Product Description
Ramsey Campbell is the worlds most honored living horror writer. Among his honors are four World Fantasy Awards, nine British Fantasy Awards, and three Bram Stoker Awards. Alone with the Horrors is a career-spanning collection of the best of Campbells short fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

I dont see it....
This guy is supposed to be a great horror writer, but all i can see is a bunch of incoherent ramblings.Nothing began to be bothersome.

Some of the best ever
Ramsey Campbell has produced some of the greatest short horror stories ever written. Most of them are in this volumn.
Mostly Campbell is influenced by H P Lovecraft rather than explicit gore or gratuitous violence - although there are always exceptions! So his writing style is completely different from say Stephen King, but both are masters of short horror fiction in their different ways.

The stories within are as scary as horror fiction can get. Amongst my favourites are "In the Bag", and perhaps best of all "The Companion". You know how with some novels (King on occasions is an example) after reading through hundreds of pages you get to the end and think - is that it? I.e. the ending never quite leaves you satisfied despite the brilliance of the story telling before (again King). Well you won't get this with Campbell's short stories, his end with a punch, metaphorically a knock-out one to your head...

Another splendid volumn to get if this one becomes unavailable is Dark Companions which contains many of the same stories. You'll probably only get this 2nd hand but its worth searching out.

Horror stories, each one more chilling than the last
I couldn't possibly read "Alone with the Horrors" straight through in one sitting. Ramsey Campbell has the gift of isolating his readers from their comfortable surroundings (I read these stories sitting next to our Christmas tree, surrounded by snoring cats), and plunging them into a freezing, lightless abyss. I wouldn't recommend more than one or two stories at a time. Those readers already depressed should not read them at all. I've become literally ill reading some of this author's stories, e.g. "The Guide," "The Chimney," and "The Companion"---not grossed out as after a Stephen King story, but sick with horror. There has not been an author of supernatural terror like this one since the heyday of M.R. James.

Although "Alone with the Horrors" is an almost complete compendium of Campbell's short fiction from 1961 - 1991, such tales as "The Guide" are excluded as they were written in a style not entirely his own ("The Guide" was written after the manner of M.R. James.) The following is a sample of the included stories:

"The Tower of Yuggoth" (1961) - My advice to editors of short story collections is, for the new reader's sake, don't arrange the stories in order by date written. Campbell's first published story is a Lovecraft pastiche, complete with the scion of a decayed New England family tottering about the sinister, moon-lit swamps, and doing unspeakable business with the Elder Gods. He is driven mad by the sight of "the ebony void of space" and the creatures that crawl about there, but he lives long enough (naturally) to gasp out twenty pages of Lovecraftian drivel. I wish the rule-of-exclusion had been applied to "The Tower of Yuggoth" instead of "The Guide."

(There are so many humans doing business with the Elder Gods these days, you'd think They'd form a franchise and open outlets at the local malls.)

"The Interloper" (1968) - Two schoolboys visit "The Catacombs" during lunch break. It turns out not to be a music club. If Ramsey Campbell really had teachers like the ones he depicts in this story (be sure to read his introduction to this collection), I can understand where he gets the inspiration for his horror fiction. Don't let your kids read this story. They'll never go back to school.

"The Companion" (1973) - So much great horror takes place at carnivals, and this story is one of the best. It scared the bejaysus out of Stephen King (see his nonfiction book on horror, "Danse Macabre") and it did the same to me.

"The Chimney" (1975) - A young boy is afraid of what might come down the chimney in his bedroom on Christmas Eve. I thought I had wrung all of the terror out of this story once the boy grew up and became a librarian, but I was wrong. "The Chimney" saves its gut-punch for the very end.

"Hearing is Believing" (1979)--Have you ever had a dream with multiple awakenings, each one more horrible than the last? In a sense, this story epitomizes the whole book. It is "The Tower of Yuggoth" distilled by twenty-eight years of practice into something much more horrible than any tentacled thing that cracked open the sky above New England.

Don't be alone with this book
I couldn't possibly read "Alone with the Horrors" straight through in one sitting.Ramsey Campbell has the gift of isolating his readers from their comfortable surroundings (I read these stories sitting next to our Christmas tree, surrounded by snoring cats), and plunging them into a freezing, lightless abyss.I wouldn't recommend more than one or two stories at a time.Those readers already depressed should not read them at all.I've become literally ill reading some of this author's stories, e.g. "The Guide," "The Chimney," and "The Companion"---not grossed out as after a Stephen King story, but sick with horror.There has not been an author of supernatural terror like this one since the heyday of M.R. James.

Although "Alone with the Horrors" is an almost complete compendium of Campbell's short fiction from 1961 - 1991, such tales as "The Guide" are excluded as they were written in a style not entirely his own ("The Guide" was written after the manner of M.R. James.)The following is a sample of the included stories:

"The Tower of Yuggoth" (1961) - My advice to editors of short story collections is, for the new reader's sake, don't arrange the stories in order by date written.Campbell's first published story is a Lovecraft pastiche, complete with the scion of a decayed New England family tottering about the sinister, moon-lit swamps, and doing unspeakable business with the Elder Gods.He is driven mad by the sight of "the ebony void of space" and the creatures that crawl about there, but he lives long enough (naturally) to gasp out twenty pages of Lovecraftian drivel.I wish the rule-of-exclusion had been applied to "The Tower of Yuggoth" instead of "The Guide."

(There are so many humans doing business with the Elder Gods these days, you'd think They'd form a franchise and open outlets at the local malls.)

"The Interloper" (1968) - Two schoolboys visit "The Catacombs" during lunch break.It turns out not to be a music club.If Ramsey Campbell really had teachers like the ones he depicts in this story (be sure to read his introduction to this collection), I can understand where he gets the inspiration for his horror fiction.Don't let your kids read this story.They'll never go back to school.

"The Companion" (1973) - So much great horror takes place at carnivals, and this story is one of the best.It scared the bejaysus out of Stephen King (see his nonfiction book on horror, "Danse Macabre") and it did the same to me.

"The Chimney" (1975) - A young boy is afraid of what might come down the chimney in his bedroom on Christmas Eve.I thought I had wrung all of the terror out of this story once the boy grew up and became a librarian, but I was wrong."The Chimney" saves its gut-punch for the very end.

"Hearing is Believing" (1979)--Have you ever had a dream with multiple awakenings, each one more horrible than the last?In a sense, this story epitomizes the whole book.It is "The Tower of Yuggoth" distilled by twenty-eight years of practice into something much more horrible than any tentacled thing that cracked open the sky above New England.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Startlingly Real!
The "star" of Secret Story is Dudley, a man relegated to a tedious civil servant position and who still lives with his meddling somewhat busybody mother.Secret Story is gritty and real in away that makes for slightly uncomfortable reading...we feel slightly sorry for him, even slightly embarrassed for who he is, yet there is something darker and more menacing underneath Dudley's seemingly bland exterior.As we are introduced to Dudley, he's done something quite unspeakable, but is never traced back to him (and it's apparently not he first time), unfortunately for Dudley, his mum is always meddling, pushing and prodding him to be something more, convinced that the world just doesn't recognize him for the genius he is and feeling that if he just asserted himself a bit he'd get the recognition he deserves...we all know a mother and son like this pair, but they are stereotypically delicious in the details of Dudley's dreary life that we can recognize and understand...even if we don't particularly like it.It is his mother's meddling that starts him on the long road to hell and we all get to watch in uncomfortable silence as Dudley wins a literary competition (which his mother entered him into without his knowledge or consent) and his secret stories suddenly become publicly known...and what happens as Dudley spirals out of control is both chilling and hard to watch.

What makes Secret Story a success is that he's rather an everyman...he could be anybody...anybody could be a Dudley he's that dull guy in the office who no one really notices, yet he's something darker and more malevolent!This tale is well written and realistic in way that'll make you think twice before getting to close to that train platform or wonder if that guy behind you IS following you!Wonderful late night reading!You'll love and hate this story and before you're done; your skin will be crawling!I give it a solid A, it's suitably bleak, drab and depressingly british (which strongly evokes the flavor of Dudley's life) while also managing to be creepy, uncomfortable, and down right inhuman.

A curious tale about a psychopath and his mum
Twenty-something Dudley Smith lives in Merseyside, England, with his divorced and doting mother, Kathy. He also works at an employment agency in Merseyside, where he interviews the jobless in search of work. It's a boring, unrewarding job for Dudley, his having to deal with his drab co-workers and a listless public all day long. Dudley, however, has another occupation, a secret past-time writing fantasies in a private journal he keeps in his laptop hidden away in his bedroom. Everyday, when Dudley returns home from work, he sits down to his laptop in the privacy of his second story bedroom, and elaborates on these short stories written for his eyes only. But are these stories really fantasies; or could it be they are recorded souvenirs of ghastly deeds Dudley himself has already committed? For Dudley, you see, has written a considerable anthology depicting the grisly deaths of young women, which bear an uncanny resemblance to real but unsolved murders.

One day while he is at work, his busybody, meddling mother decides to poke around his bedroom while straightening it up for him. She comes across his laptop. Curious about the stories he has never allowed her to read, she snoops in his computer and reads one of them. Impressed with how good the story reads, Kathy decides her darling but modest Dudley deserves recognition. On the sly she enters the story in an amateur writing contest hosted by a magazine in Merseyside, which features unknown talent in the area. The magazine editors like Dudley's story, and decide to publish it.

What follows in this clever tale told by horror master Ramsey Campbell is fascinating, creepy reading that will keep you turning the pages to the very end without break ... if you are fortunate enough to be able to set the time aside for uninterrupted reading. SECRET STORY is very original in concept, and very British in pen. I loved it.

Highly recommended.

great behind the scenes thriller
Civil servant Dudley Smith writes a short story based on a true crime murder that occurred on an underground train.He entered his work in a Mersey Mouth magazine contest and won.However, the parents of a real victim of an identical homicide threaten to sue Mersey Mouth and Dudley.

Instead of being upset editor Patricia Martingale is euphoric that they found a local talent and encourages Dudley to write more such tales starring "Mr. Killogram".A movie director is also interested.However, unbeknownst to Patricia or her cohorts at Mersey Mouth or perhaps they are just not interested since the bottom line is all that counts, Dudley can only write what he has performed; thus when the movie director asks for script revisions, Dudley needs real life victims to rewrite; when Patricia asks for a magazine article, Dudley needs real victims to write about.At the rate Dudley is going he might win an Oscar for screenwriting and an Agatha in the same year; that is if he is not caught for his realism.

This is a terrific crime thriller that showcases in cleverly restrained ways how Ramsey Campbell believes what the author's obligation is to his reader, his cast especially the lead character and to him or herself.Dudley keeps the tale together as a psychopath willing to exploit the avarice of the film and publications industries while symbiotically, the film director and the magazine editor are willing to exploit Dudley as they do not want to know the truth.The shock to SECRET STORY is the seemingly mundane mutual exploitation of the lead characters that leads to a great behind the scenes thriller.

Harriet Klausner
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Customer Reviews (5)

The myths continue...
Ramsey Campbell was a boy who loved Lovecraft's works and started to write stories set in Lovecraft's world of Elder Gods, zombies and ancient powers.While he went off to create and write about his own horrors and world this book, Cold Print, is many of the short stories he wrote based on Lovecraft's universe.But he just didn't copy old stories and monsters that Lovecraft designed.He expanded on the myths and legends, adding his own creatures, worlds and images, giving us more without taking away from the mystery and delight of the unknown darkness that swam just beyond our sight.
I bought the book for one of the short stories, The Insects from Shaggai, but found all the stories worth reading.Mr. Campbell not only builds on the works of Lovecraft but also starts to use his older stories as history to create the foundation for other stories.New or used, this book is a great find.

The essential collection of Campbell's Mythos contributions
Ramsey Campbell's stories are an important contribution to the development of the mythology begun by Lovecraft and continued by Derleth and others.Rather than pastiche well-developed Lovecraftian entities and places, Campbell takes the core ideas (ancient survivals, subterranean catacombs, monstrous gods of old, etc.) and builds a parallel, contemporary mythology of his own.This one is set in the forests, lakes, and beaches of Britain, different books of horror such as "The Revelations of Glaaki", and different beings of power, such as Eihort and Y'Golonac.

Campbell's tales are inherently Lovecraftian, but the different context creates a new flow to the stories.Lovecraft's back-atmosphere is Puritan New England; Campbell's back-atmosphere is Celts and Druids - the same, but different.Lovecraft looked at the pre-modern with both deisre and horror; Campbell makes you look at the modern in the same way.I think that he particularly inspires a certain revulsion to the body (think "Before the Storm" and "The Faces at Pine Dunes").

The works included here are some of Campbell's best, and have certainly been drawn on most heavily by others writing in the Cthulhu mythos.The list includes "The Insects from Shaggai", "The Inhabitant of the Lake", "Before the Storm", "Cold Print", "The Tugging", and "The Faces at Pine Dune."I was disappointed to see that "The Franklyn Paragraphs" was not included.Much of Ramsey Campbell's Lovecraftian fiction is being reprinted by Chaosium, but it is done, unfortunately, in a piecemeal fashion.This is probably the best collection that you can still find.

An immensely important expansion of Lovecraft's Mythos
Cold Print contains a number of stories based on and influenced by Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.I find Campbell unique among those writers who have followed in the footsteps of the master of the macabre, and the author's introduction to this volume of short stories is quite illuminating.Campbell based much of his early work on standard Lovecraft themes and styles.Over time, however, he found himself rather frustrated with the types of Cthulhu Mythos stories being written by modern writers, feeling that most of them dealt far too much with the genealogies of the old gods lying outside space and time and concentrated far too much on exaggerations of the writing style of Lovecraft.His insights give me a much greater appreciation of the later works collected here, particularly The Voice at the Beach, of which he seems to be the most proud.Campbell most appreciates Lovecraft's ability to suggest far more than he showed, and in his own emulation of this central theme his later works strike some, such as Lovecraft authority Lin Carter, as insufficiently Lovecraftian.While other writers have expended a great amount of effort filling in the gaps of Lovecraft's list of monsters and otherworldly forces, Campbell has tried to dramatically expand the original vision of the Mythos.

The progression of Campbell's writing is easy to discern in these pages.The oldest of these fifteen stories, dating back to the 1960s, are grounded in the traditional Lovecraftian universe.What you find here are dark, corrupted churches where dark deeds have shunned the light of Christianity, ancient, reptilian gods buried deep in the ground struggling to reemerge with the help of frightening acolytes, lives preserved for hundreds of years by means of secret rites best left undiscovered, frightening journal accounts of hideous revelations leading to the ultimate sacrifice of those who stumbled upon ancient knowledge accidentally, a plethora of references to dark tomes such as the Revelations of Glaaki, and explorations of obscure references to the insect-beasts from Shaggai and entities such as the blind god Azathoth and Daoloth, the Render of the Veils.

Eventually, the stories began to change as Campbell sought new inspiration from the Mythos in the 1970s and 1980s.Among the Pictures Are These, for example, is not a story at all, but rather a description of a number of dark sketches drawn by the author in his youth.The Tugging is built around the sharing of dark dreams by father and son, and an esoteric calling from the dream world that determines the protagonist's thoughts and movements.The Faces at Pine Dunes remains firmly entrenched in modernity, as a young man seeks to understand his parents' incessant traveling and, more importantly, their decision to remain outside the dark woods of Pine Dunes; the story's culmination before a bog from which a gurgling, mud-drenched entity emerges betokens a human's return to that which lies outside more than an invasion of unworldly forces striving to regain control over our world.The Voice of the Beach is clearly the most important story to be found here.A cursory reading results in disappointment because it mentions nothing about Old Ones or dark grimoires filled with forbidden writing, nor does it showcase the type of all-pervasive menace Lovecraft constructed his dark tales around.A rereading of the book's introduction, however, allows one to place the story in the context of Campbell's unique vision.This remarkably new and abstract form of Lovecraftian art betrays hidden wonders writhing below a surface seldom scratched by other writers in the field.

I actually enjoy reading Mythos tales told in the traditional vein, and for this reason I find Campbell's earlier stories much more fun to read than his more esoteric, later ones.However, I am much more impressed by the later tales reflecting a totally new type of storytelling based on the original influence of Lovecraft.Campbell's criticism of those who search for the heart of Lovecraft and the Mythos in genealogies of the Ancient Ones and in the traditional writing style of the Cthulhuian canon, refusing to consider untraditional stories such as those Campbell has contributed, is very telling, enlightening, and inspiring, and I for one can only praise Campbell for the groundbreaking contributions he has made in the field of Lovecraft-influenced horror.

Lovecraft for the nineties
Ok so Campbell has been described as M R James for the nineties but his Lovecraft is pretty good too. Actually this book makes a great introduction to Lovecraft whose prose can often be quite dense and off putting for thebeginner. Campbells tales are hit and miss but mostly hits, especially theeerie 'Inhabitant of the Lake' which definately got my pulse racing.

Alot of the stories are set around the same area, the rather creepy townof Brichester (fabricated) which adds a nice touch of familiarity. Ok sohis descriptions can often make you leap back into reality with a smile onyour face due to their excess but this is lovecraft territory and Campbelladds this well-written and often terrifying novel to the genre. Nice one!

THIS WILL GET YOUR GOAT(SWOOD)
What do I like about this book.Well to put it simply the tales.Or should I say the ideas and how he puts them across.Ok so the monster's description's are lacking but you try to describe(or spell) an amorphous gelatinous blobwith the odd tenticle and see how you fare.Each tale is different butsticks to premise that the people in the tales all die,or some runscreaming and die.Or run screaming and end locked up in a paddedcell.Though surprisingly a few do survive but none are left unchanged,sometimes both mentally and physicly.Such as Roy leakey who "became likethem".One tale has a bit of a ironic streak in it (to me anyway!),which is the Will of Stanley Brooke.The essential tales to read areThe Insects from Shaggai,The Inhabitant of the lake,The Moon Lens,and ColdPrint. All right,with those essential Mytho's tale's I'll just cheack mymany misspelling's(not too many this time)then leave you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Hands-Down The Best Campbell Collection
Though it lacks the career-defining arc of ALONE WITH HORRORS, I really feel like this is the strongest collection of Campbell's stories, and thereby one of the strongest horror collections period.This can sit on the shelf beside GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY, easy.

When I reach the conclusion of any given Campbell story, I find myself re-reading the tale immediately, to catch all the little hints and bits of foreshadowing that he'd been dangling in my face all along.These tales are especially strong in that regard.Better every time you read them--there's always something more waiting for you.

A Supernatural Fiction Masterpiece
Quite simply, this is one of the best collections of ghost stories ever written, worthy to stand on the shelf beside the work of M.R. James, Henry James, Robert Aickman, Edgar Allan Poe and whomever else you place in your horror pantheon. It is regrettable that the U.S. edition lacks the terrifying "The Trick," which appeared later in WAKING NIGHTMARES - the U.K. and U.S. editions of DARK COMPANIONS differ by 4 tales - but this is made up for by the presence of the quite different, but equally terrifying "The Pattern". How was this excellent book ever allowed to lapse out of print?

Stories that will give you nightmares
Few writers can even come close to the strange, nightmarish stories of Ramsey Campbell and, in this collection, he is in top form.Several of these tales will keep you up late at night, looking in the shadows,listening to those stranges noise that keep getting louder, as if they weregetting closer.Don't read it alone. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Campbell as a teenager
Ramsey Campbell was "discovered" by August Derleth, who published this collection of stories when Campbell was 19. Here is the genesis of all the staples of the maturing Campbell--Brichester, The Revelations of Glaaki, and all sorts of other Lovecraft pastiche.

If you ever happen to see this book, look it over as an extraodinary historical document in the career of one of our more literate contemporary writers in the horror genre. ... Read more

Product Description
Ramsey Campbell's novels have justly won him acclaim as one of the best writers of the age.A three-time winner of the World Fantasy Award and an eight-time winner of the British Fantasy Award, his writing has struck a chord with readers worldwide.

But throughout his career he has also written insightful, terrifying, and disturbing short fiction.Ghosts & Grisly Things is a collection of the best of Campbell's short works from the past two decades.This book also features the story "Ra*e" which appears here for the first time anywhere.
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Customer Reviews (6)

Terrifyingly anti-climactic
I found this book confusing and disapointing. I like subtlety, but after reading many of these stories, I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be scared of. I would go back and re-read the storys, thinking that I had missed something, but I never found anything, the stories were actually just not scary.

For example, one story ends with a guy giving out his ex wife's
address to a very non scary, but annoying, couple so that they can deliver some pictures. Oh but the ex told him not to! 0o0o0o0o scaaaaaaaary!

I bought this book because I was impressed by one of the stories, "Going Under", which I read in a horror anthology. A fat guy trampling a crowd of people isn't too scary, but I found it extremely funny and dark.

Anyway, if you like to be scared, and you're under the age of 50, this book might not be for you.

not grisly
there were a few good ideas here. also some good writing. but the stories never seem to have a suspenceful enough climax. the stories were full of irrelevant stuff, like "he went to work", dwelling, and too long dialogues. the suspence died. some of the ideas were actually kind of interesting. inventive in a way. one story was actually good. but not enough is being invested in suspence, too much in people's actions and dialogues. if only there was more focus on descriptions and suspence. and some of the stories were also uninventive.

Another fine Campbell collection.
Ramsey Campbell, Ghosts and Grisly Things (Tor, 1998)

I sometimes wonder where books get their titles. In this case, I have to lay the blame on some copy editor at Tor who hadn't even bothered reading the manuscript, or at best skimmed it a tad. There's the odd ghost in this collection of stories, and a grisly thing or two, but anyone who's read Ramsey Campbell before should be well aware by now that the horror which Campbell makes his stock in trade has far less to do with such external fear-inducing stimuli. Stephen King writes in the opening pages of Cujo about how our fears change as we grow older, how the monster in the closet becomes the horror of not knowing how you're going to pay the rent on time. Within that perspective, Campbell is very much an adult horror writer; while his characters find themselves in widely disparate situations doing widely disparate things, the horrors that plague them are usually those who invoke the same fear as not knowing whence the rent check. And perhaps this is why Campbell has yet to find the audience in America that King and his monsters or Koontz and his aliens have found. When the monster is something other than the average Joe (even if he's a serial killer or some other damaged version of humanity, he's still "other"), there's a cushion of safety against which the reader can lean. When the monster is a guy on a cell phone ("Going Under"), a return to one's hometown ("Welcomeland"), or the banal passengers you're stuck with on the train ("Missed Connection"), you can't help but identify. We've all been there and done that.

Campbell is probably better known as a novelist, but he's published a number of collections of top-quality short stories. Add this one to the list. He's the grand master of writing the type of horror that has fueled the recent careers of such lights as Kathe Koja, Lucius Shepard, and Patrick McGrath; fans of such writers should have no problems glomming onto what Campbell's doing, and those few who haven't discovered him yet deserve to. ****

Campbell is still the undisputed Master of the Horror Tale
As you'd expect from Ramsey Campbell, GHOSTS AND GRISLY THINGS includes the most chilling, well written, powerful, and haunting horror tales you'll find out there today. While I don't think this collection of tales ranks with his best (eg, the horror masterpieces DARK COMPANIONS and THE HEIGHT OF THE SCREAM; both of which deserve to be considered as modern-day masterworks of the horror tale comparable to the best of M.R. James, Shirley Jackson, Fritz Leiber, Robert Aickman and H.P. Lovecraft), it is nonetheless one of the strongest collections since the Campbell retrospective ALONE WITH THE HORRORS.

The two vaguely positive reader reviews preceding this one just don't come close to doing justice to this book. It appears that the extraordinary, though often subtle, power of this collection of stories has eluded both reviewers. Furthermore, despite their claims to the contrary, there are no tales within concerned with vampires, classic horror creatures, or necrophilia (which one reviewer mistakenly claims to be the subject of "Through the Walls").

It's fair to say that many readers, especially those only used to very straightforward, more mainstream horror writers like Dean Koontz or Stephen King, may not get the full impact of a typical Campbell tale on the first reading. Campbell's style is unique, natural, and evocative--though free of the pretentious, heavy-handed flourishes that some writers seemingly confuse for a style. His technique can also be extremely subtle. Readers accustomed to the more in-your-face attempts at shock that pepper mainstream fiction might not even pick up on some of the more suggested elements in his work.

Campbell is not a writer who heaps redundant detail upon the reader. He often says much in just a few words--thus igniting the reader's imagination, rather than swamping it with excess and irrelevancies. His writing frequently captures the elusive and ambiguous feel of nightmares. The horror of his tales never feels obvious or familiar, unlike the stock villains and unimaginative ghoulies that too much modern horror writing relies on. His demons are enigmatic; they arise inexplicably, like incarnations of the ingrained violence or decay of a haunted landscape, or the manifestations of one's worst fears. His imagery is often grotesque, and sometimes stomach-churningly gruesome, but always conveyed with the flair of a master artist: capturing images through an elegant prose as fluid as the strokes of an Impressionist painter, rather than heaping overheated writing upon itself in some desperate effort to summon a response in the reader.

At the same time, Campbell's fiction is rooted in a thoroughly convincing and unsentimental realism. His characters and their relationships, and his settings, from run-down urban backstreets to sunny and remote countryside, ring true in a manner horror fiction rarely even aspires to. Only once such a solid foundation has been established does the nightmarish begin to intrude, as it does with such unnerving inevitability throughout Campbell's work. Indeed, nobody--with the possible exceptions of such noteworthy talents as Robert Aickman and M. John Harrison--rivals Campbell at blurring the lines between finely drawn reality and the frighteningly twisted logic, dread-filled atmosphere, and horrific, indelible imagery of nightmare.

GHOSTS AND GRISLY THINGS offers a number of excellently crafted tales that recall Campbell's best. Some of its best tales are "Missed Connection", "Root Cause", "The Alternative", "Looking Out", "Between the Floors", "The Sneering", and "Welcomeland": a selection outstanding not just in its diversity and the brilliance of individual tales therein, but as a demonstration of the range and power of which the best horror fiction is capable. If tales like those listed above fail to move, disturb, or haunt a reader, I'd submit that the problem is not with the writing at all, but with the reader. Meanwhile, a few stories, such as "Where They Lived" and "McGonagall in the Head", balance the darkness of their visions with an equally black humor.

That's not to say I think the entire collection is flawless. As stated earlier I don't think GHOSTS AND GRISLY THINGS packs the wallop of Campbell's best fiction collections. There's a couple of fairly lightweight pieces here, particularly "Going Under" and "A Street Was Chosen"--though the latter successfully invokes the feel of a playfully mean-spirited cartoon by Charles Addams or Edward Gorey. My primary gripe is probably with the last entry, the novella "Ra*e", which, though a fine, chilling tale, ranks as one of the least impressive works I've read by him. "Ra*e" reads like one of Campbell's less successful stabs at a more mainstream market for thriller/serial killer fiction, which I think is a major step down for a writer of his ability. But nonetheless, even the weakest material here is of a quality rarely matched in horror writing in general.

So overall this book is a must-read work of modern horror fiction. It also makes a fine starting point for anyone yet to read Campbell's work. Keep in mind, if you merely seek escapist thrills and cheap shocks: you need not look into this book or anything else written by Ramsey Campbell. However, if you're after well crafted stories that demonstrate how vital, imaginative, and powerful horror fiction can be, tales that will stay with you after you've read them, then you may thank yourself for checking out GHOSTS AND GRISLY THINGS.

Grisly more than scary but quite good
Ramsey Campbell is more known for his novels such as SILENT CHILDREN and NAZARETH HILL.Still his previous anthologies have been well received (see ALONE WITH THE HORRORS: THE GREAT SHORT FICTION OF RAMSEY CAMPBELL 1961-1991 AND STRANGE THINGS AND STRANGER PLACES).So for Mr. Campbell to provide his audience with twenty tales that vary in terror (and quality) is not surprising.The subjects deviate from modern day scenarios to homage to classic horror creatures.

Not for everyone because Mr. Campbell's writing often lives up to his title, the stories are creative, quite depressing, yet often humorous.The stories diversify between physical horror (ask the charity runner, the vampires or the other alleged creatures of the night) to psychological terror (talk to the mother avenging her daughter's murder).All the stories are good, but the best contain characters forced to challenge real or imaginative phantoms.Hopefully readers will not have to wait five plus years for Mr. Campbell's next anthology.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

Very nice read
Ramsey published this book in 1983 and I'm so glad he did. I found this book very enjoyable--especially the first half when one gets to see the world from the killer's perspective--sometimes with enjoyable humor thrown in. This book is so unlike the writing styles of many American authors I'm familiar with.Granted, a lot of terms or sayings are "British" and therefore hard to follow, but his writing style more than makes up for it. This is the second Campbell novel I've read.His stories are slow-moving with a lot of detail. For me, the pace is perfect.The violence is never too much or repulsive. It's more the result of a long build-up.I would call this a "psychological thriller". At the end, I found that I was very sympathetic to the killer. The emotion was real and surprising.Way to go Ramsey!I look forward to reading another one of his novels.

Classic...
Ramsey Campbell has one of the most distinct voices in modern horror.He transcends the membrane between literary fiction and genre fiction.Many horror authors consider The Face That Must Die one of the best horror novels of all time, and that alone makes it worth reading.

It's not quite what you expect.The thing that most people find so disquieting is that it is told largely from the killer's point of view.Poppy Z. Brite likens it to Graham Greene's Brighton Rock.Campbell points out that (because of this) the novel is as much crime fiction as it is horror.

The thing about the killer is that he's not Hannibal Lecter.He's not brilliant or charming.He's not even strong (he has a bad leg).He's just a loser - close-minded, bigoted, and quite insane.

The new edition by Millipede Press is the one to get.It are a great small press that is dedicated to publishing classic works of horror (many of which would be headed for oblivion) in quality paperback editions.This one has an introduction by Poppy Z. Brite, a new afterward by Campbell, and the photographic art from the original version throughout the book.

psychological horror
This one was good.I really got into the villian.The only problem was that the guy became kind of preditable, so I didn't feel a constant tension.

Paranoia, violence, and realistic characterization
"The Face That Must Die" was a great read. This is my first experience with Ramsey Campbell, and it won't be the last.

The book starts off with two short stories, one semi-autobiographical and another brief story unrelated to "The Face That Must Die". The opening tale has Campbell speaking about his childhood and the paranoia he lived with under the roof of his mentally unbalanced mother. Campbell's descriptions of the increasing insanity of his mother are very well done, and he paints a sobering picture of how an ordinary person can become swallowed by their own personal demons. How does one cope with a loved one losing their mind? Read this great little tale and find out.

The second story is very short, and somewhat disturbing in its own right. Not a bad story, but it is forgettable compared to the introduction and the main course.

When the main event begins, the reader is treated to another fine examination of paranoid thinking and the consequences thereof. Our "heroes" all live in a small apartment complex, however none are anything more than average people living average lives. One married couple in particular elicit little sympathy from me, as they live their lives stuck in a rut of arguments and drug abuse, making little effort to improve their circumstances. I didn't like any of our protagonists, mostly because Campbell paints them so realistically that they could be real people; people I happen to dislike.

Our antagonist is a bit of an enigma, as his portions of the story are written from his own mad perspective. You never get a clear picture of him, even though the character makes a strong effort to apply reason and logic to his insane internal ravings. Campbell is masterful in his handling of this character and different readers gain different effects from the writing style. Example: darkgenius wrote an excellent review for this novel on this site, and he explains that Horridge lives in a cheap tenement. The impression I got, however, was that Horridge only THOUGHT he lived in the tenement, yet in reality lived as a homeless man on or near the grounds of said tenement. A small bone to pick, but very telling; Campbell expresses the mind of a person disassociated from reality so well that it creeps into each and every line of thought he has.

The plot revolves around Horridge thinking he knows who has been killing gay men in the area. He is convinced that this person lives in the same apartment complex as the other players in the novel, and wishes to intimidate the killer into a confession.Of course, things are not what they seem to be, and as the story develops it is the paranoid delusions of a madman that makes "The Face That Must die" so disturbing and fun.

My only complaint is that this novel lacks the depth necessary to make it a classic. The book is not shallow by any means, but the protagonists are, and the novel suffers a bit as a result. Still, I recommend it wholeheartedly to horror fans. Campbell deserves to have his stories back in print; he is every bit as good as other horror authors (Laymon, Little, Clegg) with large paperback distribution deals.

Quite a uniquely disturbing book of horror
The Face That Must Die is rather a disturbing read.Ramsey Campbell gives us a look inside the tortured mind of a killer, one who evoked a number of different emotions from me as the story progressed.The man Horridge is a sad, unhappy soul who has pretty much lost everything he once had, including his old home.He now lives in a section of cheap tenements which he regards as a concrete prison.His memories are full of tragic experiences, but the unpleasantness of what has already happened pales in comparison to the increasingly paranoid thoughts running through his disturbed mind.He believes that everyone is out to get him, and he is particularly suspicious of foreigners and gay men.The story begins with the backdrop of a couple of ghastly murders of gay men, and Horridge is convinced he has seen the killer.After a close encounter with the supposed murderer, he sets out to harass the man and thereby protect his own safety by letting him know that he is on to him.As his fears increase, he takes increasingly bold actions that his poor mind tells him are right and just.Simultaneous to his story we have a running commentary on the dysfunctional life of a husband and wife living in the same building as the man Horridge believes is the murderer.As is so often the case with Ramsey Campbell's characters, it is almost impossible to like them, especially the drug addict husband.Naturally, the paths of these main characters cross in the end to present the reader with a pretty effective conclusion to the novel.

The novel is not half as disturbing as Campbell's very personal introduction.In "At the Back of My Mind: A Guided Tour," he offers up an autobiographical account of his unusual childhood and the mental derangement of his mother.He basically never saw his father growing up, although he still lived in the same house with him.On her own, his mother basically lost her mind.Campbell describes her overwhelming fears: strangers would appear in her home and stare at her, she would never change clothes because she claimed someone stole her good clothes and replaced them with rags, her neighbors were trying to poison her, she became convinced that her home was not her own but another one that looked just like it, etc.Campbell acknowledges that his account sounds rather cold-hearted, but he felt it was important to say all these things; it is an attempt on his part to somehow describe why he writes the things he writes.It certainly does make the character of Horridge have much more of an impact on the reader, for he exhibits the same kinds of paranoia that Campbell's mother did.

The book also contains a strange little short story called "I Am It and It is I," which is a little disturbing in itself, but the meat of this literary meal of horror is to be found in the foreword and in the novel itself.The Face That Must Die is a fascinating read that, despite the typically bleak setting and troubled characters that seem to always fill Campbell's novels, is sure to set up permanent housekeeping in one of the darker corners of your mind.I can't say I've ever read another horror novel quite like this one. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (29)

brief review of overnight
i've read probably 80% of campbell's novels, and i thought this one--with its array of characters--was the best i'd read so far.

ITS NOT HORROR, BUT IT IS HORRIBLE
I gave it up after reading 52 pages with nothing much happening; I have better things to do than wait for mold to grow on the book, and maybe a monster will form from it.

This is my first sample of Ramsey Campbell's wares, and I'm not impressed.

Come for the books, stay for the horror.
Mr. Campbell takes his time developing the setting and the characters while sadistically reminding me of the worst of every terrible, empty working experience I've ever had. Very atmospheric and creepy. This was my introduction to Ramsey Campbell...I want some more.

I forced myself to finish it
I respect Ramsey Campbell.He is a master at his craft.I did not enjoy this book however.Structurally, dividing up the book between all the book store employees was interesting.Unfortunately, Campbell's characters are all a bunch of standoffish, snarky whiners who take jabs at one another at every opportunity.The conversations and dialogue is so ridiculously over-the-top "British" that it almost borders on parody.Here's my biggest complaint about the entire book, and how no one caught this is just beyond me: the store manager is American, newly transplanted from the States.He does not speak anything close to resembling American English.There is absolutely NOTHING that comes out of this character's mouth to indicate he is anything other than a lifelong Brit.Two recurring patrons of the store are obvious red herrings who meet a meaningless and 'footnote-esque' fate.After so many classic short stories by Mr. Campbell, which never fail to impress, this novel left me very disappointed.I feel guilty saying it because he is such a nice man, but pick something else by him instead.

When Horror Fails to Scare
I haven't read much horror fiction in years other than to dabble in the genre via an occasional Stephen King novel, and even those have become rarer and rarer for me lately. But, on the other hand, I've found myself drawn more and more to books about books or bookstores so when I noticed that Ramsey Campbell's The Overnight was set in an English bookstore I grabbed it despite my general misgivings concerning horror novels. Frankly, they don't scare me anymore and I find myself laughing at the "horror" more times than not. In that regard, this one did not turn out to be the exception.

Ramsey Campbell has long been one of the mainstays of horror fiction with more than two dozen titles to his credit, such as The Doll Who Ate His Mother, The Last Voice They Hear, Scared Stiff and Waking Nightmares. None are titles that would make me reach for my wallet but I was so intrigued by the fact that Campbell wrote The Overnight after having worked full time at the Cheshire Oaks branch of Borders for several months that I decided to give it a try.

Strange things began to happen at the new Texts bookstore almost as soon as its American manager opened it for business. An unusually dense fog settled over the strip center in which it is located and never lifted again, the computers seemed to have minds of their own (I know, Bill Gates, nothing so crazy about that), one employee suddenly lost the ability to read, books were found damaged on the floor each morning despite having been properly shelved the night before, a strange, chill dampness invaded the store and customers stayed away in droves.

Soon enough the new store is ranked as the very worst of all the Texts locations and Woody, the American manager, is told to expect a visit from corporate bigwigs who are flying to England to see the problems for themselves. In desperation, Woody schedules the entire staff for the all-night marathon shelving and clean-up project that brings the novel to its horrific climax. Although I found myself chuckling at the "horror," Campbell does provide an insider's look at some of the drudgery associated with working in one of the big chain bookstores, the constant rush to get new books out of the stockroom and onto the shelves, the never ending battle to get every book back to its proper place at the end of the day despite the best efforts of customers to misplace them, and dealing with destructive customers being chief among them.

If you enjoy horror novels, and if they really do scare you, this is one of the better written ones that you are likely to find. If you are more attracted to the novel by the bookstore setting than by the horror, you will have to judge for yourself whether or not, at 396 pages, this one is for you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Dream A Little Dream
I don't usually read this sort of thing, and I still can't quite remember why I purchased this book, pigeonholed into the "horror" genre. But here is my experience: The characters are pasteboard cutouts in the worst sense, the philosophy or psychology presented to make it all plausible by the character Dr. Kent is inane and one has a sort of lost in a not-so-funhouse feeling through the reading of the greater part of it.And yet, despite all these literary shortcomings, despite the fact that I was almost certain that I couldn't possibly give this tripe more than two stars through the first 400 pages, the book works.That is, it achieves what I suppose to be its end - inducing a true sense of dread in the reader (or this one).

The work is indeed creepy in that this sense of dread (clichéd, I know) truly doesn't creep up on one until the last 100 pages, before which one imagines one has been reading ungrammatical rubbish (Someone really must show Campbell when to use who and whom.)But, prospective reader, imagine this seed planted fairly early on in the book (p.135) blossoming - if that's quite the word - in your mind as you plough on - cluelessly, for the most part - through the rest of it:

"She remembered asking Mummy what death was.It was like going to sleep and not waking up, Mummy had told her, which had sounded reassuring until Susan had realized that if you never woke up you might never be able to stop dreaming."

I'm sure we've all had the experience of waking suddenly from a nightmare (which is what the book slowly becomes) and reassuring ourselves - as our pulse settles down - that the world remains more or less what it was before we drifted off.

What if that simply never happened one night?

I just didn't get it
After reading three other books of this author which I liked a lot, this was a disappointment. I must admit that I just didn't get the plot. For example what did Molly do to the policeman which made him confess the murder? And who or what was the always sleeping old women at Joyces' appartment. And so on... After 500 pages I'm still as unknown as after the first 100 pages. I give it two stars because it's nicely written. Some explicit and emotional scenes I liked a lot.

Too Bad It's Out of Print
It's really too bad that Incarnate, as well as many other Ramsey Campbelltitles, are out of print.This guy is good.I've read a handful of hiswork, and have never failed to be impressed.Now, he is not for everyone. He has sort of a dense way of saying things sometimes, and you'll findyourself having to reread a sentence to make sense of it.Some of this isthe fact that he's British (I'm American), but that's not all of it.It'slike HE knows what he means, but he doesn't say it clearly.That is hisone downfall, but by no means a showstopper.While it was once anannoyance for me, now I just see it as a Ramsey Campbell quirk.Thatwarning aside, this author is well worth reading.His novels are unique,eerie, and always contain twists and turns.You will not find a"typical" horror story by Campbell; it will be fresh and new. Incarnate got off to a slow start, but I knew from previous experience thatthe action would probably be worth waiting for, and it was.It starts witha flashback to a research experiment where 5 people who can "dream thefuture" are brought together.You're not real sure at the beginningwhat exactly is going on, or what significance any event has.But as thestory unravels, bit by eerie bit, you find yourself drawn into the livesand fears of each character.By about 3/4 of the way through the book, youwill have worked yourself into such a sense of doom and foreboding, thatyou may have trouble sleeping (I did)!I don't want to give anything away,because this book is worth reading all the way through so you get the fullsense - and shock - of the surprises.The only reason I give this a 4instead of a 5 is because of the previously-mentioned language style. Highly recommended!

Campbell is the master of creeping, psychological horror.
Being already a fan of Ramsey Campbell, I went into this book with high expectations. It's by no means a recent book of his, but I just now discovered it. Campbell does NOT disappoint. The story centers on five people brought together for an experiment in precognative dreaming. During the course of the experiment, they share a common, horrifying vision. The story then skips ahead eleven years to find all five of the subjects are beginning to dream the future again after years of suppressing their visions. Campbell's style is such that he can make the most fantastical things that happen to his characters seem perfectly common place. I found myself stopping and re-reading passages because I read right through them and then said to myself, "What did he just say?" and realize that something insane happened and Campbell never changed his tone. It can be unsettling sometimes, which is why I like Ramsey Campbell so much. All his books are like that. Incarnate ranks r! ight up there with his brilliant The Parasite and The Doll Who Ate His Mother. A good introduction to Campbell's style and a great story. ... Read more

Product Description
When his father disappears, Gavin Meadows's search uncovers a race of semihuman beings that have existed in, and under, the city for centuries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Just like fine wine, after effects set in later!
After you finished the book, the whole book replays in your mind, that is, if you READ the book and not browsed it.
The book is long but it just adds more to the tension and build up, you cannot browse the pages since, if you miss even ONE sentence, you will miss a lot, but at the same time,you want to know what will happen! so it is must to READ on! Just like T M Wright, he will change the whole perspective in one sentence. I believe that horror book should leave impact in your mind after you finished it. This book does the same with HUGE bang. The almost constant raining just adds atmosphere. You have to read-visualize and be there. This is written in fist person naration- presant tense so facts will reveal to you at the same time they reveals to narrator. If this is his latest book then I must say that he has not lost his magic of writing creepy books and that is good. This is more like John le Carre and other British masters- the language and all.

He is known as 'horror writer's horror writer'. Means, horror writers read his book to get their 'whatever we get by reading horror books'.

Not his best, but worth reading
An atsmopheric book and yes, a little tedious at places, but I thought the references to trickling viscous water, constant rain, growing thirst and dubious motives of the police and his girlfriend drew the reader on. It was predictable and I agree that it would have made a better short story or novelette. I rate it a 3 based on the descriptive passages and the character development of Gav.I found it hard to put down and the descriptions of historical places were relevant to the character and his profession.

A book both masterful and uneventful
I've read some of Ramsey Campbell's work before, and was looking forward to reading this tale of strange happenings in Liverpool...boy, was I disappointed. I don't normally review books unless they stand out to me in some way, and unfortunately this one did--in a negative fashion.

It began with a great premise; a historical tour guide in Liverpool finds his father has gone missing after an altercation at the library over a mysterious bundle of papers that are claimed not to exist. From here we ride with the protagonist, Gavin Meadows, as he goes home, talks to the police, goes to his parents' house, goes home again, has sex with his girlfriend, goes to work...you get the idea. Although the book has a wonderfully distinct "flavor" to it, nothing else about it is distinct. There is no clear picture of the protagonist, his family or girlfriend, or even a good idea of what bad thing is out there throughout the entire novel. I found myself having to re-read parts of it, confused by Campbell's first-person narrative and vague descriptions, just so I could figure out what was happening. As an avid reader, it is very rare that I have to force myself to finish a book, but that's what I had to do! From beginning to end, this book was a total bore.

I hate to leave a negative review, knowing what difficult work a novel is, but this one really shouldn't have made it into print in the shape it's in. I don't recommend this book at all.

poor writing style, no plot
My first thoughts on reading this were, "did anyone proof-read this?"
The actually sentence structure and terms of phrase make no sense at all. Is it in english? Once I got past the impossible writing style, I was left with a book that sounds like a descriptive essay. The writer is like,"I walked down street B, which was once a cannery, and turned left at old street D which once held the gum factory, and looking up the parallel street D, which was drained to the adjacent street by the old candy store from many years ago. Two blocks past is the semi circular fountain that once was where the Ripper took a leak."
Ah...WHAT??????
The whole novel read like that. If you cut all that nonsense out, the book would be 25 pages long.........
Also, there is ZERO character description or development.
Avoid this book at all costs.....

Broken record
I hate to say it, since I have been a huge fan of Campbell since the mid-80s, but this one stinks. Nothing going on, no point really. Just water seeping everywhere, misshapen heads, etc.I can't finish this book, and I've only 60 pages to go.
After reading the reviews I see no reason to finish it, since there seems to be some agreement that nothing happens in this book.Another thing, the puns (although his trademark) are so obscure sometimes and so pervasive that I tired of them quickly.I never felt that way reading his other stuff.
Like I said, it hurts to say it but the old man may be on his way out... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Great Build, but a Poor Ending
I wanted so much to just love this book, but I'm sorry, I just don't. Campbell is great with building tension in his novels. This one is no different. As the story progresses, I felt as if the lead character and a major life-changing fate was bearing toward a collision course.

However, once I reached the ending, I was soundly disappointed. All the buildup and all the tension was summed up with a one-chapter ending that lasted all of maybe three pages. It was as if Campbell was writing this book "his way" until he looked up and saw a deadline looming, so he rushed to finish it.

Do I recommed this? Sure, it's a great and tense novel, but just be warned - the ending is very weak.

Atmospheric story...Publisher's Weekly reviews rant
This story has a feeling like "The Wicker Man" or Thomas Tryon's "Harvest Home". I think the narrative here is more readable though. Where this novel excelled for me is in creating those spooky moments, that almost surreal scary atmosphere that has you wanting to keep all the lights on as you read. In the end I felt a little too much went on in the story, and the feeling of horror was interrupted by all the running around. It seemed to suffer for lack of focus. Still the concept was well executed and the book overall was a very interesting read.

Now for Publishers Weekly - why oh why does their review reveal almost every plot point in the story? I mean, had I read that before the book, it would really have killed some of the suspense and mystery for me. It's supposed to be a review, not a fairly detailed summary of the story. Please Amazon, keep the other editorial reviews but I think you should omit Publishers Weekly. This isn't the first "review" by them that I felt basically ruins the book for readers.

One of the best ever written!
This was the book that really got me hooked on reading horror novels when it came out.It is a pretty strange story about ancient evil tied up with an old supressed Bela Logosi/ Boris Karloff movie.Ramsey Campbell is such a wonderful writer that I was hooked from the beginning all the way to the end!

Ramsey Campbell's Finest Novel
ANCIENT IMAGES IS A brilliantly creepy novel that fully lives up the claustrophobic terror of Campbell's short fiction. Campbells' ability to create a scene of terror in broad daylight is unparalelled. I would certainly recommend this book highly to readers of intelligent, cerebral horror.

A work of deliciously atmospheric psychological horror
Ancient Images is a wonderful horror novel, more than making up for a few plot flaws with an incredible atmosphere which slowly pulls you further and further into the story.The novel offers a terrific "hook" that many horror aficionados such as myself are almost powerless to resist: the search for a lost, almost mythical horror movie starring both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.The film, Tower of Fear, has never been seen, and the rumors surrounding its filming speak of strange happenings and almost ghostly events which supposedly frightened many of the crew and cast so badly that no one even cared that the final product essentially disappeared from the face of the earth before anyone could see it.Now, however, one professional movie buff (Graham) has found a copy after years of searching for it.He invites his friend, film editor Sandy Allan, to see its unveiling at his apartment, but when Sandy arrives, the film is gone.She is then horrified to see her friend jump from the roof of the adjacent building and plunge to his death.When a pompous film critic derides her late friend's quest for a movie that he says never existed, Sandy sets herself the task of finding the movie and vindicating her friend's claims.All she has to go on is a list of contacts Graham made in his search, consisting mainly of men who worked on the film in some capacity.She travels all over the countryside trying to speak to these contacts, finding herself rebuffed by some but increasingly finding more and more evidence of the fear that still haunts the minds of the cast and crew 50 years after the film was made.Her search eventually leads her to the town of Redfield, and it is in this much too idyllic town that Campbell paints his most masterful strokes, invoking an intense atmosphere of slowly growing, insidious terror that is almost Lovecraftian in its pervasive effect on both protagonist and reader.

The conclusion was not wholly satisfying, but it would have been almost impossible for it to achieve the explosiveness the increasingly compelling storyline seemed to beg for.One thing I didn't like about the novel is Campbell's relentless description of all the creepy things Sandy kept telling herself she wasn't seeing.She didn't see this in the field, the thing in the bushes couldn't have been real, the shadow of an impossibly thin man was not in the corner after all, something was making noise outside her room but the corridor was empty, etc.These comments are crammed throughout the narrative from the very start; the fact that Campbell can still captivate the reader and wrap a shroud of unseen horror around him/her when it really comes time to get creepy says a lot about the power this author holds over words.When Campbell is clicking, he can absorb you completely into the tale.The scarecrow images Campbell populates the fields of northern England with become frightening visions, but the scene inside the huge old tower in Redfield stands above the pack in terms of the fear factor associated with this tale.

I would describe Ancient Images as deliciously creepy but not frightening or horrifying.Campbell is one of the true masters of psychological horror, and he puts his skills to good use in these pages.A couple of minor issues I had with the plot compel me to give the book only four stars, but the atmosphere of the novel is really quite impressive.It was a pleasure to allow Ramsey Campbell inside my mind for the course of this gripping novel. ... Read more

Product Description
"A rebellious teenager's tense relationship with her father liberates fearsome monsters of English history. Amy Priestly has always dreaded 'the spider house, ' as she privately calls the abandoned Nazareth Hill monastery. When she and her father, Oswald, move into an apartment in the newly gentrified 'Nazarill, ' her fears are reinforced by the building's gloom--crawly things seem to crouch in its shadowy hallways. Worse, her father is becoming increasingly tyrannical".--"Publishers Weekly".Amazon.com Review
"Must survive until they take me from this place."Scribbled in the margins of an ancient, moldy Bible, found wedgedbetween the roots of a tree, is the truth about what Nazarill (now aluxury apartment building) was centuries ago. Sixteen-year-old Amystruggles to decipher the messages as her father becomes increasinglydictatorial, fanatical, and monstrous. This perfectly constructed,richly terrifying novel will satisfy even those readers who've beenreluctant about Ramsey Campbell. As S.T. Joshi,award-winning scholar of weird fiction, writes in Necrofile,"Nazareth Hill will not be long in taking rank as one ofthe finest haunted house novels in literature, rivaling even ShirleyJackson's masterful The Haunting of Hill House.... With thisnovel [Campbell] has unified the many themes of his earlier work--puresupernaturalism; exploration of social and domestic trauma; chillingportrayal of psychosis--in a seamless fusion."

Note: The House on Nazareth Hill is the title of the HeadlinePress U.K. edition of this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Beautiful Contemporary Gothic House Has Room for Improvement
The prose demands attention. In the beginning, it's difficult to decipher, like the marginalia in the "moldy bible" that's one of the novel's most beautiful, horrible objects. Gloriously, Campbell rewards your struggle with vivid imagery that lives in your imagination after the book's put down.

The book has its spectres and haunts. But more frightening than the supernatural elements is the repressive society surrounding Amy Priestly, the teenage protagonist. Almost everyone else in the novel seems to conspire to disavow her imagination. At the same time you come to believe she's the only one who perceives reality. It's a chilling statement about society that transcends and adds to the horror/thriller genre.

At the same time, the novel has its weak joints. The conclusion isn't well-supported by the narrative. There are hosts of unanswered questions that demand satisfaction. This kind of vaguery deprives the reader of the richest possible experience.

I read this book on a recommendation by James Jacobs of Paizo, whose short list of must-read horror novels includes King's The Shining and Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. This book invites comparisons to certain episodes of Chris Carter's The X-Files, in both what it achieves and how it fails. Fans of any of those works will like this book.

Not What I Expected
If you're looking for a haunted house story, look elsewhere.While the house may be creepy and there are a few disturbing scenes involving the spectors and their victims, the novel focuses on the psychological tension between father and daughter more than it does on the eeriness of their home.I assume that it is somewhat their presence in the house that is causing this tension, but I don't get that from what Campbell writes; rather, it reads as if their conflicts are the result of the death of the mother and typical teenage rebellion, not the result of a tainted dwelling place.And, as one reviewer wrote, the ending is trite and predictable, surprising from an author who generally writes great horror stories.

Disturbing
Nazareth Hill is without a doubt one of Campbell's finest works. The story is very well written and keeps the reader interested despite some moments that drag. The overall story makes you ignore the slow moments simply because the reader want's to find out what happens next.

Now i should warn most of the horror fan's like myself out there that this really is not a typical haunted house story. When some of the events that take place in the book happen they will downright bother you, i sure know they bothered me a great deal. This is not for the faint of heart and the way this book ends will not please a great many people.

I recommend this book to any horror fan out there simply because you probably won't read anything similar out there with the exception of King's The Shining, but even saying that King's novel doesn't hold a candle to the outright brutality that takes place here. Enjoy....

Unnerving and creepy
This is my first novel by Ramsey Campbell, but most assuredly it will not be my last.Amy Priestly and her widowed father Oswald are headed toward a collision course with unnamed horrors, all of which reside in their home of Nazarill.I admit that it took me awhile to get into this novel, the style of writing is often difficult, especially the cadence of Oswald which only grows more archaic as the story progresses.The final few chapters are superb, with the level of tension building to an almost unbearable climax. If you are looking for a well written horror story that delivers, this one does the genre proud.

Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long-Legged Beasties...
...and things that go bump in the mind...

Fifteen year old Amy had a scare at the old building called Nazareth Hill, ten years ago.So did her devoutly religious insurance salesman dad, who was with her at the time.He is intensely arachnophobic, and thought he saw some kind of big spider.She saw something worse-something so bad, she blocked it from her memory until now.

Having remembered, Amy goes on a radio show to relate her ghost story about Nazareth Hill, now an apartment complex where she and her widowed dad live, and ticks-off a lot of people who are afraid of her scaring-down the rent.Some of them believe her, though.Because they've seen things, too.And those people are just up and leaving all of a sudden, turning Nazareth Hill into something of a ghost town.

Amy's dad is staying, though.So is Amy, because she's got no choice.She's doing research into the Nazareth Hill area, and finding its history as an insane asylum-and some sort of witches' coven spot.Her father doesn't like it.He's going quietly insane.All he wants is to shut her up-and he's getting less picky about how.Especially with all those spiders creeping around in the dark, making it harder for him to relax...

This is a really great haunted house/ghost story, more akin to Stephen King's The Shining than anything else, only generally much, much more subtle.Nazareth Hill is a place festering with evil spirits, scampering about all but unseen, glimpsed just sufficiently out of the corner of one's eye to drive people mad.It's a psychological horror story as well as a supernatural one, and succeeds on both levels.It has a pervasive feel of menace and doom about it, and many genuinely creepy moments.

Campbell has written several good horror novels, but this is his best to date.Not for the squeamish. ... Read more

Product Description
Ramsey Campbell is the world's most honored living horror writer, with more than twenty World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and other awards to his credit. Hailed as one of the most literate and literary writers of our time, in genre and out, Campbell has been acclaimed as a "master of dark fantasy" by Clive Barker, one of today's "finest writers of supernatural horror and psychological suspense" by the Charleston Post & Courier, the "master of a skewed and exquisitely terrifying style" by Library Journal, "one of the world's foremost horror writers" by the San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle, and a "master of mood" by Publishers Weekly.

In The Darkest Part of the Woods, Campbell introduces readers to the Price family, whose lives have for decades been snarled with the fate of the ancient forest of Goodmanswood.Here, Dr. Lennox Price discovered a hallucinogenic moss that quickly became the focus of a cult-and though the moss and the trees on which it grew are long gone, it seems as if the whole forest can now affect the minds of visitors.

After Lennox is killed trying to return to his beloved wood, his widow seems to see and hear him in the trees-or is it a dark version of the Green Man that caresses her with leafy hands?Lennox's grandson heeds a call to lie in his lover's arms in the very heart of the forest-and cannot help but wonder what the fruit of that love will be.

And Heather, Lennox's daughter, who turned her back on her father's mysteries and sought sanctuary in the world of facts and history?Goodmanswood summons her as well . . .
... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

More painful than pleasurable
One of the ways to tell a good book is by how quickly you read it, so how much you can not put it done. Along the same lines, if you can't wait to pick it up again, then it is striking the right chords with you and is something to recommend.

Unfortunately The Darkest Part of The Woods failed both tests for me. After a week or so, I started dreading picking it up to read instead of looking forward to it. And then it took way longer than it usually does for me to finish the book; near the end I could no longer stand it and started skimming the pages just to find out what happened to the characters.

I'm not sure exactly why I didn't like the book so much. While not overly interesting, the characters weren't that boring. Maybe it was a slow moving plot. I know one factor was definitely the British "polite speak" that is prevalent in many of Campbell's books. This is where the conversation goes something like this: "How are you doing?", "Are you sure you want to know?", "I wouldn't have spoken if I wasn't.", "Well, then I'm pleased.", "Should I know at what?", "That you are sure." Argh! Enough double speak and vagueness! It gets annoying. Granted I live in America and not the UK but on the several trips I've taken there and amongst my friends from the UK, no one ever speaks like that.

Combined it was more than enough to keep me from being interested except for the surface level as to what was happening. The only really good part was when I finished and could move on to the next book in my list to read.

Methodical, creeping horror
I can separate horror stories into two broad categories: action and atmosphere.All stories contain varying degrees of each.With the non-stop action of a thrilling, apocalyptic zombie adventure lying near one end of the scale and the creeping and unsettling menace of the traditional ghost story lying near the other end.The Darkest Part of the Woods typifies the idea of atmospheric horror.Campbell's account of a family's interconnection with a particularly sinister forest succeeds in slowly building a sense of unease, culminating in some exceptionally horrific revelations.

While only felt in the beginning, the presence of otherworldly forces at work in the woods is made more apparent by the discovery of connections to certain Lovecraftian creations.While these references are minimal and not necessary for the story, they seem to strengthen, if not confirm, that the mythology of the forest is rooted in some of the same general ideas from Lovecraft's own.The story is highlighted by the trips into these woods, which become more unsettling as the story progresses, before yielding to the more nightmarish scenes later in the book.

As in much of Campbell's fiction, the psychological state of the characters plays a significant role.With one family member already receiving psychological treatment for previous experiences in the woods, the mental state of the remainder of the family is the focus now with their behavior becoming increasingly more erratic as the story unfolds.While certainly possible (and even hinted at), I am not convinced that mental instability was an intended explanation for the events of the novel, only a source of misdirection.At best, I would concede to the existence of some amount of ambiguity in the author's intentions.

It seems there is some division among the reviews at Amazon.com, I can only make assumptions as to the cause of some of the negative opinions.I thought very highly of the story, however I would not recommend it to someone looking for a non-stop, action-packed thriller.While there are certainly some page-turning moments, I was content with the lingering comfort of a slowly unfolding nightmare.

open mind
Books should be approached with an open mind, I've always believed. Darkest/Woods is one of those novels that is more atmosphere than adventure. If you allow it to proceed at its own pace, it will weave its web around your mind. Subtle - no Stephen King antics here - but effective, it's sense of threat and menace grows a bit with every chapter. It's not Nightmare on Elm St, but I'll tell you, I sure wouldn't set foot in that woods. Campbell is a capable writer.

Beware the Fine Print
Ramsey Campbell is a bit of an aquired taste. This most literate of horror writers is not out to race your pulse or gross you out. Thrill seekers should search elsewhere. But for those of you able to settle into moody, carefully crafted prose, the subtle delights set him apart from his run-and-gun contemporaries. If most horror fiction is beer to be guzzled, this is cognac to be savored.

Ramsey Campbell has obviously had some experience with psychedelics. Any knowledge you may have in this realm will add to the verisimilitude. If you've read H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, and/or Robert Aikman you can better appreciate the literary traditions Campbell draws upon.

I have little to add to the story descriptions ably discussed in other reviews. One additional warning, the paperback version is printed in the smallest type I've ever seen (or not seen). Unless you have excellent vision, buy a new or used hardback copy. And sip s-l-o-w-l-y.

The horror of Airport book purchases...
I was given this book by a friend with great taste in books, so I eagerly started it.

After the first few chapters, I could not wait for it to end. The ultimate horror of this book is reserved for those compelled to finish any book they start.

As has been mentioned in other reviews. WE GET IT. The woods are "SCARY" and their presence is pervasive. The characters themselves, despite the author's intent, are also wooden, and if the reader experiences any fear, it is the fear of being infected by the banality and possible mental retardation of Heather Price and her insufferable family.

The best way to describe the story for me is this: It's a fairy tale. Its simplistic writing style and unsophisticated fear-factor could have very easily been told in 5 or 6 pages, and inserted invisibly into a volume of Grimm's. As such, it would have been a much better tale with at least the healthy moral about the hazards in spending too much time with your crazy Aunt.

As a novel, it is pure water torture. If the trees ever do revolt, useless wastes of paper such as this piece will most certainly be causative.

I asked my friend about it after I finished. He admitted it was a joke... a book he bought on a flight out to visit me, and in his words "I was praying my plane would crash after the first 2 chapters."

Indeed. ... Read more

Product Description
Ramsey Campbell is perhaps the world's most decorated author of horror fiction.He has won four World Fantasy Awards, ten British Fantasy Awards, three Bram Stoker Awards, and the Horror Writers' Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Three decades into his career, Campbell paused to review his body of short fiction and selected the stories that were, to his mind, the very best of his works. Alone With the Horrors collects nearly forty tales from the first thirty years of Campbell's writing.Included here are "In the Bag," which won the British Fantasy Award, and two World Fantasy Award-winning stories, "The Chimney" and the classic "Mackintosh Willy."

Campbell crowns the book with a length preface which traces his early publication history, discusses his youthful correspondence with August Derleth, illuminates the influence of H.P. Lovecraft on his early work, and gives an account of the creation of each story and the author's personal assessment of the works' flaws and virtues.

In its first publication, a decade ago, Alone With the Horrors won both the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award.For this new edition, Campbell has added one of his very first published stories, a Lovecraftian classic, "The Tower from Yuggoth."From this early, Cthulhian tale, to later works that showcase Campbell's growing mastery of mood and character, Alone With the Horrors provides readers with a close look at a powerful writer's development of his craft.
Amazon.com Review
StephenKing on Ramsey Campbell: "He is literate in a field that hasattracted too many comic book intellects, cool in a field that tendstoward panting melodrama by virtue of its subject matter, fluid in afield where many of the best practitioners fall prey to cant." Youcan't find a better introduction to Campbell's work than thisattractive collection of 39 tales spanning 30 years, with photomontageillustrations by the award-winning J. K. Potter. Modern paranoia andidentity confusion, wasted urban landscapes, surreal transitionsbetween inner fears and real-life horrors--all in a terrifyinglyenigmatic style. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

vicious and uncensored.
Being alone with the horrors would be like reading Stephen King. I have never read a King novel, so i am no expert to his craft but he always seemed so terrible boring to me. However the movie "IT" did scar the hell out of me once upon a time. If you want true Horror...check out the un-edited version of a short film "Cutting Moments" So i hope Ramsey will turn out to be what no other horror can compare to.

Not Free SF Reader
A lot of stories in here for a collection, 39 all told.When it says it is a collection of his short fiction, they really mean it.Most of the tales here are of around the ten page variety.The majority are done in a similar style and structure, barring his Mythos story to start.

He definitely goes in for succinct titles.

A lot of school stories and book industry related, as well, so obviously that is on his mind a lot.Apparently we can thank the horrors of those toffy pommie schools for some of this stuff.

Alone with the Horrors : The Room In the Castle - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Cold Print - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Scar - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Interloper - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Guy - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The End of a Summer's Day - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Man in the Underpass - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Companion - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Call First - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Heading Home - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : In the Bag - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Baby - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Chimney - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Stages - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Brood - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Loveman's Comeback - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Gap - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Voice of the Beach - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Out of Copyright - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Above the World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Mackintosh Willy - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Show Goes On - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Ferries - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Midnight Hobo - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Depths - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Down There - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Fit - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Hearing Is Believing - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Hands - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Again - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Just Waiting - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Seeing the World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Old Clothes - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Apples - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Other Side - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Where the Heart Is - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Boiled Alive - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Another World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : End of the Line - Ramsey Campbell


Byatis is bloody big.

3.5 out of 5


Whacker Revelations.

4 out of 5


Bricked.

3 out of 5


Poetry boy punishment.

3.5 out of 5


That's no dummy?

4 out of 5


Lost hubbie.

3.5 out of 5


Mouse sacrifice.

3.5 out of 5


Ghost train surprise.

3.5 out of 5


Skeletal nailer woman.

3 out of 5


Where's me noggin, then?

4 out of 5


Plastic stranger.

3.5 out of 5


Pram devil.

3 out of 5


Santa scare.

3.5 out of 5


It's a trip to not do it by myself.

3.5 out of 5


Moth problem.

3.5 out of 5


S3xual summoning.

4 out of 5


Blind alley.

3 out of 5


Transformation not looked forward to.

3.5 out of 5


Editorial summoning.

4 out of 5


Prefer indoors.

3 out of 5


No shelter left.

3.5 out of 5


Own advice no use.

3.5 out of 5


Very wet message in a bottle.

4 out of 5


Radio echo.

3 out of 5


True crime.

3 out of 5


Rattypuffs.

3.5 out of 5


Nekkid aunt will put you off for life.

3.5 out of 5


Greek daydream scare.

2.5 out of 5


Nun not handy.

3 out of 5


Flyblown Bungalow punishment.

4 out of 5


Wish the olds were gone.

3.5 out of 5


Sunken entertainment.

3 out of 5


Get jewellery with no appendages.

3.5 out of 5


Bobbing with the wrong crowd.

3.5 out of 5


Clown double axed.

4 out of 5


Home memories.

3 out of 5


Movie phone number pain.

3 out of 5


No Kingdom of God.

3 out of 5


Many voices.

2.5 out of 5




3.5 out of 5

Best Horror Anthology Ever!!!!
This is my all time favorite book. It is an anthology of several stories written by Ramsey Campbell from the sixties up to 1991. All of the stories are good but ones like Down There, Just Waiting, The Voice of the Beach, The Scar, and The Brood are truly brilliant. Mr. Campbell writes with a very surrealistic dream-like quality that is unique and compelling. There are Lovecraftian tales, ghost stories, and many that can't be put into any category but there own. Ramsey Campbell should be considered amoung the all time greats in horror fiction history, along with the likes of M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood. You can't go wrong with this book if you like horror.

Some of the best ever
Ramsey Campbell has produced some of the greatest short horror stories ever written. Most of them are in this volumn.
Mostly Campbell is influenced by H P Lovecraft rather than explicit gore or gratuitous violence - although there are always exceptions! So his writing style is completely different from say Stephen King, but both are masters of short horror fiction in their different ways.

The stories within are as scary as horror fiction can get. Amongst my favourites are "In the Bag", and perhaps best of all "The Companion". You know how with some novels (King on occasions is an example) after reading through hundreds of pages you get to the end and think - is that it? I.e. the ending never quite leaves you satisfied despite the brilliance of the story telling before (again King). Well you won't get this with Campbell's short stories, his end with a punch, metaphorically a knock-out one to your head...

Another splendid volumn to get if this one becomes unavailable is Dark Companions which contains many of the same stories. You'll probably only get this 2nd hand but its worth searching out.

Campbell outdoes even King & Barker in my opinion!
I bought this book on a whim, never having read anything by Ramsey Campbell before, and I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY with his writing style.

Campbell has a way of penning each of his stories in such a way that you literally feel like you're trapped in the story--trapped in a terrible nightmare that you can't wake up from! There is not a bad story in this book, and I soon found that I preferred Campbell over King and other hack-and-slash writers for two reasons: 1) There is not a lot of blood-and-guts gore in any of these stories, in most cases none at all, and 2) Campbell does not use a lot of four-letter words in his writings, something I found very appealing and refreshing. And yet every story is absolutely terrifying!

This collection is an absolute must for any serious horror fan. I highly recommend it to anyone who has never read Campbell before. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Some early work from a genre master
I have the Arkham House edition of this book and, I have to say, it is excellent.It offers a wonderful look at Campbell's early career and, in a humorous touch, a look at the work Campbell did as a child! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Feed Her! Yes! Feed her as She must be Fed!
It is the Dawn of a new Age, but you're not the one to notice it. You're too busy hunkered down by the fire in the sorry excuse for a parade ground here amid the hastily piled stones of the Governor's Roman garrison, pitched under cover of torchlight and glinty spear by a nervous Aedile tempered less by the wind-blasted heath of England than the fairer gusts off Capri.

You're one of Caesar's Legions, left to garrison the Northern Island against the Picts and Savages and hairy half-men that would hinder the Glory of the Empire, that would harry the Double Eagle sigil, that would dare do dishonor against the Standard of the Emperor Claudius himself. Winter might blight you, famine might starve you, but no man, no spear, no stone can drive you from these shores!

Only Something does.

Something that lives deep in the ground, in the pit of the land, something that hauls its heaving, bloated, distended body out by the silvered Moon, by the eternal Moon, by the Hungry Moon.

Something that still lies in wait millennia later, in a well on the fog shrouded moor at the center of the ancient tumble of dun-colored cottages and windy streets, the well about which the villagers hold their annual festivals, about which trot the little girls with their curls festooned with flowers: the Thing that sleeps, and dreams of carnage, beneath cobbles of the town called Moonwell.

When grandmaster of English horror Ramsey Campbell is good, he's very good, and here the Master practices his witchy craft at its finest: "The Hungry Moon" is a tale of precisely what happens when some gallivanting rationalist---or, perhaps, some stalwart, wordy, charismatic chicanerer who comes under the Banner of a New God---dispenses with all those silly rituals that keep the simple country-folk under the yoke of the ages, and lets the really insatiable horror out of the cage ritual politely kept for millennia.

Here it is the fundamentalist evangelist Godwin Mann (a thinly-veiled doppleganger of the Reverend Billy Graham, who Campbell encountered during one of his English crusades in the seventies). He brings his Bible, his camp followers, and a burning confidence in his capacity to rouse the sleeping, and call them forth to the tender bosom of Christ.

And you know, when you stand at the door and knock---as Christ once said---something is bound to answer.

Campbell specializes in conjuring up gruesome tales of a contemporary England uneasily at armistice with its bloodsoaked haunts, a green and unpleasant land where the ancient terrors and slavering Gods and Monsters slumber fitfully, paved over by the motorways and strip malls and soulless business districts, neglected, fed less often, but no less hungry or terrible for it.

If you're new to Campbell, then I envy you, particularly if your first approach is through "The Hungry Moon", which covers some of the darkest, most sinister territory the author has surveyed, weaving the tale of an ancient, slavering horror that overwhelms first the confident Bible-thumping crusader, then stretches its cancerous pedipalps through his self-righteous, well-fed, bristling flock, with an eye towares the potential of the American nuclear missile base nearby.

Campbell is also deft at exploiting the gaps left in the frayed alliances and sagging relationships of his villagers: these are flawed creatures, humans, instantly familiar. The unhappily married man who gluts his lust with furtive glances and weekend porno flicks, the scholarly shut-in terrified to speak up, the police inspector all too aware of his own brutal failures as the darkness grows thick, and whispery, and fatally insistent.

"The Hungry Moon" is caviar and cognac in the dark, the work of a master at the height of his craft. Savor it, but lock all the doors & check beneath the bed first.

JSG

One of my favorites by Ramsey Campbell
I think this is one of Campbell's best books.If you liked "In the Darkest Part of the Woods", you'll like this book more.It's a page turner, and it'll stick with you long after you've finished it.

Well, maybe "The Yeah, I Could Eat Moon"?
Very literary, well-written piece.I'm not a believer that horror has to be splattery or in-your-face threatening.So I enjoyed how the cumulative creepiness of THM takes a while to settle in.Campbell really captures the feeling of paranoia, mass hysteria and isolation.I've witnessed similar in "The Crucible" and some of Hitchcock's films.Characters are not plastic.In fact, the internal monologues really impressed me.Believable, interesting dialogue.My negative: if you're looking for overtly SCARY, don't look here.The "creature" is not remotely terrifying.The atmosphere created is remarkable: spooky but not exactly chill-inducing.

Wonderful
I haven't had a chance to read all of Campbell's work but i have read quite a few. I would absolutely rank this as one of his best pure horror novels. The creeping dread that this book makes the reader feel from the opening till the close is awsome in it's power. I am telling all of you horror fans out there to go and find a copy of this book. It isn't easy to find this so i recommend you find a used copy online somewhere. It is well worth the amount you will have to pay for it. This novel ranks up there as one of the all time scariest novels ever written. If you don't believe me simply read it you'll see

If you haven't read this, you are seriously missing out.
Once upon a time, I read an interview in Fangoria magazine with Mr. Campbell, and based upon that article (and the strength of short stories I had read by the man) I went out and bought everything I could find.The Hungry Moon is one of my favorite novels from that time (the other is Ancient Images, also highly recommended)...Fantastic, well worth tracking down.I recall that interview made mention that John Carpenter was interested in making the book into a movie...That would be pretty interesting, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.Still, we have this terror-ific novel, and that is already MORE than enough!!!In short: get this book, and give yourself a treat.To this day, I still buy Ramsey Campbell's books andtreasure the memories of gooseflesh and shivers I got on those warm summer nights, when I first discovered his exceptional works. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

It was okay, but didn't grab me
It wasn't one of the best books I have read. Never tried this writer before and though I read the whole thing, I didn't really care for it. Well written but not my personal style. I'll stick with Lebbbon, Lee and Laymon.
But if this book sounds interesting toy you I still recommend getting it, it just wasn't my kind of book.

Feel the Influence of Ramsey Campbell
Ramsey Campbell shows once again that he is an undisputed master of horror. He takes the things that go bump in the night and throughs it in your face. A great modern ghost story that will tingle the spine a send a chill deep to the core.

One of the finest and most chilling modern ghost stories
THE INFLUENCE is perhaps the best demonstration yet of Campbell's skills as a novelist. Like INCARNATE and THE NAMELESS before it, this book sees Campbell writing at the peak of his abilities both as a sensitive chronicler of ordinary lives threatened by unpredictable forces, and as a literary conjuror of spine-chilling spectral terrors. In addition, this may be Campbell's most understatedly eerie novel since THE DOLL WHO ATE HIS MOTHER; but even so, some particularly frightening scenes and images in the latter half of the book may well be among the scariest that Campbell--or any horror writer, for that matter--has committed to paper within the last fifteen years at least.

Offering a haunting perspective on death and dying and a unique, skewed vision of what may lie beyond that proves both chilling and chillingly plausible, THE INFLUENCE is ultimately an intelligent, moving, terrifying meditation on loss, regret, and our need to come to grips with our own mortality--the result being arguably Campbell's most perfect novel so far.

One of the finest and most chilling modern ghost stories
THE INFLUENCE is perhaps the best demonstration yet of Campbell's skills as a novelist. Like INCARNATE and THE NAMELESS before it, this book sees Campbell writing at the peak of his abilities both as a sensitive chronicler of ordinary lives threatened by unpredictable forces, and as a literary conjuror of spine-chilling spectral terrors. In addition, this may be Campbell's most understatedly eerie novel since THE DOLL WHO ATE HIS MOTHER; but even so, some particularly frightening scenes and images in the latter half of the book may well be among the scariest that Campbell--or any horror writer, for that matter--has committed to paper within the last fifteen years at least.

Offering a haunting perspective on death and dying and a unique, skewed vision of what may lie beyond that proves both chilling and chillingly plausible, THE INFLUENCE is ultimately an intelligent, moving, terrifying meditation on loss, regret, and our need to come to grips with our own mortality--the result being arguably Campbell's most perfect novel so far.

A decent read that is far from Campbell's best
While The Influence is by no means a bad read, it certainly does not represent Ramsey Campbell at his best.An old matriarch named Queenie has managed to summon her family around her in her dying days, exhibiting a conspicuous amount of attention to her great-niece, whom she summons just before she dies.As her family settles down in the house for the next few months, young Rowan begins to change, becoming more and more like the late Queenie herself.Queenie had always had a terrifying influence on the family, particularly upon her nieces Hermione and Alison, Rowan's mother, once scaring Hermione so badly with a vision of death that the girl had to spend some time in hospital.After Queenie's death, an acquaintance of the family supposedly kills himself after having tried to contact Alison about "the child."Rowan also finds a new playmate named Vicki whom no one but Hermione ever actually sees.She, unlike her sister, is deeply suspicious of Queenie's motives even after death, knowing the old lady all but swore she would never really die, but everyone else thinks of her as just a little too unstrung by events.Naturally, Rowan continues to take on more of Queenie's ways, eventually coming home a changed little girl after a traumatic night with her Aunt Hermione.The story takes something of a weird turn here, one which ends up slightly problematic in my eyes.The events of the last several chapters are thrown together a little haphazardly, with Campbell conveniently avoiding several thorny issues that I believe he really needed to elaborate upon.The actual shift in focus is handled quite well, revealing itself rather surprisingly to me, but the novel's momentum increasingly falters at the very times it should be heating up.Another plot device I didn't particularly embrace was the author's tendency to shift back and forth in time between characters; something would happen to one character in one chapter, then the next chapter would shift backwards and walk the reader up to the same established point through the eyes of another player in the events; this isn't necessarily a bad technique, but I found it a little awkwardly done at times.

The Influence has plenty of potential to interest and even please the potential reader, but it doesn't seem the type of novel one might find exhilarating; I basically watched events unfolding without ever finding myself really sucked into the drama.Ramsey Campbell fans will surely want to read this novel, but there are several more impressive Campbell novels better suited for those wanting to try Campbell for the first time. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Effect was lost on me
This subtle, surreal, tale would have been better as a Poe-length novella.The story of ever-growing madness runs on a little too long and the last-line punchline isn't much of a surprise.From the dust jacket, it sounded really promising, but I found it meandering and ineffective. For example - the sidetrip sidetrack to Amsterdam.What was the point of that interlude?I know I'm in the minority on this book, but whatever effect Campbell was after didn't work for me.

Disjointed creepiness from page 1, and never lets up.
This is the most unusual horror novel I have read in a long time.There's practically no violence, none of blood and guts that is so ubiquitous in the horror genre, but there IS an absolutely unrelenting sense of impending dread and the climax of the book is far more satisfying than any gratuitous splatterfest.Half-seen, suggested weirdness pervades the book's atmosphere, and you're never quite sure if the narrator is completely off his rocker.This book is deft, subtle, and absolutely masterful, a needle driven in the ear rather than a roaring chainsaw.

A horror-comedy par excellence!
As much as I admire Campbell's novels and stories, my enthusiasm isn't unconditional. For instance, despite being hailed as his best novel in recent years I found The Darkest Part of the Woods (2002) to be heavy - though admittedly excellent - on atmosphere, but considerably light on substance. There was nothing there for me to cling onto, to linger. It was like trying to grasp smoke.

I've not read many novels this year, finding few periods of extended free time in order to get into them. But last week I did and decided to give Campbell's latest a try, though not without trepidation: I ordered from Amazon UK where I saw that, out of nearly 70 reviews, many readers found it to be slow, dull, boring, snooze... zzzzzz.

Ah. Um. Oh well, I ordered it anyway as I planned on buying all of the Virgin Books horror titles.

And all I can say is DID I READ THE SAME BOOK?! Slow and dull, you say? Boring? I'm not a fast reader (one of the reasons I read so few novels) but I zipped through this in less than a week, a relatively short period of time for me. It is, quite easily, the funniest book Campbell has ever written! The dialogue zings, full of bards and slights, and some of the situations our main character finds himself in are nothing short of high comedy. Superb.

The Freak Trod Nigh
Language, humor and the media, especially the internet and film, form the bedrock of this horror novel from Ramsey Campbell. The story is narrated by Simon Lester, a down-on-his-luck film writer who has to make ends meet by working at a local filling station. His luck is about to change, but possibly not for the better when he is invited to write a book about a long-forgotten comedic star of the silent era called Tubby Thackeray. Forgotten because his work seems to have somehow been stricken from the records. His films are almost impossible to come by and even written information about them is scarce. As Simon becomes more consumed by his task, Tubby's deranged performing persona seems to resonate into Simon's life.

When I ordered this book, I was expecting a story something akin to the Fatty Arbuckle affair. While this may have been an influence on `The Grin of the Dark', and is referred to in the story, the events that unfold here are of a more supernatural and enigmatic hue. It's the overwhelming sense of ambiguity that is this novel's strength and its weakness. I've no doubt that the author had deliberately set out to make this a disconcerting read, but the dreamlike sense of unreality that the narrator frequently finds himself surrounded by made it a little like wading through treacle at times. Even the opening sections are rather overwritten for my tastes. I had to reread the first chapter in order to work out who was who and who was speaking because the characters' introductions were confusingly handled. All that said, the story is highly imaginative and its visual nature would make for a good television serial.

As I was reading this novel, I was reminded on more than one occasion, of John Carpenter's excellent entry into the `Masters of Horror' television series, Masters of Horror - John Carpenter - Cigarette Burns. In this story, a cinema owner is commissioned to track down a subversive film that has the power to turnthose who see it into crazed murderers. Tubby's performances don't quite have that power, but they do subject their viewers to hysteria on a grand scale.

This is a dark novel. There are flashes of humor sprinkled throughout - I particularly enjoyed the laugh-out-loud school Nativity play that goes awry - but the humor that is at the crux of the story is bound up in the mangled language that the narrator's mental disintegration causes him to utter, along with the surreal slapstick events that pursue him.

No doubt Ramsey Campbell's many fans will enjoy this novel, and, for all my carping, there is much to admire and enjoy here. There are some pleasingly eccentric characters, but their very eccentricity perpetuates an air of menace. The author succeeds in producing a dark and, in places, unsettling horror novel. I was, however, not sorry to finish reading it.

Great book by a great author!
This is a very good book by Mr. Campbell.There are a number of very surrealistic and spooky scenes in it, such as disembodied faces that slid along the floor, a bunch of bizarre clowns that put on a strange almost threatening performance just to name a couple.It involves a man writing a book about a long forgotten silent film star and his supressed films.The search takes the main character to several places where he encounters people who seem unnaturally agressive towards him.A very intriguing section deals with a person on a messageboard whose screen name is Smilemime.Smilemime is a major thorn in the main characters side throughout and creates a mystery as to who he is.This is a fun and concise read that has short chapters, so it reads pretty quickly.My favorite Campbell book remaines Incarnate, but this one isn't far behind. ... Read more