Ramsey Campbell - Thoughts?

[j d worthington]

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]

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.

 

[Fried Egg]

I enjoyed "The Grin of the Dark" very much. It seems Campbell has developed new levels of subtlety with this novel. I liked the fact that the precise nature of the menace is never clearly defined throughout. There is a lurking threat that never quite crystallises to something tangible that the reader can grasp hold of. And at the end it I was left wondering whether the protagonist has himself truly grasped it or merely become its victim, another agent it is using to further its aims.

Campbell has not shied away from modern themes, exploring the way people interact with strangers on the internet, the way that the internet is becoming the way we define truth even though on-line information is constantly changing and is being changed. By subverting information on the internet one can subvert our notions of truth, society and even others sense of who they are. The boundary between on-line and physical reality is breaking down. Does this make the internet the ultimate tool for a malevolent agency to pursue its nefarious aims?

 

[Randy M.]

I enjoyed "The Grin of the Dark" very much. It seems Campbell has developed new levels of subtlety with this novel. I liked the fact that the precise nature of the menace is never clearly defined throughout. There is a lurking threat that never quite crystallises to something tangible that the reader can grasp hold of. And at the end it I was left wondering whether the protagonist has himself truly grasped it or merely become its victim, another agent it is using to further its aims.

Campbell has not shied away from modern themes, exploring the way people interact with strangers on the internet, the way that the internet is becoming the way we define truth even though on-line information is constantly changing and is being changed. By subverting information on the internet one can subvert our notions of truth, society and even others sense of who they are. The boundary between on-line and physical reality is breaking down. Does this make the internet the ultimate tool for a malevolent agency to pursue its nefarious aims?

I think this is the finest of the novels I've read by him (I do have several left to read), much as I also admire Midnight Sun. Something that I felt worked very well, toward the end, was a Lovecraftian reference that struck sparks for me. It certainly put a different perspective on the Internet.


Randy M.

 

[Fried Egg]

Has anyone read the collection "Told by the Dead"?

I'm told it is good and has a tribute story to Robert Aickman called: "The Entertainment".

 

[Toby Frost]

I read The Doll Who Ate Its Mother a few years back, and thought it was very good indeed. Although it was about individuals, and set in reality, it did a good job of hinting at supernatural forces without ever showing anything. I'd recommend it.

 

[Fumi]

I recently bought a collection entitled 'Just Behind You'. It's good so far.

 

[Fried Egg]

I just finished "The Nameless". Here are my thoughts:

Okay, this is bleak. Dark, gloomy and depressing from the outset, especially if, like me, you have a young daughter.

It is doubtless every parent's nightmare that they might lose their child, especially if they were brutally murdered. But could there be a worse fate than that? What if they were actually kidnapped by a secretive and sadistic cult? Years after you thought that were dead they were instead being initiated into unspeakable rites of violence and torture for this shadowy organisation? Becoming, perhaps, a mere tool of a malevolent and nameless force of nature seeking only to express its own wicked vision?

The imagery is persistently dirty and grey. City noise constantly threatens to overwhelm the character's hearing when they need it most. Urban decay pervades almost every passage of the narrative. A sense of horror, despair and helplessness pervade throughout as the protagonist moves inexorably towards her inevitable doom. It all adds up to what one could not possibly call a pleasant reading experience and yet one cannot deny that it was superbly effective and well done. I think Campbell pretty well achieved what he set out to do here.

The inevitable comparisons with Stephen King abound in the cover blurb but I just don't see it. I think Campbell's is far less accessible, far more abrasive, than King's. Campbell is also more subtle although I think he honed his powers in this regard later on in his career. Still a powerful and effective horror story if you don't mind the inherently grim subject matter.

 

[j d worthington]

It has always been Campbell's contention that the best horror is "dangerous" or uncomfortable; it threatens the reader in some fashion, dislodges his or her zone of comfort and presents them with a good, long look into the abyss over which we walk so blithely unaware. And, needless to say, he has spent a good deal of his career exemplifying this idea, with the result that a lot of his material could fit the description "inherently grim"....

I don't entirely subscribe to this idea, but I do think that it has produced some of the finest work in the field, and that Campbell rates very highly on the list of those who have made a genuine art of the modern horror tale....

As for your assessment of this particular novel... It has been a few decades since I read it (when it first came out, as I recall), but I think I'd say it is pretty much spot on....

 

[BAYLOR]

The HungryMoon , Ancient Images , Cold print and many many more great books and stories.

 

[Sargeant_Fox]

I'm thinking of dipping into Ramsey Campbell; I want to sample his short fiction. Do you have opinions about The Village Killings & Other Novellas?

 

[Randy M.]

I'm thinking of dipping into Ramsey Campbell; I want to sample his short fiction. Do you have opinions about The Village Killings & Other Novellas?

I missed this. Unfortunately, I also haven't read that collection. I've meant to read "Needing Ghosts" for some time. I had it as a stand-alone book, and then found I had it in another of his collections, but still haven't gotten to it.

If you read this, let us know what you think.