Ramsey Campbell - Thoughts?

[Moontravler]

I wonder if anybody would care to share some thoughts on Campbell's short story This Time ? I'm not too sure I'm 100% on top of this story. I do get the idea that the protagonist re-visited a past life when being "put under" by the aneasthetic, but not 100% sure about the rest... What was the face and dog-child thing?

Btw, where do the spoiler tags for this forum reside?

[Fried Egg]

I haven't read that particular story but I wouldn't worry too much, I wouldn't say that I was "100% on top" of many of his stories!

[Moontravler]

I like authors that aren't immediately obvious, that require a second reading, or an in-the-shower "aha!" moment.
With this story, I'm thinking that perhaps I'm just not well-read enough to recognise the figures he is alluding to.

I'll read some more of his works, and then I'll read this one again, and perhaps it will eventually become clear to me, once I've figured out his particular mindset... thanks, anyway!

[Fried Egg]

I just finished "Midnight Sun". I liked it very much, here is my review:

I came to this book expecting another hell raising ride of chaotic imagery (that I experienced with his short story collection Demons by Daylight) but this was far more conventionally written. Still in evidence though was Campbell's subtle approach to horror. Before the opening chapter was a quote from David Aylward:

"Writers (of supernatural fiction), who used to strive for awe and achieve fear, now strive for fear and achieve only disgust."

This shows Campbells appreciation of such classic writers as Blackwood, Machen and Lovecraft and his preference for their approach to horror over that employed by many modern writers (naming no names!) He is setting out his intention to write a modern horror in the classic tradition and I have to say that he does so successfully.

Indeed, I do not know if I have ever read such a slow and graduated build up of unease and fear towards it's dramatic conclusion. I was put in mind, in many ways, of Algernon Blackwood's "The Wendigo" but that is only a novlette. In this 309 page novel it is an even longer build up. There is a danger that it might feel drawn out and for some it will probably feel that way, but personally my interest was sustained throughout and the eventual tension towards the end almost agonising to endure. An effect one could not possibly achieve with a more direct approach.

Reading this has only increased my respect for Ramsey Campbell and I look forward to reading more of his work.

[J-WO]

Originally Posted by Moontravler

I like authors that aren't immediately obvious, that require a second reading, or an in-the-shower "aha!" moment.

The latter happened to me once with Heinlein, but I saw him off with a mixture of hand-to-hand combat and Necromancy.

Sorry.

Campbell wrote the only story that scared me silly, where I didn't want to turn out the lights. Oddly, I don't remember the details too well now.

There was a crazy woman who kept her pet cat on a lead in her front room and she told the narrator that sometimes her dead husband's head would come and look through the window. I think it was set in Brichester. The stories greatest success was that most of it was set in the daylight. It made the daytime scary. And at the end... well, I don't want to ruin it.

Anyone know this one at all?

[Fried Egg]

Being set in Brichester isn't really a clue as I've read plenty of his stories set in that fictional town...

[J-WO]

Yeah, I know. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for it.

[Fried Egg]

Just finished "The Parasite". So far J.D.'s recommendations have been very good. Here are my thoughts on this book:

This is another finely crafted story of horror in which a malevolant spirit, that entered the protagonist Rose when she was a child, gradually starts to make it's presence felt although she can only wonder at first, at her new found psychic powers, but later her nightmares begin to dominate.

There is a really slow build up of unease in this book that may leave some readers impatient for the story to develop but Campbell will not be rushed. There is a most gradual transformation of Rose's character as she discovers and comes to terms with her new found psycic powers and this innevitably begins to affect her relationship with her sceptical husband Bill. Their relationship begins to suffer but to what extent is that down to Bill's unwillingness to accept change or a sinister influence making her see things differently, saying unkind things and trying to drive them apart?

Campbell also slows down the pace of the narrative by devoting many paragraphs to evoking powerful imagery, shaping mood and atmosphere. Much of the tension of the story is built this way (as opposed to relying solely on event driven tension) and it is important that, as a reader, you swallow your impatience and immerse yourself in the imagery in order to get the full benefit of what the author is trying to do.

This is a pretty bleak story as Rose is either let down or betrayed by almost everyone she knows but if you can bare that, this is a powerful and very effective horror novel that any fan of the genre should read.

[j. d. worthington]

Thank you for the compliment. Glad the recommendations have proven useful.

By the way... I may have mentioned this one before, but has anyone else here read his short story, "The Christmas Present"? Despite its brevity, I think it is quite a powerful story, one of his best, and certainly it remains one of my personal favorites. (I'd love to have heard him read it over the radio, which he apparently did some 30+ years ago....)

[J-WO]

Originally Posted by J-WO

Campbell wrote the only story that scared me silly, where I didn't want to turn out the lights. Oddly, I don't remember the details too well now.

There was a crazy woman who kept her pet cat on a lead in her front room and she told the narrator that sometimes her dead husband's head would come and look through the window. I think it was set in Brichester. The stories greatest success was that most of it was set in the daylight. It made the daytime scary. And at the end... well, I don't want to ruin it.

Anyone know this one at all?

The Franklyn Paragraphs! I think its called that anyway...

(I'll have to read The Christmas Present)

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by J-WO

The Franklyn Paragraphs! I think its called that anyway...

(I'll have to read The Christmas Present)

Yes, that is the title of that particular piece, though the story involves much more than that. It is part of a set of two tales, "The Franklyn Paragraphs" and "'The Interloper', by Errol Undercliffe", published together in Campbell's collection Demons by Daylight.

Let me know what you think, J-WO....

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Just read The Nameless, which isn't on JD's short list, but is the most satisfying novel by Campbell I've read (and also only the 3rd of his novels that I've read - the other two were The Doll Who Ate His Mother, which I was very disappointed by and The face That Must Die which was also a bit of a let-down). This story worked a lot better because the hints of horror were pretty well spaced through the novel, with a gradual increase in intensity and pace towards the end. Campbell still stops short of the visceral attack of most horror writers of his generation, which is alright by me. He deals more in uneasy foreboding than in weird atmospherics, which is perhaps a little less to my taste but there are a few moments towards the end that conjure up visions of horror on the cosmic scale. As for the element of everything not quite being explained or even brought into the forefront, it works very well here - everything in a good weird story shouldn't be normalised by exposition, in my opinion.

[D_Davis]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

Has anyone here read "The Stocking"? I just don't get what happened. Can anyone explain it to me?

I think I asked myself this very question after every single story of his I read. I'd read pages over and over again, and couldn't understand a thing that was happening.

Definitely not a fan.

[JustPassingThrough]

I had never heard of this author and then when I found a book sale I found this book by him that contained the stories that he said scared him. Picked it up and it was quite good. I cannot say that I've read him yet, but I like his taste in other authors. And the cool thing was that they were not all horror writers, one was Philip K. Dick. Yeah, I know!

[Fried Egg]

I just finished "The Hungry Moon". I rated it three stars our of five. Here are my thoughts:

I feel torn in trying to think how to review this book. On the one hand, it was effective in creating a sense of horror and feel of a nightmare. On the other hand, many of the characters behaved in annoying and infuriating ways which seriously marred my enjoyment of the book.

The reader is thrown into the horror of the situation quite quickly, contrasting noticably with some of his other novels like Midnight Sun in which it was built up most gradually over the length of the novel. Although in this book, one derives as much horror from the behaviour of many of the inhabitants of Moonwell as one does from the one that eventually emerges from the cave on the moor.

The problem with building up the tension so quickly in a horror novel is that it then has to be sustained through to the end and that can (and did) get quite exhausting. By the end, I had had enough of characters clambering in the dark, glimpsing horrors and being driven insane with fear. Which I guess is why I tend to prefer horror in the short story form.

So, a mixed experience for me with this one. It did what a horror novel needs to do but not really in the way I like it delivered.