The People in the Castle: Selected Strange Stories

by Joan Aiken, Lizza Aiken (Introduction)

Here is the whisper in the night, the dog whose loyalty outlasted death, the creak upstairs, the half-remembered ghost story that won't let you sleep, the sound that raises gooseflesh, the wish you'd checked the lock on the door before dark fell. Here are tales of suspense and the supernatural that will chill, amuse, and exhilarate.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Gothic, Audiobook, Adult

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 12, 2016

About the author

Joan Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. She was known as a writer of wild fantasy, Gothic novels and short stories.

She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).

Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.

Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.

Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.

Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.

Reviews

[Book Riot Community]

Joan Aiken stories handpicked by Small Beer Press and Aiken's daughter and with an introduction by Kelly Link?!! I couldn't read this fast enough! Aiken, probably best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, wrote over 100 books, including 28 story collections. HOLY CATS. These selected stories are wildly inventive, fantastical, and funny, and certainly for fans of Link. I am so delighted this exists.


Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/category/all-the-...

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, Joan. How strange your stories are. How quotable your prose. How unique your worlds. How little the stories make sense, and how little sense seems to matter.

This book isn't everyone's cup of tea. But it's definitely mine.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mostly know Joan Aiken as the author of the wonderful Arabel's Raven stories, and the Wolves of Willoughby Chase, but I didn't realize how many stories she had written, weird, wild, wonderful short stories. This is a collection of her "best" as selected by Kelly Link and other talented fans, and with introductions by Link and Aiken's daughter. I am not only now revved up to read all of her stories, but also to reread her novels.

[Rachel (Kalanadi) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like most of these stories had an undercurrent I didn't quite grasp... and that was part of the charm. Favorites: "A Leg Full of Rubies", "A Portable Elephant", "A Room Full of Leaves", "Humblepuppy", "Listening", "The Cold Flame", "The Last Specimen", and "Watkyn, Comma".

[Shawn Mooney (Shawn Breathes Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bailed 50% of the way in, because by that point I was hate-reading and that's a bloody waste of time.

Out of the 10.3 stories I read, I only really liked one, "Listening," a quirky, rich tale about art and passion and cats that was a work of art itself. Not one of the others here measured up, and several just angered me the way only unsatisfying fiction can do.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these short stories! They all felt timeless, like a fairy tale, but yet they somehow felt quite modern at the same time. They all had a slight twist at the end, slightly unnerving, a little unexpected, never truly sinister or suspenseful. But yet they are quite compelling. I can totally see Ms. Aiken becoming one of my new favorite authors.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always with anthologies - a mixed bunch. Aiken is one of those storytellers who have a unique voice - you know immediately its her writing. A juxtaposition of the banal and bizarre, she forcibly reminds me of Leonora Carrington in her displacement of the everyday, to align with the warped fabric of reality.

Trees grow in rotting mansions inhabited by characters from history, dogs run the length of England to reunite with their chosen owners, caged phoenixes, supernatural patients at doctor's surgeries, spectral puppies, witch's familiars in wells who wreak havoc on sadistic maths teachers, Ancient Briton chieftains who make telephone calls to abandoned telephone boxes and alien visitors intent on plundering rare fritillaries from ancient woodland...


Introduction by Kelly Link
Foreword: The Power of Storytelling: Joan Aiken's Strange Stories' by Lizza Aiken


A Leg Full of Rubies • (1959) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Portable Elephant • (1984) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Furry Night • (1958) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hope • (1972) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Humblepuppy • (1972) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Listening • (1979) ⭐⭐⭐
Lob's Girl • (1984) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Old Fillikin • (1981) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
She Was Afraid of Upstairs • (1980) ⭐⭐⭐
Some Music for the Wicked Countess • (1955) ⭐⭐⭐
Sonata for Harp and Bicycle • (1958) ⭐⭐⭐
The Cold Flame • (1969) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Dark Streets of Kimball's Green • (1969) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Lame King • (1987) ⭐⭐⭐
The Last Specimen • (1984) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Man Who Had Seen the Rope Trick • (1976) ⭐⭐⭐
The Mysterious Barricades • (1955) ⭐⭐⭐
The People in the Castle • (1955) ⭐⭐⭐
Watkyn, Comma • (1990) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good story... and the fact that LeVar Burton read it made it all the better...

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: Twenty strange stories by Aiken, selected from all her short stories, with a preface by her daughter. Usually, after reading some of the stories, you don't know what it was all about. The explanation is left to the reader's imagination. I love this writing style.

For instance: Is "A portable elephant" a post-apocalyptic Earth? Or is it just a nonsense-world? A good character in this story is Hannah Palindrome, who uses to speak in palindromes and calls "Selim" and "Leon" to those characters who actually are called Miles and Noel.

Another example: Who are the strange people in "A room full of leaves"? Are they fairies or elves? But then, who was the father of the girl, a strolling player and a friend of William Shakespeare? Puck? Or Bottom?

And a third example: "The lame King." What's Last House? A place where old people are euthanized? Who is the lame King? Death?

"Some music for the wicked Countess" is a humorous parody of fairy stories about a fairy queen, her leprechauns and enchantments, which fail with a recalcitrant musician.

Some of Aiken's stories teach something. "Hope" is a good illustration of the fact that the virtue of hope is the best way to defeat the devil. And "Lob's girl" tells about the love of a dog for a girl, which endures beyond death. Ghost dogs must be one of Aiken's favorite themes. She uses it twice here.

ESPAÑOL: Veinte cuentos raros de Aiken, seleccionados de entre sus cuentos, con prólogo de su hija. En general, después de leer algunos de los cuentos, uno no tiene claro de qué trata. La explicación se deja a la imaginación del lector. Me encanta esta forma de escribir.

Por ejemplo: ¿"Un elefante portátil" describe una Tierra post-apocalíptica? ¿O es sólo un mundo al revés? Un buen personaje de esta historia es Hannah Palindrome, que suele hablar en palíndromos y llama "Selim" y "Leon" a los personajes que en realidad se llaman Miles y Noel.

Otro ejemplo: ¿Quiénes son las personas raras que salen en "Una habitación llena de hojas"? ¿Son elfos? Pero entonces, ¿quién fue el padre de la niña, un músico ambulante amigo de William Shakespeare? ¿Sería Puck? ¿O quizá Bottom?

Y un tercer ejemplo: "El rey cojo". ¿Qué es la Última Casa? ¿Un lugar donde se somete a eutanasia a los ancianos? ¿Quién es el Rey Cojo? ¿La muerte?

"Música para la condesa mala" es una parodia humorística de los cuentos de hadas sobre la reina de las hadas, sus duendes y sus encantamientos, que fallan ante un músico recalcitrante.

Algunos de los cuentos de Aiken tienen moraleja. "Esperanza" es una buena ilustración de que la virtud de la esperanza es la mejor manera de vencer al diablo. Y "La chica de Lob" habla del amor de un perro por una niña, que perdura más allá de la muerte. Los perros fantasmas deben de ser uno de los temas favoritos de Aiken. En este libro lo usa dos veces.

[Alison C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
"The People in the Castle" is a collection of previously published short stories by Joan Aiken, dating between 1955 and 1990. The stories range from fantasy to horror to science fiction, from whimsical (“A Room Full of Leaves,” “Humblepuppy”) to scary (“The Cold Flame”) to mythology-based (“The Lame King”) to very funny indeed (“A Portable Elephant”) - in short, an absolutely delightful collection of imaginative and inventive tales from a woman primarily known today as the author of the children’s novel "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase." Small Beer Press, in its wisdom, put together this collection and one hopes that this volume will introduce new generations to this author and her beautiful writing; I know I feel like I’ve been introduced to a new friend in reading these gems. Very highly recommended!

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Levar Burton Reads podcast offering.

His choices are ALL over the place. This one, I just didn't get. I didn't like any of the characters, all were either weak or, quite literally in the case of the female, a b*tch who couldn't control her temper, who got it from both her mother and her father.

At first I didn't get why the chick was going to purposefully piss off a werewolf who had no control over his temper. (I also didn't get why someone that dangerous was allowed to roam free, even with a caretaker, but whatevs.) Then I realized why and I realized that she was worse than him in her own way. There is strong-willed and then there is iron-fisted.

Didn't like this story at all. 1 star.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm embarrassed to say this is my introduction to the work of Joan Aiken and I now know just how much my childhood was lacking. These are delicious, delirious, dangerous, dark tales that spring from the well of dreams and fables, fairy tales and deeply buried fears. Checked this out from the local library and will be purchasing for my home library; that just how good these stores are.

[David]

I dare you to read the first page of the first story and not become so charmed you'll want to immediately buy a copy ASAP. Enchanting, Clever and Highly Original.

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it possible to review a book of Joan Aiken short stories without using a variation on the phrase, "endlessly creative"?

Apparently not.

[Pghbekka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of Joan Aiken's stories.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have the bulk of the old Puffin anthologies, and so wasn't sure how many of the stories would be new to me; happily, the bulk of them were and were very good!

[Jenne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joan Aiken has this way of writing just the sort of words you would like to read, very satisfying and cozy, but also putting them together in such an unexpected way that it's disorienting and even upsetting...while still cozy.

[Δημήτριος Καραγιάννης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aiken writes a deluge of intriguing tales, all of which entail elements of magical realism, fairy tales and animal fables in a successful, witty and innovative manner. Here are stories the likes of which you have likely never previously encountered. I really enjoyed this collection and the whimsical satire behind each word and story.

[Lisa of LaCreeperie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 actually. These are indeed strange stories, with a few of them being quite intriguing. Overall, I'm not sure it's a good representation of Joan Aiken's work, but I haven't yet read enough of her books to know. However, I enjoy her writing style enough to say I am going to find out.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great collection of dark stories from Ms. Aiken. She has long been a favorite of mine, and has the same eerie quality to her stories as does Shirley Jackson. You start out on one path of plot, only to suddenly find yourself somewhere else entirely, as the world tilts a bit off kilter and becomes fey and frightening. This is the second volume of collected stories of Ms. Aiken's work published by Small Beer Press. They're beautiful books, both in appearance and content. Highly recommended.

[S.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5* I think a more accurate subtitle would have been 'Selected Whimsical Stories.' I've never read this author before, so it was disappointing to find nothing especially compelling in this book that would encourage me to read any more of her work.

[Cis Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first encounter with Joan Aiken - I'll definitely look for more. Felt like reading grown-up fairy tales, with a sense of humor.

[Chrysten Lofton · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐ Wake Not A Sleeping Wolf! Folktale Delight
**Spoilers**

Rapid review! Gotta go quick! I been slacking, and I think I have 11 minutes to write and post this bad boy. If you’re a follower, you probably noticed I am FALLING BEHIND. Busy life this March, so sorry friends. On this, the eighteenth episode of LeVar Burton Reads, we’re gifted with “Furry Night” by Joan Aiken.

So, this one actually took me a while to get through. I really liked it, but I don’t know if it was just the reading or the overall language, or the Shakespeare quotes, but I had auditory issues hearing the story. I would rewind, listen, and still not absorb what was going on. Once I was able to pull it up and read along as LeVar read, I was fine with the story, I really enjoyed myself. That was definitely apart of the hold up though, so again, sorry about my delay. Whatever the problem, I think it was with me and not the writing.

Furry Night is a lovely, subtle thing. It’s like old lace. LeVar promised that we would not find a word out of place, and I think he was right. It captures a sort of elderly verbiage without pretension, it isn’t verbose and I think when people try to write stories like this, they sometimes miss the mark, jamming their idea of folk-language into inorganic prose. Joan’s words are like so many ingredients coming together to make a homemade dish.

The characters felt so real, you could almost reach out and touch them.

I know this is a shorty review, but there is nothing to really analyze. The story simply is, there is nothing to dig into, nothing to analyze. It was a verbal painting, and all there was to see was at the surface. There’s a touch of loveliness and romance, mixed with quirk and humanity, wrapped neatly in lycanthropy and accessorized with a touch of Shakespeare (not so much as to be cloying).
I’ll have the next review up soon, and I love following this podcast with fellow readers.
Thanks for reading my review. See you on the next one!
- 📚☕♥

[Mahak · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories presented within this collection were certainly entertaining and unique and I found myself retelling them to my aunt who's a big fan of the genre herself.
One thing which did cross both our minds was that had these been superimposed into movies or tiny episodes-they'd definitely be worth watching so there was substance in each.

I highly recommend this for a younger audience. :)

[Larissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joan Aiken is a mighty mage. Her stories can be strange, sweet, and wickedly funny. Often all at once. Some will give you an ache in your throat. I have this collection digitally, but want a paper copy to pick up and summon her power in brief, at random.

[Leslie Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Angela Carter, you will like Joan Aiken. Not as detailed and rich, but is imaginative and original. I recommend this collection 100%

[Betsy Gant · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute short story.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an uneven collection, but the stories that worked more than made up for those that didn't. I sure wish Small Beer Press had hired a proofreader before issuing this, though. Tons of typos.

[Kallista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved these stories.. they're weird, magical, twisted, sad but sometimes funny and so imaginative.
Strange stories indeed!

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a couple of good stories in the mix, but a couple of good stories can’t carry an entire collection.