Ramsey Campbell is a British horror writer, editor and critic. In the mid-60s, he took a prominent place in the literary Olympus. Since then, it is considered one of the leading authors in its field. Fans and critics unanimously claim that this outstanding person is the best representative of modern English horror literature.
Author Biography
Ramsey Campbell was born in Liverpool on January 4, 1946. His childhood was overshadowed by the separation of his parents. Ramsey later wrote that he had not seen his father for more than 20 years, and when this finally happened, he was already dying.
Campbell's mother was also a writer, but her works were hardly published. At 2 years old, she taught her son to read, and at 7 years old he wrote his first story. After some time, her mother began to progress schizophrenia, and her mind plunged into hell during her lifetime.
Ramsey described this process in detail in many of his works.
Personal life
On January 1, 1971, he married Jenny Chandler, daughter of the famous writer Bertram Chandler. The couple had two children: in 1978, Tamsin was born, and in 1981, the younger Matthew.
Spouses still live in Merseyside and enjoy life. Like an ordinary elderly couple, they listen to classical music, they like delicious food and good wine.
Author Achievements
Ramsey Campbell is probably the most titled author in the world of horrors, fears, dark fantasies, and supernatural stories. He has won four World Fantasy Awards, ten British Fantasy Awards, three Bram Stoker Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers Association of this genre, and has been named Grand Master of Horrors.
Weekly magazine publishers call Campbell a writer of writers in horror literature. They consider him an unsurpassed master of control over mood and atmosphere. Doug Winter, a well-known scientist and critic, says that Ramsey wrote some of the most original and convincing tales of our time, his work blows the mind, forcing him to believe and not believe what he read at the same time.
The American publication The Plain Dealer claims its horrific fiction is of consistently high quality, and the Washington Post praises Campbell for continuing to pave the way for the hearts of new readers, promoting and popularizing the style of fantastic horrors, leaving far behind his contemporaries.
Ramsey Campbell almost single-handedly created the genre of erotic horror. His collection of sex and death tales, Scared Stiff, hypnotizes the reader. Clive Barker, the author of the book's foreword, writes: “In these stories, the most disturbing and exciting is that Ramsey’s thoughtful, completely unique vision makes the world we know so cruel, weird and frightening. Perfect material for a horror writer.”
Ramsey Campbell Books
During his long career, Ramsey wrote dozens of short stories, novels and short stories, but remained almost unknown to a domestic audience. Only a few stories and three novels were published in Russian: The Hungry Moon, The Incarnate, and The Smirk of Darkness.
The Hungry Moon novel was written in 1986. The story unfolds in a provincial English town, surrounded by long-abandoned mines. Every year, the townspeople performed a strange rite: wove wreaths of wildflowers, and then dumped them in one of the mines. None of the living people remembered the meaning of this ritual, but they continued to observe the tradition. Once a Christian preacher came to the city, and many residents turned their backs on pagan rites. Having not received flowers, the ancient Evil came out of the mine, and darkness hung over the city.
In the book "Incarnation", written in 1983, the boundaries between reality and fantasy are destroyed. A group of people who experimented on their own minds let a monstrous creature into the world. Now each of the inhabitants is in mortal danger.
"The grin of darkness"
Ramsey Campbell's novel, The Smirk of Darkness, tells the story of a former editor of a popular magazine. The publication was accused of slander, and the career of the protagonist crumbled in an instant.
In search of work, he finds an interesting order: to write a book about the once-famous, but almost forgotten silent movie actor, the clown Tabby Thackeray. At his speeches, people literally died of laughter, and critics put him on a par with such an outstanding comedian as Charlie Chaplin.
However, films with the participation of Tabby disappeared somewhere, as if they were deliberately destroyed, and the main character of the novel will have to find the lost films. He plunges into the strange world of circus performances and porn studios, and his life gradually turns into a continuous nightmare.
Ramsey Campbell's reviews of The Smirk of Darkness are highly mixed. Russian-speaking critics believe that the novel is written in the genre of mysticism and journalistic investigations, and not horror. However, the author was able to brilliantly recreate a frightening, awesome atmosphere and make the reader shudder with fear along with the main character.
Ramsey Campbell's tales are as fascinating as his novels. “Cat and Mouse”, “There”, the collection “Awakening Nightmares” are really immersed in an atmosphere of horror, describing in detail and reliably strange and gloomy events.