h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Has anyone come across the works of Robert Aickman and what do they think of them? His best known work is Ringing The Changes, which was made into a TV film in the sixties and recently a radio drama. My favourite story of his was Niemandswasser, about two men cruising down a canal on a barge and returning to exactly the same spot, until they realize this, when suddenly the canal becomes a vast inland sea.

I also liked MR James ghost stories and have read the collected works by him. I was drawn towards him as an author, again because of a TV drama from the sixties, directed by Jonathon Miller, Oh Whistle And I Will Come To You Me Lad. It turned an ordinary item, a bed sheet into a ghost most effectively, after that I was hooked.

HP Lovecraft stories drew me because of my cousin, who read them and also because I read a short story of his in The Pan Book Of Horror Stories - The Horror In The Museum. I liked his works, not because of the horror side but because of the fantasy worlds he created, so close to normal reality; Dagon, The Rats In The Walls, At The Mountains Of Madness all possessed this far away but near enough to be possible angle, in imagination anyway.

I read a Lopvecraft story once. It was a doozy!

I used to read "Greatest horror stories of the year" because they could send chills down my spine, even on a hot Summer day.

Here are some sci-fi/fantasy novels that I have enjoyed:

ACCELERANDO // BY CHARLES STROSS
Altered Carbon // Richard Morgan [SF] [ONINE REC.]
American Gods // Neil Gaiman [HUGO] {2002]
Ancillary Justice // by Ann Leckie, [NEBULA] [2013]
Annihilation // by Jeff VanderMeer, [NEBULA] [2014]
Blackout // Connie Willis [HUGO] [NEBULA] [2011]
Camouflage // by Joe Haldeman, [NEBULA] [2005]
Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell // Susanna Clarke [HUGO] [2005]
Paladin of Souls // Lois McMaster Bujold [HUGO] [NEBULA] [2004]
Powers // by Ursula K. Le Guin, [NEBULA] [2008]
Seeker // by Jack McDevitt [NEBULA [2006]
The Speed of Dark // by Elizabeth Moon [NEBULA] [2003]
Windup Girl // Paolo bacigalupi [HUGO] [NEBULA] [2010]

The Nebula Awards and Hugo Awards are the big awards granters. I try to stay up to date on them, but there are other genres that I try to juggle as well.

Vernor Vinge's "Rainbow's end" [Hugo 2007] is one that I should read. I loved his "Lost in Real time."

William Henry Hudson is worth a look on fantasy.

Loved Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell, the television series - seriously good. Not a great fan of Ursula Le Guin or Neil Gaiman and never heard of any of the others - probably different generation (I'm 66 but don't look a day over 66)

I'm 70, but I keep lists of recommended books from every year.

Really? You don't look 70 but I'm not wearing my glasses or even yours

The key to a long life is never acting your age.

...young at heart...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG7suS4YJWk