Robert Aickman (1914-1981) was the son of an architect and grandson of the Victorian Gothic novelist Richard Marsh. A novelist, critic, editor, memoirist, activist, and literary agent, he produced more than fifty 'strange stories' over his lifetime, and edited eight volumes of The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories. He is credited with almost singlehandedly moving such tales beyond their gothic or antiquary origins and into our modern era of surreal comedy and disquieting neurosis. He is regularly acclaimed as the most singular and accomplished writer of supernatural fiction in the twentieth century.