Ramsey Campbell Popular Books
Ramsey Campbell Biography & Facts
Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awards. Three of his novels have been adapted into films. 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", and Robert Hadji has described him as "perhaps the finest living exponent of the British weird fiction tradition", 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." In a 2021 appreciation of his collected works, The Washington Post said, "[t]aken together, they constitute one of the monumental accomplishments of modern popular fiction." Overview Early life and work Campbell was born in Liverpool, England, to Alexander Ramsey and Nora (Walker) Campbell. He was educated by Christian Brothers at St Edward's College, Liverpool. Campbell's childhood and adolescence were marked by the rift between his parents, who became estranged shortly after his birth. Campbell's father became a shadowy presence more often heard than seen. Campbell states, "I didn't see my father face to face for nearly twenty years, and that was when he was dying." Years later, Campbell's mother degenerated into paranoia and schizophrenia, rendering his own life a living hell—an experience he has discussed in detail in the introduction and afterword to the restored text of The Face That Must Die. Other autobiographical pieces regarding Campbell's life are available in Section V, "On Ramsey Campbell" in his essay collection Ramsey Campbell, Probably: 30 Years of Essays and Articles (ed. S. T. Joshi), as well as in the novella The Enigma of the Flat Policeman (2020). Campbell's mother "wrote a great deal, novel after novel, but was largely unpublished aside from a handful of short stories in writer's magazines." She encouraged her young son to send his writing off from an early age. Growing up in the blitzed landscape of post-war Liverpool, Campbell avidly consumed the work of Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Franz Kafka and the cinema of film noir. Ghostly Tales Campbell's earliest tales, written when he was 11 years old (1957–58; under the influence of a magazine from Bolton, Lancashire, called Phantom), comprised a self-illustrated collection of sixteen stories and a poem he entitled "Ghostly Tales". Campbell intended to submit to Phantom, but his mother, who regarded literary success as a possible way of financing her escape from her disastrous marriage, persuaded him to wait until he had a whole book to show to publishers. His English teacher, Brother Kelly, used to have him read his stories to the class. Campbell (as John R. Campbell) submitted Ghostly Tales to "numerous publishers" including Tom Boardman publisher; Boardman rejected it as they did not publish ghost stories, but his rejection letter included encouragement to Campbell to keep writing. This collection of juvenilia was published thirty years later, as a special issue of Crypt of Cthulhu magazine titled Ghostly Tales: Crypt of Cthulhu 6, No 8, whole number 50, Michaelmas 1987, edited by Robert M. Price. It is of interest that, though the stories are mostly mainstream spectral lore, one story ("The Hollow in the Woods") can be considered a very early mythos yarn. Another issue of this magazine Crypt of Cthulhu No 43 (Hallowmas 1983), titled The Tomb-Herd and Others collects various early stories, including some early drafts of tales later published revised in Campbell's first book, The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants (Arkham House, 1964)). The manuscripts of Campbell's early tales are housed at the Local History Library of the Liverpool Public Libraries. The influence of H. P. Lovecraft and The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants Campbell first encountered H. P. Lovecraft at age eight (1954), via the story "The Colour Out of Space", which he found in the Groff Conklin anthology Strange Travels in Science Fiction, and within the next few years read "The Rats in the Walls" and "The Dunwich Horror", encountered in the Wise and Fraser anthology Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. At the age of twelve, Campbell attempted to write a novel titled Broken Moon, influenced by Arthur Machen, but it petered out after fifty pages. By the age of 14, he discovered Lovecraft's Cry Horror!, a British edition of the collection entitled The Lurking Fear, and read it in one day, finding the fiction's sense of awesomeness as well as horror extraordinarily appealing. He had also read Arthur Machen's major horror stories by this age, and some works by John Dickson Carr, which led him to write, at 14 years old, a 100-page Carr pastiche (unfinished) titled Murder By Moonlight. This piece was published in 2020 as The Enigma of the Flat Policeman, including annotations from the adult author reflecting on his psychological state at the time of composition. On leaving school at age sixteen, Campbell went to work in the Inland Revenue as a tax officer (1962–66). Campbell sold various early stories to editors including August Derleth and Robert A.W. Lowndes. His concept of what was possible in the Weird genre became highly imbued with the influence of Lovecraft for the next few years. In December 1961, Campbell completed the story "The Church in High Street" (previously titled "The Tomb-Herd") which he sent to August Derleth at Arkham House, an imprint singlehandedly responsible for preserving the legacy of H P Lovecraft. Derleth accepted the story in February 1962 and it became Campbell's first professionally published tale, appearing in the Derleth-edited anthology Dark Mind, Dark Heart. Campbell wrote various other tales of the Cthulhu Mythos between 1961 and 1963. Derleth gave the young writer invaluable advice on improving his writing style (their correspondence has been published in a single volume from PS Publishing). Forming his literary apprenticeship with stories modelled after Lovecraft's themes, Campbell's first collection, The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants (Arkham House, 1964), published when he was but eighteen years old, collects his Lovecraftian pastiches to that date. Campbell has written, "In 1964 I was several kinds of lucky to find a publisher, and one kind depended on my having written a Lovecraftian book for Arkham House, the only publisher likely even to have considered it and one of the very few then to be publishing horror." The title story of the collection introduces Campbell's invention of a tome of occult lore similar to Lovecraft's forbidden Necronomicon, The Revelations of Gla'aki (see Books of the Cthulhu Mythos). Severn Valley The Severn Valley is the setting of several fiction.... Discover the Ramsey Campbell popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ramsey Campbell books.
Best Seller Ramsey Campbell Books of 2024
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Psychomania
Stephen JonesWhen journalist Robert Stanhope arrives at the Crowsmoor asylum for the criminally insane to interview the institutes enigmatic director, Dr. Lionel Parrish, little does he realize...
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Mammoth Books presents The Unexpected
Michael Marshall Smith, Nicholas Royle, Ramsey Campbell, Robert Shearman, Rosalie Parker, Simon Strantzas & Stephen JonesWhat Happens When You Wake Up in the Night Michael Marshall SmithFor Michael Marshall Smith, this was one of those stories that dropped straight into his head, but the problem was...
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Best New Horror
Stephen JonesBest New Horror combines dozens of the best and grisliest short stories of today. For twentyfive years this series has been published in the United Kingdom as The Mammoth Book of B...
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Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth
Stephen JonesA World Fantasy Awardwinning editor brings together the works of today’s most talented Lovecraftian writers in this horror anthology inspired by The Shadow Over Innsmouth ...
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Shadows Over Innsmouth
Stephen JonesEnjoy some “good, slimy fun” with this horror anthology that pays tribute to H.P. Lovecraft’s eeriest creationfeaturing 16 “genuinely frightening” stories from Neil Gaiman, Ramsey ...
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Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach
Ramsey Campbell“An absolute master of modern horror. And a damn fine writer at that” Guillermo del Toro It’s Ray’s and Sandra’s first family holiday in Greece, on the island of Vasilema. The skie...
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The Searching Dead
Ramsey CampbellFeatured in Library Journal's Top 20 Horror Bestseller List“An absolute master of modern horror. And a damn fine writer at that” Guillermo del ToroBook 1 in the Three Births of Da...
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The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future
Christi NogleThe Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future is whimsical and dreadful, verdant and sinister. Readers of “quiet horror” or “slowburn horror” will enjoy this collection."Without a ...
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Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth
Stephen JonesMore spinetingling tales of Lovecraftian horror inspired by the classic novella The Shadow Over Innsmouthwith stories from Caitlín R. Kiernan, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, a...
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A Book of Horrors
Stephen JonesA collection of original horror and dark fantasy from the world's best writers, including Stephen King and John Ajvide LindqvistMany of us grew up on The Pan Book of Horror Stories...
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Dark Stars
John F.D. TaffDark Stars, edited by John F.D. Taff, is a tribute to horror’s longstanding short fiction legacy, featuring 12 terrifying original stories from today's most noteworthy authors.With...
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The Nameless
Ramsey CampbellA new edition of the sinister masterpiece, now in development at Netflix.“Was that an indrawn breath, or a hiss of static? She heard someone dialling on another line..."Barbara Wau...
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The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror
Stephen Jones & Michael Marshall SmithWelcome to a landscape of ancient evil . . . with stories by masters of horror Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, H. P. Lovecraft, M. R. James, Ramsey Campbell, Storm Co...
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Fellstones
Ramsey Campbell"Campbell has mastered the art of generating a sense of sustained unease." The Washington Post. A new masterpiece from the master of suspense.Fellstones takes its name from seven o...
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THEY BITE
Jonathan Maberry & David F. KramerFrom two awardwinning authors, a collection of horror legends and folklore from the world of supernatural and paranormal storytelling. The ultimate guidebook to the horrific...
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Ramsey Campbell
Gary William CrawfordThis is a collection of critical essays on Ramsey Campbell, author of several awardwinning stories and novels in the fields of fantasy and horror, including To Wake the Dead, Incar...
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Black Wings of Cthulhu
S. T. JoshiFrom the depths of R'lyeh come twentyone brandnew, utterly terrifying, and thoroughly entertaining tales of Lovecraftian horror and the macabreTaking their inspiration from wo...
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Mammoth Books presents A Ghostly Gathering
Angela Slatter, Mark Morris, Ramsey Campbell, Thana Niveau & Stephen JonesThe Pier Thana Niveau"The pier exists," explains Thana Niveau, "and yes, it is decorated with strange plaques and cryptic memorials, although none are quite as morbid as I've inve...
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Ancient Images
Ramsey Campbell"Campbell has mastered the art of generating a sense of sustained unease." The Washington Post. A new masterpiece from the master of suspense.Tower of Fear is a lost horror film st...
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Cthulhu 2000
Jim Turner, Harlan Ellison, Thomas Ligotti, Poppy Z. Brite & F. Paul WilsonA host of horror and fantasy’s top authors captures the spirit of supreme supernatural storyteller H. P. Lovecraft with eighteen chilling contemporary tales that would have made th...
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The Mammoth Book of Nightmare Stories
Stephen JonesWinner of the British Fantasy AwardSixteen rare terror tales not to be read at night! To sleep, perchance to dream . . . of horrors! Here are some of the stories that gave their ow...
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The Hungry Moon
Ramsey Campbell"In every respect, Campbell's best." Kirkus ReviewsIsolated on the moors of northern England, the town of Moonwell has remained faithful to their Druid traditions and kept their o...
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In the Footsteps of Dracula
Stephen JonesMore than thirty chilling stories and novellas featuring Bram Stoker’s King of the Vampires: Count Dracula, Prince of Darkness!Since his creation one hundred and twenty years ago, ...
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Horrorology
Clive Barker & Stephen JonesCurated by awardwinning editor Stephen Jones and illustrated by bestselling writer and artist Clive Barker, author of THE BOOKS OF BLOOD, welcome to HORROROLOGY: 'a dozen bonechill...
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Shining in the Dark
Hans-Åke LiljaFrom the founder of the #1 Stephen King news website Lilja’s Library comes a terrifying and deliciously creepy anthology of horror stories, including a rare story from Stephen King...
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The Wise Friend
Ramsey Campbell“An absolute master of modern horror. And a damn fine writer at that” Guillermo del ToroFeatured in Booklist's Top SF/Fantasy & Horror of 2020.Patrick Torrington’s aunt Thelma...
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New Fears
Mark MorrisWinner of the British Fantasy Society Award for “Best Anthology” An electrifying horror anthology featuring 19 stories by awardwinning heavyweights of the genreincluding Bird Box ...
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Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves and Ghosts
Barbara H. Solomon & Eileen PanettaThey are the fearful images that have stalked humanity’s nightmares for centuries, supernatural creatures that feast on flesh and haunt the soul, macabre and uncanny beings that fr...
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The Lonely Lands
Ramsey Campbell“He is unsurpassed in the subtle manipulation of mood... You forget you’re just reading a story” – Publishers WeeklyThe latest bestseller from the ultimate craftsman of the dark fa...
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Alone with the Horrors
Ramsey CampbellRamsey 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...
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The Way of the Worm
Ramsey CampbellThe third and final novel in Ramsey Campbell's triumphant Lovecraftian trilogy, The Three Births of Daoloth, where time travel, monstrous evil and the alien apocalypse combine to c...
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Born to the Dark
Ramsey Campbell"Campbell’s writing is intimate, darkly funny, and deeply human, balancing edgeoftheseat suspense with heartfelt character development. This delightfully unsettling sequel does not...