Home » Posts tagged "Ramsey Campbell"

Book Review: Where Nightmares Come From: The Art of Storytelling in the Horror Genre (Dream Weaver #1) edited by Joe Mynhardt and Eugene Johnson

Where Nightmares Come From: The Art of Storytelling in the Horror Genre (Dream Weaver #1) edited by Joe Mynhardt and Eugene Johnson

Crystal Lake Publishing. 2017

ISBN-13: 978-1640074682

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

With a few exceptions, books on writing usually bring on the snoozes, but Where Nightmares Come From is constructed in a manner that sidesteps the pitfalls of a typical writing book. It delivers both to amateur writers and seasoned authors, as well as giving readers an insight into how their favorite books came to be.

Twenty-eight chapters lurk between the covers, each by a different author (or several). Even if the reader doesn’t connect with one article or interview, there’s plenty more to capture his or her interest. The price of the book is covered in the first chapter, by Joe R. Lansdale, who talks about how the storyteller rules the roost, not the story. The conversational tone in which he spills his secrets brings to mind sitting across a table in a honky tonk, tossing back a few, and discussing the weather or sports, instead of the keys to a masterful story. “The Process of a Tale” is pure gold by Ramsey Campbell, a guru of the short story. Instead of telling how to write something in the abstract form, he shows the reader by taking them on a ride through drafts of an actual published story, dissecting each passage before improving it, piece by piece, tinkering with the language and design. It’s doubtful a struggling writer will close the book without feeling a kinship with the king of British horror. Charlaine Harris, author of the Southern Vampire Mysteries and Midnight, Texas takes readers on her own journey of storytelling, and how she concocts her novels. Like Lansdale, Harris knows how to explain her magic in a way that simply makes sense. Stephen King and Richard Chizmar share their experience collaborating on their recent bestselling book Gwendy’s Button Box. Elizabeth Massie, Ray Garton, and John Connolly also make great contributions, along with a slew of lesser-known authors readers should be aware of.  While I’ve mentioned just a few chapters in detail, every single entry has something crucial to offer the writer (or reader). This is a tool writers will be using for years. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Dave Simms
Posted on May 21, 2018 by , Reply

Book Review: Grave Predictions: Tales of Mankind’s Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian, and Disastrous Destiny edited by Drew Ford

Grave Predictions: Tales of Man’s Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian, and Disastrous Destiny edited by Drew Ford

Dover Publications, 2016

ISBN: 9780486802312

Available: paperback

 

In Grave Predictions, Drew Ford has selected some of the best representations of post-apocalyptic and dystopian short fiction available: stories both beautiful and terrifying. These include tales from some of the most outstanding authors of the genre, such as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, and Ursula K. Le Guin.  Each story is far ahead of its time, with its own distinct presentation of the future, and evokes a range of emotions from the reader. It’s amazing how science fiction writers have more of a pulse on the future than most people care to recognize.

Eugene Mouton’s “The End of the World,” first published in 1872, presents a tragic story about global warming before it even had a name, and culminates in the proclamation that “THE EARTH IS DEAD.” In W. E. B. Du Bois’ “The Comet” (1920), Jim Davis, an African-American man, is sent down to the vaults on a task by the bank president, only to emerge to cold, dead world. It’s reminiscent of the Twilight Zone’s “Time Enough at Last” in that respect. As he makes his way down the city streets he finds Julia, a wealthy white woman, who is seemingly the other survivor. The theme of racial tensions and the breaking down and reconstruction of barriers is central to this story. Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” (1951) focuses on a writer who walks aimlessly through the city at night when he is stopped by robotic police for aberrant behavior. No one walks around the streets anymore when they have the warm glow of their televisions screens, after all. “Upon the Dull Earth” (1954), by Philip K. Dick is the tragic story of Silvia, Rick, and the fate of the world. Silvia summons angels, believing they are her ancestors who will someday usher her home. She intends to use lamb’s blood, but when she accidentally draws her own blood, they appear to take her home. Rick cannot accept her death, and tries to bring her back, even though it may mean the destruction of his world. In Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s “2 B R 0 2 B” (1962), the United States population has been  limited to forty million people: someone must die in order for someone else to be born. Edward Wehling, Jr.’s wife is about to have triplets, but there is only one volunteer for euthanasia. Desperate, he finds a last minute solution to ensure his children will live. There is a witness to Edward’s predicament, who makes a fateful decision as well.

Other titles in this anthology include Arthur C. Clarke’s “No Morning After” (1954); Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967); Urusla K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973); Brian M. Stableford’s “The Engineer and the Executioner” (1976); Stephen King’s “The End of the Whole Mess” (1986); Joe R. Lansdale’s “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” (1992); Greg Bear’s “Judgment Engine”; Mark Samuels’ “The Black Mould” (2011); Ramsey Campbell’s “The Pretence” (2013); and Carmen Maria Machado’s “Inventory” (2013). Highly recommended.

Contains: racial epithets, abuse, body horror, disturbing imagery

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

 

Posted on February 24, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: The Booking by Ramsey Campbell

The Booking by Ramsey Campbell, illustrated by Santiago Caruso
Dark Regions Press, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1-62641-139-5
Available: Trade paperback, ebook edition.

The Booking is a book collector’s nightmare. Kiefer, an unemployed librarian, finds work creating a website for the proprietor of a bookshop selling rare (or at least old) books, called Books Are Life. This isn’t a well organized, pleasant place to work: it’s dark and dusty, and the owner, Brookes, is abrasive, secretive, and paranoid. Kiefer is expected to describe the books in a way that misrepresents their condition and post the descriptions online, and to work his way through the piles of disorganized books quickly. Brookes, mistrustful of technology, insists that Kiefer turn off the camera to his laptop, making communication difficult, especially after his living arrangements are disrupted and he is forced to move into the shop. Kiefer becomes obsessed with cataloging the books, rarely sleeping or leaving the store, and the atmosphere becomes more and more claustrophobic. Cut off from the outside world, he begins to buy into Brookes’ paranoid belief that he is being spied on through a chip secretly installed in his head. As the story progresses, the shop seems bigger and more crowded, a maze crowded with books that are closing in on Kiefer, finally trapped, alone, in the shop.

As a book lover who is surrounded by books, I found this to be profoundly unsettling. The treatment of the books, which are neglected, misrepresented, and disorganized, is disturbing. The atmosphere of the bookshop is closed-in, crowded, and labyrinthine; it takes a setting and activity I typically find enjoyable and transforms it into an extremely uncomfortable situation that makes me want to get as far away from crowded bookshelves as possible. Those who aren’t avid readers still will experience the creeping dread that accompanies Kiefer’s growing paranoia and isolation, but people who surround themselves with books will feel the impact the most. Highly recommended for lovers of psychological horror and of books.

Note: The Booking is the third novella from the Black Labyrinth imprint of Dark Regions Press. The Black Labyrinth imprint is a series of psychological horror novellas, illustrated by artist Santiago Caruso. The copy I reviewed is an advance copy that did not include the artwork. However, based on Caruso’s previous work, I am sure it will make an excellent complement to the story.

Posted on March 10, 2016 by , Reply