Take a GCSE in Ramsey Campbell

External Since: Jun 21, 2004 Posts: 165

Our intrepid invigilators have taken heed of the fact that degrees in
Harry Potter are now available, so we are pleased to offer potential
scholars of the supernatural the opportunity of taking a GCSE in
Ramsey Campbell.

http://www.hauntedriver.co.uk/page19.html

After having queried the language abilities of other writers in a less
than independent manner, we feel sure that Mr Campbell can have no
objection to seeing his own work examined in a similar fashion.

TTFN,

CB

External Since: Jul 01, 2003 Posts: 303

On 26 Sep 2004 05:09:31 -0700, hauntedriver DeleteThis @hotmail.com (Haunted
River) wrote:

>Our intrepid invigilators have taken heed of the fact that degrees in
>Harry Potter are now available, so we are pleased to offer potential
>scholars of the supernatural the opportunity of taking a GCSE in
>Ramsey Campbell.
>
>http://www.hauntedriver.co.uk/page19.html
>
>After having queried the language abilities of other writers in a less
>than independent manner, we feel sure that Mr Campbell can have no
>objection to seeing his own work examined in a similar fashion.
>
>TTFN,
>
>CB

Poppy's right. Ramsey Campbell is the best of us all and hardly needs
me to defend him from an uncouth toad splashing slime on his shoes.

Where did you get the money for a copy of Told by the Dead? Did Selma
increase your allowance?

Now, little boy, I realize that this is just another pathetic bleat
for attention and I should heed my friend Don's advice and not feed
the troll, but you've just pissed me off, (and I mean pissed in the US
sense, not the British).

Here are just a few reasons why Ramsey is commonly considered the best
of us all:

1. Even his early Lovecraftian pastiches expanded on the themes of
Lovecraft and injected new life into a genre that had become moribund.

It's quite possible that without "Inhabitant" the dozens of writers
that began the same way might not have gotten a start at all. We might
have had a genre without many of its brightest stars.

2. The stories gathered in DEMONS BY DAYLIGHT ushered in the wave of
psychological horror that included the quiet horror of Charles L.
Grant, the work of T.M. Wright, T.E.D. Klein and others. An amazingly
influential book.

3. Working in another direction direction entirely, Campbell wrote an
entire book of erotic horror stories long before the market decided
that it was a genre. SACRED STIFF remains the standard for the genre,
and likely always will. I doubt that you'd be able to read it without
becoming overly excited.

4. His story "MacIntosh Willy" was selected the best story of the year
in which it appeared.

5. "The Tugging" is an incredbly influential and important work,
reintroducing the original concept of the Cthulhu Mythos as SF with an
atmosphere of horror. No "Tugging". You'll see more of the influence
of this story next year...

6. Alone with the Horrors is a massive volume with nary a clinker in
it, considering it's a fraction of Campbell's output, I'd say that's a
remarkable level of consistency over a thirty year period.

I don't have to the time or patience to cover his novels, most of
which are very fine indeed, and even the ones that don't quite work
for me are enjoyable reads due to the lyrical prose style that
Campbell employs.

Barker, you're miles and miles out of your league when you attack me
and my accomplishments; when you attack Ramsey, you're not even in the
same universe.

FOAD

John