RAMSEY CAMPBELL, PROBABLY

Ramsey Campbell

ISBN 10: 1902880412 / ISBN 13: 9781902880419

Published by PS Publishing, US, 2002

About this Item

Signed Special Edition limited to 500 numbered trade peperbacks and 200 numbered slipcase copies of which this is numbered 115. Signed by the author, editor, and author of the introduction. Includes four loose prints. Red paper-covered boards with gilt-stamped particulars to spine. Housed in publisher's matching red paper-covered slipcase with gilt-stamped particulars to spine. Pages are clean and unmarked. Text block is clean and unmarked. Boards are clean, bright and unmarked. Binding is tight and square. Dust jacket is clean, bright and unmarked. Slipcase is clean, bright and unmarked.

Seller Inventory # 66149

Bibliographic Details

• Title: RAMSEY CAMPBELL, PROBABLY
• Publisher: PS Publishing, US
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1902880412
• ISBN 13: 9781902880419
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Horror

About this title

Synopsis

RAMSEY CAMPBELL, PROBABLY, originally published by PS back in 2002 since which time the author has expanded some of the essays, added others and generally tinkered around with the running order . . . as is his wont. Thus the original 140,000-or-so words compiled from Ramsey s non-fiction of three decades have been considerably (and entertainingly) expanded to represent getting on for a full half-a-century of Campbelliana now well in excess of 150,000 words. The subjects range from the perils of authorship to the delights of amateur fiction and film, from drugs to nightmares, from the Highgate Vampire to the Dracula Society s marching song. Friends are remembered and so is Mary Whitehouse. A seminal study of schoolgirl spanking is brought up to date. Many thoughts on the history of horror fiction are included. And, at last, it is revealed why Harlan Ellison is responsible. May the reader variously laugh, weep, ponder, disagree and turn uneasily in bed. Time for another taster boy, we really do spoil you folks!

Reviews

Anything new from the pen of British horror master Campbell (The Long Lost, etc.) is cause for celebration. Drawing together essays, introductions, afterwords and reviews from diverse sources dating back to 1984, this book displays some of Campbell's rarely seen facets. "Fiedler on the Roof" stands as a withering response to an academic's blanket criticism of horror. Campbell is also in fine form defending good horror in "The Crime of Horror." He spares neither censors nor creators of mediocre work in such forays as "Turn Off" and "Floundering on the Bottom," but he's no less merciless in assessing his own failures ("Chasing the Unknown" and the introduction to his collection of early tales, Height of the Scream). The real surprise comes in discovering how funny Campbell can be. He admits that if he were not who he is he'd be a stand-up comedian, and this is borne out in such essays as "Fame!," "A School Visit" and the Biercian "Horror Writer's Lexicon." For those seeking something grimmer, "Near Madness" is as harrowing as (and its truth more upsetting than) any of Campbell's stories. "Strapped for Cash," an amusing piece on spanking films, could have been much shorter, though as a rule when the author does digress, he does so magnificently. A detailed bibliography will please scholarly fans. Campbell displays the wide erudition and insight that make his stories so memorable and, with its analyses of film, writing and life in general, this is a must-have for anyone interested in the creation of fiction.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.