Status Updates From We Are For The Dark

4.5/27.5:6. Left Luggage. This has been described as (M.R.) Jamesian. And so it is but with possibly a better air of menace and a carnality that James never had. James channelled via Aickman (via Howard of course!).

4/23:5. The View. Feels completely different to my previous reading (though it was one of the earliest Aickman stories that I knowingly read so I was probably in a daze). Still unfathomable though a few ideas or themes strike me this time. Strange. Of course.

5/19:4. Three Miles Up. Nicely unsettling. Gets more and more tense, and actually quite terrifying at the end.

4.5/14:3. Insufficient Answer. Again seems more comprehensible this time round and I admire the way the nature of the three women just emerges and is never stated. Still confused as to exactly what happens at the end and why Cust declares that he is sorry.

The Trains. 5/9.5:2. Less strange (though still very strange) and obscure on second reading. On this evidence Aickman stories don’t lose their power with familiarity.

Perfect Love. 4.5. I’m glad Ray Russell’s intro mentions the premise of a ghost that ages as it helped me make sense of this mysterious tale. It’s all hinted at in the telling but having the key was for me an enhancement not a spoiler.

PERFECT LOVE (Elizabeth Jane Howard): ****