is pink champagne on ice.

Anonymous

Oh and also I was at work at a hotel while I listened to this and it's true I do despise the guests ;)

Anonymous

I have almost the exact same story Chad does of picking up Dark Entries. The incredible cover art drew my eye, made the connection between the title and the Bauhaus song, and then a Neil Gaiman quote. I'd never heard of Aickman before, but all this added up to the book practically screaming at me to buy it.

Anonymous

I am going to trust you guys but that felt like a weird place to break. Nothing had really happened in the story - maybe nothing does, I haven't read it - but it felt like the break just happened for time.

Anonymous

If you want to talk to a Robert Aickman aficionado, contact Ray Russell from Tartarus Press. He's almost finished a biography and will be published in the not too distant future. He's the guy to go to for Aickman and Machen.

Illegal_Structures

Aickman is often compared to MR James, but I think he has much more in common with Walter de la Mare. Both excel at using subtly to powerful effect, and for making the mundane seem eerie and disturbing. James’ stories, on the other hand, are almost always predictable and formulaic: a strange artifact, something weird in a church, a hairy mouth with teeth… wash, rinse, repeat.

Steve

I think I first met Aickman through collections of ghost stories I had as a kid. Herbert van Thal seemed to be the main anthologist but then there were the Fontana collections put together by Aickman. I don't remember particularly enjoying his stories but I much later read the Swords and then got the full collection, relatively recently from Ray at Tartarus Press at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton in 2013. It filled my suitcase and was quite difficult to drag up the hill to the station. For me James and Aickman represent a continuum of English ghost stories from the more traditional folk tales. WIth James, there are still the obvious ties to the past but the style is greatly developed, and indeed in some stories such as Lost Hearts, the evil act which causes the haunting is much more present and recent. But then with Aickman, there is a definitely still a haunting, but it's not very clear what it is that is doing it. The uncanny, the thing that is absent but also somehow present, exists without necessarily an obvious link to an evil act in the past. See also Shirley Jackson.

Steve
>>69490351

And now I'm listening to the show, none of this seems an uncommon occurrence. Also I was telling Chris to read this too, so there's really no excuse.

Anonymous

Thank you for affirming I’m not the only one that has failed to get to the great writers. I only started reading Liggoti last year and although I am still seeking out the more of obscure stuff (i bought an old New Yorker of ebay for one story) I’ve almost gotten through almost everything. Happy you brought another apparently excellent strange author to my attention.

Anonymous

I love Aickman, and I'm so thrilled you guys are doing this (and glad you liked the story so much)! "The Hospice" is indeed very British in its brand of social comedy/horror. I'm an American in a relationship with a Brit, and we often joke that the story would be extremely short if Maybury were from Pittsburgh: he'd just call the man giving him directions a jagoff and zoom away, ignoring the suggested shortcut entirely. Anyway, I hope your enthusiasm for "The Hospice" means we'll be hearing more Aickman coverage in the future! Personally I think one of his creepiest stories is "The Same Dog".

Anonymous

Aickman didn’t click for me at all, sadly. For me, the effect wasn’t pleasantly creepy or intriguingly uncanny, but just sort of off-putting and nonsensical. It’s interesting to hear the show and reflect how something uncomfortable or odd may elicit shivers from one reader, but a mere shrug from another. Still, I always find the show entertaining, even when you read something I don’t personally like. It’s one of the lovely bonuses of listening - I get enjoyment out of stories I otherwise wouldn’t!

Anonymous

I love reading Aickman stories but do find them unsatisfactory. The writing, the characters, the weirdness is all wonderful, but at the end of each story I am left thinking that I overlooked one subtle point that would make the whole thing click into place. It’s clear the Aickman knows what’s going on in each story, but he never quite gives us enough clues to work it our for ourselves.

Anonymous

We can see Jeremy Dyson along with others who give a nice little talk about Aickman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-FyIYMEFjE

Anonymous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-FyIYMEFjE

Steve

A BBC radio programme about Aickman. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0184v2s

Steve

An event some years ago about Aickman. You can spot me in the audience in one of the five episodes. https://youtu.be/nhh65S_5xMk

Anonymous
>>69485203

You're absolutely right! I have never really seen the similarities with James, either. Seaton's Aunt, on the other hand, could well have been written by Aickman.

Anonymous
>>69632259

I do see your point. However, I wonder if a more "satisfactory" nature would rob Aickman's stories of what makes them so unique in the first place. It really is a fine line.

Anonymous

I HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR AICKMAN SINCE I STARTED LISTENING IN HIGHSCHOOL! I am so glad to finally hear you guys finally reading his stuff. I highly reccomend The Swords, as well as pretty much everything he wrote.

Anonymous

The talk about Fawlty Towers made me wonder - what secrets might be revealed if someone played about with The Hospice's sign, Fawlty Towers/Farty Towels style? THE HOSPICE GOOD FARE SOME ACCOMMODATION Hmm, let's see: CHAD FETISH - DOMINATE MOOSE, GROPE, COCOA, OM Oh well, we all know that Chad likes a cup of hot chocolate and a spot of meditation after some cervine molestation. But wait - the letters are re-arranging themselves! MACHO CHRIS FATE SCOOP: O! DOOMED - MI-GO, EATEN Oh dear.

Anonymous
>>69761334

I just got on the Aikman train. I can't get off The Swards

Anonymous

Also, probably a bit late, but for anyone catching up on episodes who’s bought ‘The Weird’ anthology, this story is in there too.

Anonymous

The playful typesetting is also a theme of Alfred Bester, whose “Fondly Fahrenheit” you covered. “The Demolished Man” in particular uses it to great effect. I know how late this is (long time lurker…) but would love to hear you guys go back to Bester with his short story “The Roller Coaster” (schadenfreude, you say!) or his better known but slightly inferior “Four-Hour Fugue.” All reet all reet!!!