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Feb. 17th, 2016 10:27 amThe title is _The Far Forests_, and I found it in digital format on the library for the blind Web site. It's a digital recording made from an audio recording, done in mono, and in the '70s, so I'm getting a paper version to scan.
About the book: These are possibly Aiken's darkest stories, darker even than _The Green Flash_, my other favorite collection, which probably accounts for why this collection doesn't get a lot of love. It's definitely not for read aloud to children, but would probably appeal to young adults who like spooky stories. Another aspect to these stories which probably account for it being one of her scarcest to be found collections is that many of the stories feature middle-aged or just plain old characters. A number of these older characters (who, in the way of Aiken stories, may or may not possess uncanny abilities) is that they are very content with their definitely eccentric lives, something which is hard to find in modern fiction. I love the way these people with their small magicks go about making the world, not dramatically, but quietly, a slightly better world to live in.
My favorite story, which I have described to other Aiken fans, none of whom ever remembered reading it (doesn't that make you crazy? it's as if you are a character in a Borges story, reading a slightly different edition with one extra story no one else has ever laid eyes upon; okay, that actually sounds pretty cool when I describe it that way)...
Anyway, my favorite story is about a young woman who sits in a storefront window and is paid to destroy any paper documents that the customer wishes to get rid of (yes, this is before paper shredders ertr a commonplace office item). This story is more of a screwball comedy--there are a couple of thse in this collection--and the title is "Safe and Soundproof."
so, ta-da! There you have it, my long lost Joan Aiken story collection, soon to be scanned and available for sharing.
About the book: These are possibly Aiken's darkest stories, darker even than _The Green Flash_, my other favorite collection, which probably accounts for why this collection doesn't get a lot of love. It's definitely not for read aloud to children, but would probably appeal to young adults who like spooky stories. Another aspect to these stories which probably account for it being one of her scarcest to be found collections is that many of the stories feature middle-aged or just plain old characters. A number of these older characters (who, in the way of Aiken stories, may or may not possess uncanny abilities) is that they are very content with their definitely eccentric lives, something which is hard to find in modern fiction. I love the way these people with their small magicks go about making the world, not dramatically, but quietly, a slightly better world to live in.
My favorite story, which I have described to other Aiken fans, none of whom ever remembered reading it (doesn't that make you crazy? it's as if you are a character in a Borges story, reading a slightly different edition with one extra story no one else has ever laid eyes upon; okay, that actually sounds pretty cool when I describe it that way)...
Anyway, my favorite story is about a young woman who sits in a storefront window and is paid to destroy any paper documents that the customer wishes to get rid of (yes, this is before paper shredders ertr a commonplace office item). This story is more of a screwball comedy--there are a couple of thse in this collection--and the title is "Safe and Soundproof."
so, ta-da! There you have it, my long lost Joan Aiken story collection, soon to be scanned and available for sharing.
