The Wine Dark Sea
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The Wine Dark Sea
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Narrated by:
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Reece Shearsmith
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By:
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Robert Aickman
About this listen
First published in the US in 1988 and in the UK in 1990, The Wine-Dark Sea contains eight unsettling stories that explore protagonists' fears and desires, at once illogical and terrifying, and culminate in a disturbing and enigmatic ending. Aickman's 'strange stories' (his preferred term for them) are a subtle exploration of psychological displacement and paranoia; his characters ordinary people that are gradually drawn into the darker recesses of their own minds. For fans of the horror genre, Robert Aickman is a must read.
Robert Fordyce Aickman was born in 1914 in London. In 1951, he published his first ghost stories in a volume called We Are the Dark, written in conjunction with Elizabeth Jane Howard, then went on to publish eleven further volumes of horror stories, two fantasy novels and two volumes of autobiography. Dubbed ‘the supreme master of the supernatural’, he won a World Fantasy Award and British Fantasy Award for his short fiction, and also edited the first eight volumes of The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories. Aside from his writing, Aickman was passionate about preserving British canals and founded the Inland Waterways Association in 1946. He died in February 1981.
Reece Shearsmith is a talented actor and writer. He is most famous for co-writing and starring in the award-winning The League of Gentlemen, along with Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Jeremy Dyson. In 2009, Shearsmith and Pemberton won Best New Comedy at the 2009 British Comedy Awards for Psychoville.
Reece Shearsmith has just finished filming Ben Wheatley’s horror A Field in England, out in July 2013.
©1988 Robert Aickman (P)2013 Audible LtdListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"I think that Aickman is one of those authors that you respond to on a very primal level. 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. Yes, the key vanished, but I don't know if he was holding a key in the hand to begin with. I find myself admiring everything he does from an auctorial standpoint. And I love it as a reader. He will bring on atmosphere. He will construct these perfect, dark, doomed little stories, what he called 'strange stories'" (Neil Gaiman)
"We are all potential victims of the powers Aickman so skilfully conjures and commands" (Robert Bloch)
"This century's most profound writer of what we call horror stories" (Peter Straub)
"Superb tales of suspenseful unease...a contemporary master of the genre" (Publishers Weekly)
"Of all the authors of uncanny tales, Aickman is the best ever… His tales literally haunt me; his plots and his turns of phrase run through my head at the most unlikely moments" (Russell Kirk)
What listeners say about The Wine Dark Sea
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 03-07-24
Not what I was expecting
Short stories in an elaborate style and eerie atmosphere. Slow paced with the occasional jolt.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mara
- 12-07-13
I got lost in a book.......
Where does The Wine Dark Sea rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Only one story in but I have been on a walk with my dog. The walk took 90 minutes but I have no memory of this time as I was utterly lost in the storytelling. It builds and you know it is not going to end well but you are with the protaganist every step of the way. BRILLIANT writing.....
What did you like best about this story?
Everything so far.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A. Abbott
- 08-09-13
Aickman's Psychological Evaluation of Humanity
What made the experience of listening to The Wine Dark Sea the most enjoyable?
The brevity with which Aickman captures excess in the human psyche.
What other book might you compare The Wine Dark Sea to, and why?
I have heard several comparisons of Aickman to Thomas Ligotti, whom I haven't heard quite yet, but who wrote an introduction to Le Locataire, based upon the excellent Polanski film.
Have you listened to any of Reece Shearsmith’s other performances? How does this one compare?
This was my first time hearing his narration abilities, but I think it was overall well done. He had a clear and calm manner.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I listened to each story all in one sitting, but at most could only listen to three stories at a time.
Any additional comments?
This book is worth checking out for anyone interested in more psychologically-based horror. I think Aickman did a very good job at capturing the subtlety of abstract concepts that lurk in the minds of alienated people, such as myself.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- fiona
- 07-08-13
spooky eery tales
Wonderful elaborate stories. Real explorations of inner worlds, paranoia and despair. Very atmospheric. The narration from shearsmith is perfect.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Pip
- 24-10-18
Fantastic
This was my first time venturing into the works of Robert Aickman and I fell in love quickly. To me, it felt like a mash up of Lovecraft and King, which is a perfect fit for me. Each story grabbed me in it's own way, and I found myself surprised by many of the twists and turns. Shearsmith brings the stories alive, and I would recommend this to any Aickman fan, or to horror fans in general.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 07-01-22
Beautifully read
The stories are strange and gorgeous. Aitken writes women particularly well. And the narration is perfect.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-02-23
Uncanny stories
These are mature thought provoking uncanny stories, some ghostly others psychological. The final story ‘The Wood’ is set in a hotel for insomniacs and is surely Aickman’s response to Thomas Mann’s ,Magic Mountain. Aickman can be darkly funny, he can be catty about the modern world and women. But the writing is atmospheric and engaging.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Reece
- 21-05-22
A wine dark sea by Robert Aikman
very grown up take on supernatual tales of the strange and macabre
perfect narration by Reece Spearsmith
cant imagine anyone more suited to this audio book addition
i will be purchasing each volume over the next few months
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- BJ MONTGOMERY
- 25-01-24
Great narration.
Great collection of stories.
Great narration.
The stories are separated by chapters.
Story names would have been better and easier to navigate.
Audible on a mission to make short story collections as annoying as possible!
Thiis better though, than some, that just have everything lumped into a 9hr block.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jonathan Mark Sidaway
- 26-06-24
The Inner Room...
...a perfect ghost story, its narrator a spoiled and selfish person. And yet ... RS does just right job on it.
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