Ramsey Campbell

Infobox Writer


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name = Ramsey Campbell
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birthdate = Birth date and age|1946|1|4|df=y
birthplace = Liverpool, England
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occupation = Writer, film & literary critic, editor.
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genre = Horror, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Science Fiction
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influences = H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Aickman, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood
influenced =


website = http://www.ramseycampbell.com/

John Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946 in Liverpool) is an English horror fiction author.

Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today" [Klein, T. E. D. "Ramsey Campbell: An Appreciation", quoted in "Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction" (Liverpool University Press, 2001) by S. T. Joshi] , while S. T. Joshi stated, "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood." [cite web|url=http://www.templeofdagon.com/interviews/s-t-joshi|last=Joshi|first=S. T.|title=S. T. Joshi Interview|publisher=The Temple of Dagon|accessdate=2007-09-19]

Overview

Campbell's childhood and adolescence were marked by the rift between his parents and his mother's developing schizophrenia, an experience he has discussed in detail in the introduction and afterword to the restored text of "The Face That Must Die". [Campbell, Ramsey. "At the Back of My Mind: A Guided Tour", introduction to "The Face That Must Die" (1990), pp.vii-xxv, and Afterword (pp.236-238). ISBN 0708843948] Although both parents lived in the same house, Campbell states, "I didn't see my father face to face for nearly twenty years, and that was when he was dying."

His early work was greatly influenced by the work of H. P. Lovecraft. His first collection, "The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants", is a volume of Cthulhu Mythos stories published by Arkham House in 1964. At the suggestion of August Derleth, he rewrote many of his earliest stories, which he had originally set in the Massachusetts locales of Arkham, Dunwich and Innsmouth, and relocated them to English settings in and around the fictional Gloucestershire city of Brichester, near the River Severn, creating his own Severn Valley milieu for Lovecraftian horrors. [Campbell, Ramsey. "Chasing the Unknown", introduction to "Cold Print" (1993), pp.11-13. ISBN 0812516605] Brichester was deeply influenced by Campbell's native Liverpool, and much of his later work is set in the real locales of Liverpool and Merseyside. In particular, his 2006 novel "Secret Stories" (published in the U.S. as "Secret Story") both exemplifies and satirizes Liverpudlian speech, characters, humor, and culture. Having spent a number of months working full-time in a Borders store, he wrote "The Overnight" (2004), about bookshop staff trapped in their hellish workplace during an overnight shelf-filling shift.

With the collection "Demons by Daylight" (1973), Campbell set out to be as unlike Lovecraft as possible. In 1969, he had written "Lovecraft in Retrospect", an essay for the fanzine "Shadow", [Campbell, Ramsey. "Lovecraft in Retrospect", "Shadow" 8 (1969).] "condemning [Lovecraft's] work outright." ["Chasing the Unknown", p.16.] However, in his 1985 book "Cold Print", which collects his Lovecraftian stories, Campbell disavowed the opinions expressed in the article, stating: "I believe Lovecraft is one of the most important writers in the field" [Campbell, Ramsey. "Lovecraft: An Introduction", "Cold Print" (1993), p. 1.] and "the first book of Lovecraft's I read made me into a writer." ["Chasing the Unknown", p. 9.] "Demons by Daylight" includes "The Franklyn Paragraphs", which uses Lovecraft's documentary narrative technique without slipping into parody of his writing style. Other tales, such as "The End of a Summer's Day" and "Concussion", show the emergence of Campbell's highly distinctive mature style, of which S. T. Joshi has written:

Certainly much of the power of his work derives purely from his prose style, one of the most fluid, dense and evocative in all modern literature.... His eye for the details and resonances of even the most mundane objects, and his ability to express them crisply and almost prose-poetically, give to his work at once a clarity and a dreamlike nebulousness that is difficult to describe but easy to sense. [Joshi, S. T. "The Modern Weird Tale" (2001), p. 166.]

Subsequently, Campbell has published a number of other collections; many of his most popular stories can be found in the 1993 collection "Alone with the Horrors".

Campbell has written many novels, both supernatural and non-supernatural. They include "The Face That Must Die" (cut by the publisher on its first release in 1979 and issued complete in 1983), the story of a homophobic serial killer told largely from the killer's point of view. A more sympathetic serial murderer appears in the later novel "The Count of Eleven" (1991), which displays Campbell's gift for word play, and which the author has said is disturbing "because it doesn't stop being funny when you think it should". [Campbell, Ramsey, interviewed in "The Count of Thirty" (1994).] Other non-supernatural novels, such as "The One Safe Place" (1995), use a highly charged thriller narrative to examine social problems such as the deprivation and abuse of children.

Campbell's supernatural horror novels include "Incarnate" (1983), in which the boundaries between dream and reality are gradually broken down; and "Midnight Sun" (1990), in which an alien entity apparently seeks entry to the world through the mind of a children's writer. In its fusion of horror with awe, "Midnight Sun" shows the influence of Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen as well as Lovecraft. Also notable is the novella "Needing Ghosts", a nightmarish work that blends the horrific and the comic.

Outside the world of horror, he has written a series of fantasy stories starring Ryre the Swordsman, an original creation. Many of these stories were published in the collection "Far Away & Never". In 1976 he "completed" three of Robert E. Howard's unfinished Solomon Kane stories, "Hawk of Basti", "The Castle of the Devil" and "The Children of Asshur". He has also written a few works of science fiction, such as the novella "Medusa" (1973) and the short story "Slow" (collected in "Told by the Dead"), but has stated that his science fiction "tried to deal with Themes, too consciously, I feel". [Campbell, Ramsey. Introduction to "Strange Things and Stranger Places" (1993), quoted in S. T. Joshi, "Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction" (2001), p.150.]

Campbell has also edited a number of anthologies, including "New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos" (1980), "New Terrors" (1980) and (with Stephen Jones) the first five volumes of the annual "Best New Horror" series (1990-1994). His 1992 anthology "Uncanny Banquet" was notable for including the first ever reprint of the obscure 1914 horror novel "The Hole of the Pit" by Adrian Ross.

"Ramsey Campbell, Probably", a collection of Campbell's book reviews, film reviews, autobiographical writings and other nonfiction, was published in 2002. The book included reminiscences and appreciations of authors such as John Brunner, Bob Shaw and K. W. Jeter and an extensive, negative critique of Shaun Hutson's "Heathen", parodying Hutson's style.

He married Jenny Chandler, daughter of A. Bertram Chandler, on 1 January 1971; has two children, Tamsin (born 1978) and Matthew (born 1981); and still lives on Merseyside. A lifelong enthusiast of film (old movies feature prominently in two of his novels, "Ancient Images" and "The Grin of the Dark"), he reviewed films and DVDs weekly for BBC Radio Merseyside until 2007. He writes a monthly film column, "Ramsey´s Ramblings", for "Video Watchdog" magazine.

He is the Lifetime President of the British Fantasy Society.

Bibliography

Novels

*"The Doll Who Ate His Mother" (1976) (Revised text: 1985).
*"The Bride of Frankenstein" (1977) (novelisation of the 1935 film, written as Carl Dreadstone).
*"Dracula's Daughter" (1977) (novelisation of the 1936 film, written as Carl Dreadstone).
*"The Wolf Man" (1977) (novelisation of the 1941 film, written as Carl Dreadstone).
*"The Face That Must Die" (1979) (Restored text: 1983).
*"The Parasite" (1980) (published in the US with a different ending as "To Wake the Dead").
*"The Nameless" (1981).
*"The Claw" (1983) (AKA "Night of the Claw", "Claw" ) (written as Jay Ramsay).
*"Incarnate" (1983).
*"Obsession" (1985).
*"The Hungry Moon" (1986).
*"The Influence" (1988).
*"Ancient Images" (1989).
*"Midnight Sun" (1990).
*"Needing Ghosts" (1990).
*"The Count of Eleven" (1991).
*"The Long Lost" (1993).
*"The One Safe Place" (1995).
*"The House on Nazareth Hill" (1996) (AKA "Nazareth Hill").
*"The Last Voice They Hear" (1998).
*"Silent Children" (2000).
*"Pact of the Fathers" (2001).
*"The Darkest Part of the Woods" (2003).
*"The Overnight" (2004).
*"Secret Stories" (2005) (AKA "Secret Story").
*"The Grin of the Dark" (2007).
*"Thieving Fear" (2008).
*"Creatures of the Pool" (2009).

Collections

*"The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants" (1964, as J. Ramsey Campbell).
*"Demons by Daylight" (1973).
*"The Height of the Scream" (1976).
*"Dark Companions" (1982).
*"Cold Print" (1985; expanded edition 1993. Contains the stories from "The Inhabitant of the Lake" as well as later material in the Lovecraft vein).
*"Night Visions: The Hellbound Heart" (1986. Contains stories by Campbell, Clive Barker and Lisa Tuttle).
*"" (1987).
*"" (1987).
*"Waking Nightmares" (1991).
*"" (1993).
*"Strange Things and Stranger Places" (1993).
*"Ghosts and Grisly Things" (1998).
*"Told by the Dead" (2003).
*"Inconsequential Tales" (2008).
*"Just Behind You" (2009).

Nonfiction

*"Ramsey Campbell, Probably", ed. S. T. Joshi (2002).

As editor

*"Superhorror" (AKA "The Far Reaches of Fear") (1976).
*"New Terrors" (Published in US as two separate volumes, "New Terrors 1" and "New Terrors 2") (1980).
*"New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos" (1980).
*"The Gruesome Book" (1983).
*"Fine Frights: Stories That Scared Me" (1988).
*"Best New Horror" (with Stephen Jones) (1990).
*"Best New Horror 2" (with Stephen Jones) (1991).
*"Best New Horror 3" (with Stephen Jones) (1992).
*"Uncanny Banquet" (1992).
*"Best New Horror 4" (with Stephen Jones) (1993).
*"Deathport" (1993).
*"Best New Horror 5" (with Stephen Jones) (1994).
*"Meddling With Ghosts: Stories in the Tradition of M.R. James" (2002).
*"Gathering the Bones" (with Jack Dann and Dennis Etchison) (2003).

Critical studies

Gary William Crawford's reader's guide to Campbell, "Ramsey Campbell" (1988), provides an overview of his work up to 1987. There is an extensive critical analysis of Campbell's work in S. T. Joshi's book "The Modern Weird Tale" (2001). Joshi has also written a book-length study, "Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction" (2001), and edited "The Count of Thirty" (Necronomicon Press 1994), which contains critical appreciations by various authors and a long interview with Campbell himself.

elected literary awards

* 1978 "The Chimney", World Fantasy Award, Best Short Story
* 1978 "In The Bag", British Fantasy Award, Best Short Story
* 1980 "The Parasite", British Fantasy Award, Best Novel
* 1980 "Mackintosh Willy", World Fantasy Award, Best Short Story
* 1985 "Incarnate", British Fantasy Award, Best Novel
* 1988 "The Hungry Moon", British Fantasy Award, Best Novel
* 1989 "The Influence", British Fantasy Award, Best Novel
* 1989 "Ancient Images", Bram Stoker Award, Best Novel
* 1991 "Midnight Sun", British Fantasy Award, Best Novel
* 1994 "Alone with the Horrors", Stoker Award of the Horror Writers of America, Best Collection; World Fantasy Award, Best Collection
* 1994 "The Long Lost", British Fantasy Award, Best Novel
* 1998 "The House on Nazareth Hill", International Horror Guild, Best Novel
* 1999 "Ghosts and Grisly Things", British Fantasy Award, Best Collection
* 2003 "Told by the Dead", British Fantasy Award, Best Collection

ee also

*List of horror fiction authors

References

External links

* [http://www.ramseycampbell.com/ RamseyCampbell.com] ; official website
* [http://www.eclipse.co.uk/sweetdespise/campbell/ Ramsey Campbell: Short Story Bibliography]
*

Interviews

* [http://www.cold-print.freeserve.co.uk/ramsey.htm "Ramsey Campbell: A Demon by Daylight"] , Interview with "Cold Print"
* [http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/issues/misc/articles/ramsey_campbell.php Interview with Liverpool's 'Nerve' magazine]

Persondata
NAME=Campbell, John Ramsey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English author
DATE OF BIRTH=1946-01-04
PLACE OF BIRTH=Liverpool, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=