Robert Aickman (1914-1981) was the grandson of Richard Marsh a leading Victorian novelist of the occult Though his chief occupation in life was first as a conservationist of England's canals he eventually turned his talents to writing what he called 'strange stories' Dark Entries (1964) was his first full collection the debut in a body of work that would inspire Peter Straub to hail Aickman as 'this century's most profound writer of what we call horror stories'