Book excerpt: 'Reading Robert Aickman is like watching a magician work, and very often I'm not even sure what the trick was. All I know is that he did it beautifully.' Neil Gaiman For fans of Inside Number 9 and The League of Gentlemen -- with an introduction by Reece ShearsmithAickman's 'strange stories' (his preferred term) are constructed immaculately, the neuroses of his characters painted in subtle shades. He builds dread by the steady accrual of realistic detail, until the reader realises that the protagonist is heading towards their doom as if in a dream. Cold Hand in Mine, first published in 1975, stands as one of Aickman's finest collections and contains eight tales including 'Pages from a Young Girl's Journal' which won the World Fantasy Award. 'He had the ability to invest the daylight world with all the terrors of the night, and specialised in subverting notions of safety and sunshine into something sinister and unforgiving.' Christopher Fowler, Independent