as he termed them, which were subtle and poetic and concentrated more on the emotions of horror rather than material terror. He also wrote longer fiction as well as non-fiction and was an editor and conservationist. Robert Fordyce Aickman was born in London on June 27, 1914. His father, William, was “the oddest man I have ever known.” William had married at age 53 to a woman 30 years his junior and, being deeply set in his bachelor ways and accustomed to living alone, could not adapt to married life. This resulted in a family environment that was chaotic and emotionally empty, with the parents constantly bickering. Aickman’s rancorous home life is mirrored in his stories “The Clock Watcher,” “Ringing the Changes,” “The Stains,” “The Fetch,” and others. When Aickman was a teen-ager, his mother deserted the family. His father also eventually left, living Aickman living at home alone. Aickman was originally schooled in architecture, which was his father’s profession.
