Bøker av Ramsey Campbell

Leo Parker's stay in Alphafen seems idyllic, but after he leaves, the nightmares begin: an airport turns into a labyrinth, his own words become treacherous if not lethal, and what are those creatures in the photographs he took? Perhaps he's roused an ancient Alpine legend. Even once he understands what he brought back, worse is to come...

"Ramsey Campbell is the nearest thing we have to an heir to M. R. James" - The Times Companion to the Special, collectable hardcover Edition for Ramsey Campbell's 60 years in publication. When a weight landed on his legs he raised his head from the violently crumpled pillow. The bed already had another occupant, and as Leo flung the quilt back so that it wouldn't hinder his escape the creature scurried up his body to squat on his chest, clutching him with all its limbs like half a spider... The English town of Settlesham was twinned with Alphafen in Germany soon after the Second World War. During the war both towns were bombed, even though Alphafen seemed to have no strategic significance. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the postwar reconciliation, pupils at the local schools were set to correspond with their opposite numbers. Leo Parker has been in touch with Hanna Weber ever since but has never previously visited her. As an adult he's welcomed in Alphafen, but his stay seems idyllic despite the odd incident--a local who blames him for a hostile letter a schoolmate of Leo's sent, a glimpse of an uncanny figure on an Alpine walk, a flapping intruder that seems to embody Hanna's night fears, an encounter in a mountain restaurant with an English tourist who turns out to be there for his own disturbing reasons. It's only after Leo leaves the town that the nightmares begin: an airport turns into a labyrinth, his own words become treacherous if not lethal, a family meal grows unnaturally active, and what are those creatures that have appeared in the photographs he took? The man he met in the mountain restaurant hasn't finished with him, and he has to deal with the town councillor who sent the warlike letter when they were teenage classmates. A local police inspector has reason to suspect his actions, even though the policeman is a friend of Leo's parents. Even the therapy Leo undertakes becomes a source of menace. In his bid to cement international relations, Leo may have roused the source of an ancient Alpine legend and brought a supernatural infection home with him. Even once he understands what has travelled with him, his attempts to overcome its influence may lead into greater nightmares still... The Ramsey Campbell Special Editions. Campbell is the greatest inheritor of a tradition that reaches back through H.P. Lovecraft and M.R. James to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the early Gothic writers. The dark, masterful work of the painter Henry Fuseli, a friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, is used on these special editions to invoke early literary investigations into the supernatural.

Table of ContentsA Weird Gourmand's Delight ........... Daniel PietersenZara-Louise Stubbs, ed., The Uncanny Gastronomic: Strange Tales of the Edible Weird.The Subtle Aroma of Antiquity: Two Translations by Shawn Garrett ........... Karen Joan KohoutekJean Printemps, Whimsical Tales and Froylan Turcios, The Vampire; both tr. Shawn Garrett.Night's Black Promises ........... Géza A. G. ReillyDaniel Corrick, ed., Night's Black Agents: An Anthology of Vampire Fiction.Nightlands Festival, Hammonton, NJ: Kathedral Event Center 2-3 June 2023 ........... The joey ZoneHumor at Its Darkest ........... Darrell SchweitzerPablo Larrain, dir., El Conde. Ramsey's Rant: Watch Their Language ........... Ramsey CampbellWonder and Epiphany: The Question of Evil in the Stories of Arthur Machen ........... Katherine KerestmanArthur Machen. Collected Fiction (three volumes), ed. by S. T. Joshi.A New Lovecraftian Writer in Our Midst ........... Michael D. MillerTony LaMalfa, Forbidden Knowledge.Half Sunk a Shattered Visage Lies ........... Daniel PietersenHenry Bartholomew, ed., The Living Stone: Stories of Uncanny Sculpture, 1858-1943.Covid Horrors ........... S. T. JoshiRamsey Campbell, The Lonely Lands.Hungry ........... Taylor TrabulusCultists Descend upon Portland: The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival ........... Katherine KerestmanAn Interview with Ellen Datlow ........... Darrell SchweitzerSacred Scares ........... Géza A. G. ReillyFiona Snailham, ed., Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny.Crossing the Void ........... Michael D. MillerMatt Cardin, Journals, Volume II: 2002-2022.New Ways to Dread the Holidays ........... Dave FeltonEllen Datlow, ed., Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology.About the Contributors

Wicked and Wonderful Celtic Folklore ........... Daniel PietersenJohnny Mains, ed., Celtic Weird: Tales of Wicked Folklore and Dark Mythology. An Essential Index ........... Tony FonsecaS. T. Joshi, The Horror Fiction Index: An Index to Single-Author Horror Collections, 1808-2010. Howard Days 2023 ........... Bobby Derie Classics from a Contemporary ........... The joey ZoneAllen Koszowski, Dreams from The Dark Side. Ramsey's Rant: Gidget Goes Yog-Sothoth ........... Ramsey Campbell Dark Nights of the Soul: Part I ........... Michael D. MillerMatt Cardin, Journals, Volume 1: 1993-2001. An Introduction to the Horror Films of Paul Wendkos ........... Clark Tucker An All-Consuming Thing: An Interview with Curtis M. Lawson ........... David Peak Arrangements in Adamantine ........... The joey ZoneSax Rohmer, The Whispering Mummy and Others. The Literary Adolescence of a Grandmaster ........... Darrell SchweitzerRay Bradbury, The Earliest Bradbury, ed. David Ritter and Daniel Ritter. Deterritorializing a Genre toward the Infinite ........... Géza A. G. ReillyMichael Cisco, Weird Fiction: A Genre Study. Audible Nightmares: Thomas Ligotti's Penguin Classic Becomes an Audiobook ........... Oliver SheppardThomas Ligotti, Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe, narr. Jon Padgett and Linda Jones. Nightmares Inspired by an Uncertain Future ........... Greg GburJohn WM Thompson, ed., Mooncalves: Strange Stories. The Cabinet of Dr. del Toro ........... Michael D. MillerGuillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. Something of a Living Order ........... David PeakThomas Ligotti, Pictures of Apocalypse. John William Polidori's The Vampyre ........... S. T. Joshi

Table of Contents A Swordly and Sorcerous Chronicle ........... Darrell SchweitzerBrian Murphy, Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery. One Pure Writer's Will ........... Michael D. MillerFarah Rose Smith, Of One Pure Will. A Laudable Gem ........... Géza A. G. ReillyAlex Houstoun, Copyright Questions and the Stories of H. P. Lovecraft. Men in Pain ........... Javier MartinezJeffrey Thomas, Carrion Men, ed. Scott Dwyer. The "Weird" in Isolation: An Interview with Gordon B. White ........... David Peak Ramsey's Rant: From Life ........... Ramsey Campbell Kreegah Bundolo! ........... Darrell SchweitzerWill Murray, King Kong vs. Tarzan, ill. Joe DeVito. Richard L. Tierney: A Brief Memoir ........... Leigh Blackmore Twilight of the Mage ........... Leigh Blackmore and Richard L. Tierney The Brief Biblio-historiography of a Consequential Scribbler ........... Edward GuimontS. T. Joshi, The Recognition of H. P. Lovecraft. Sprawling, Taxing, Rewarding ........... Géza A. G. ReillyWilliam Brown and David H. Fleming, The Squid Cinema from Hell: Kinoteuthis Infernalis and the Emergence of Chthulumedia. Welcome Horrors from Down Under ........... Leigh BlackmoreDavid Kuraria, Bedding the Lamia: Tropical Horrors. A Journey through Time and Lovecraft ........... Greg GburJonathan Thomas, Avenging Angela and Other Uncanny Encounters. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Colder ........... Daniel PietersenHelen de Guerry Simpson, The Outcast and the Rite: Stories of Landscape and Fear, 1925-1938, ed. by Melissa Edmundson. Lamb of God ........... Michael D. MillerValdimar Jóhannsson, dir., Lamb. A World tour of Folk Horror ........... Jonathan BermanKier-La Janisse, dir., Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror. A Cavalcade of Death ........... Donald Sidney-FryerCatherine Prendergast, The Gilded Edge: Two Audacious Women and the Cyanide Triangle That Shook America. Suspension of Belief: A Look Back at James Herbert's Creed ........... Philip Challinor The Problem of Genre Expectation ........... Géza A. G. ReillyEllen Datlow, ed. Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror. Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner ........... June PulliamDavid Blue Garcia, dir., Texas Chainsaw Massacre. All the Right Reasons ........... Leigh BlackmoreTerry Dowling, The Complete Rynosseros: The Adventures of Tom Rynosseros, 3 vols. About the Contributors

VHS Nasty: The Video Nasties is the definitive, full-colour guide to the halcyon days of the 1980s, when the British government and its nanny state, headed by the self-proclaimed and totally unelected "Protector of Public Morals," Mary Whitehouse, decided it would dictate what the viewing public could-and, more specifically, couldn't-watch in the privacy of their own homes. The fight to control the voracious, countrywide spread of video players brought about the much-maligned Video Recordings Act 1984, which came complete with a list of "video nasties," horror movies deemed much too disturbing for the delicate sensitivities of the British public, and which were not to be viewed on home VCRs. And, not only were those films banned, producers and directors were prosecuted, video stores were raided by the police, and video cassettes were burned (Fahrenheit 451 anyone?). Naturally, the act not only blighted the whole video/home entertainment revolution but it also inadvertently created the cult underground movement and a huge collector's market for the iconic films, many of which still change hands for phenomenal sums of money! I Spit on Your Grave, The Driller Killer, Cannibal Holocaust, Xtro, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Evil Dead were just a handful of the initial 72 titles that made the "must-see" list of the 1980's horror aficionados, all of whom moved heaven and hell to get their hands on a copy! Tony Newton and David Bond lead us through the history of those dark, draconian days with an engaging, conversational style that makes for simply terrific reading. They also provide a comprehensive, title-by-title list of each and every one of the banned and prosecuted films, along with comments and memories of some of the producers, directors, writers, and actors responsible for creating the whole video nasty phenomenon.With insightful contributions from: Lloyd Kaufman, Taylor Sprow, Ramsey Campbell, Graham Masterton, Barbie Wilde, Nicholas Vince, John Thomson, Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust), Steve Wright, Terry M. West, Richard Stanley, James Cullen Bressack (Blood Lake), Mark Miller (Seraphim Films), Colin McCracken, Eric Weston (Evilspeak), Glenn Criddle, Max Weinstein, John Penney (The Return of the Living Dead 3, Hellgate), and many, many more.

The present. The cult that has been growing since The Searching Dead now operates openly throughout the world. Their leader, Christian Noble, is almost a century old and inhumanly vital. Dominic Sheldrake joins the cult and learns their secret of travelling through time, but only to be faced with the monstrous future the cult is invoking.

The second issue of Penumbra is highlighted by "Lost for Words," a new story by Ramsey Campbell, the leading writer of weird and supernatural literature of our time. In addition, veteran writers Darrell Schweitzer and Mark Samuels contribute original tales. Among younger writers, Curtis M. Lawson presents a science fiction/horror hybrid; Katherine Kerestman pens a skillful tale of vampirism; Scott J. Couturier, Geoffrey Reiter, Scott Bradfield, and Shawn Phelps offer glimpses of terror and strangeness; and Manuel Arenas contributes a moving prose poem. The issue also includes, as its classic reprint, Algernon Blackwood's first published weird tale. Among the articles in this issue, Martin Wangsgaard Jürgensen examines religiosity in the early tales of Lord Dunsany; James Goho analyzes the roots of terror in the work of Caitlín R. Kiernan; John C. Tibbetts studies weird elements in the oeuvre of acclaimed science fiction writer Greg Bear; S. T. Joshi presents a comprehensive account of the weird work of Guy de Maupassant; and other essays discuss William Hope Hodgson, vampire poetry, Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea cycle, John Collier, and other subjects. Adam Bolivar, Wade German, Ann K. Schwader, Leigh Blackmore, Maxwell I. Gold, and Frank Coffman are among the poets included in this issue. In all, Penumbra No. 2 is a cornucopia of the bizarre in fiction, essays, and verse.

Where does fear lurk in 21st century life? In a technological age hardwired to keep information flowing and the unknown at bay, what irrationalities still linger for horror writers to tap into? This anthology - the first in a new series from Comma - offers 15 very different responses to the question. From ancient curses kept alive in internet chat-rooms to malevolent children's TV characters acquiring lives of their own, Phobic shines a torch into the unlit areas of the modern subconscious and suggests the more we know, the more we realise how worried we really should be.

1985. Dominic Sheldrake is now a lecturer on cinema. His son Toby has begun to experience strange nocturnal seizures that no medical help seems to be able to treat. Meanwhile Dominic assumes the occultist Christian Noble is out of his life, but his influence on the world is more insidious than ever...

Short, scary Sci-Fi stories. With reprinted archetypes from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, H.G. Wells, and HP Lovecraft, alongside new emerging and award-winning talents across the earth... and perhaps beyond!

In a bid to rescue his reputation, Alex Grand ghostwrites a memoir of abuse on behalf of a survivor, Carl Batchelor. Carl's account proves to be less than entirely reliable; someone is alive who shouldn't be. As Alex investigates the background of Carl's accusations his grasp of the truth of the book and of his own involvement begins to crumble...

In Ramsey Campbell's The Kind Folk, fairies are real . . . and they're coming for you. Luke Arnold is a successful stage comedian who, with his partner Sophie Drew, is about to have their first child. Their life seems ideal and Luke feels that true happiness is finally within his grasp. This wasn't always the case. Growing up in a loving but dysfunctional family, Luke was a lonely little boy who never felt that he belonged. His parents did the best they could to make the lad feel special. But it was his beloved uncle Terence who Luke felt most close to, a man who enchanted (and frightened) the lad with tales of the "Other"--eldritch beings, hedge folks, and other fables of Celtic myth. When Terence dies in a freak accident, Luke suddenly begins to learn how little he really knew his uncle. How serious was Terence about the magic in his tales? Why did he travel so widely by himself after Luke was born, and what was he looking for? Soon Luke will have to confront forces that may be older than the world in order to save his unborn child.