| Author | Message | ||
     Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.59.237 |
Well, my beautiful boxed copy has arrived. It's a lovely thing. Started reading it and already the tale has delivered some killer lines, my favourite of which is Deryck's rather cutting description of his marriage: "We're both stuck with what we turn each other into." Off to fish for more of the same . . . | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.167.117.66 |
I'm three quarters through 'Creatures now & loving it. Subtle & slow burning..It builds beautifully..Not the grand horror statement of Grin Of The Dark, but more satisfying than Thieving Fear for me. gcw | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.167.117.66 |
..You will love the two coppers BTW... gcw  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.70 |
First person again, yes? Looking forward to reading it. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.182.201 |
I received my deluxe copies of Creatures of the Pool and Just Behind You on Friday, and they are indeed beautifully produced books. The most impressive small press books I've bought this year, along with the Centipede Press edition of The Influence. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I'm assuming the pun in the title of this book was deliberate? Have to say how engrossed I am already in 'Midnight Sun'. I'm hearing echoes of 'The Wendigo' and 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' as well as Ramsey's own 'The Influence'. Could this be the one he's been building up to... but then I thought the same about 'The Influence' and 'Ancient Images' and neither disappointed me. A master at the very peak of his powers methinks! | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
I'm sorry to say but I don't like the title of this one. If I saw it on the shelves with an unknown writer's name on it, I wouldn't look twice at it. I'm sure I'll enjoy the book when I get round to reading it and I know the title's a pun on Liverpool and all that (and quite clever for that), but... I just don't like the title. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
If the pun is deliberate then I think it's a quite brilliant title... If not then mark another notch on the headboard of the subconscious (can't see it though). | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
I'm not denying it's a clever title, but, as I said, if it wasn't for Ramsey's name on the spine of the book, I wouldn't look close enough to find the extra meaning... Sorry Ramsey. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.59.237 |
Shut ya yap. The title's great. I suppose Iron Maiden woulda come up with a better one, he? Eh, Webby boy? Eh? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
I must admit, I think the title's a belter. Even before I realised it was a play on words, it drew my attention with its Lovecraftian overtones. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>it drew my attention with its Lovecraftian overtones.<< I actually initially thought it was a "follow up" (somewhat late) to "The Inhabitants of the Lake"! I seem to recall I mentioned that in the Pantechnicon interview I did with Ramsey, and he put me straight on which "pool" he was referring to. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Or it might have been when he did a Q & A with us on the Pantechnicon forum. Darn it, my brain's all scrambled and I can't remember things correctly nowadays ..  | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.167.117.66 |
I find the comments on the title a bit confusing.... Creatures Of The Pool. What's not to like? I only realised the true meaning when I started reading the book...Title works well either way it's read I reckon. gcw | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.184.96 |
I immediately thought of Machen when I first heard of the novel's title. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.233.246 |
So did I! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
You're right - it's more evocative of Machen than Lovecraft. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Sorry, didn't spot the discussion of the pun! To be honest, it isn't really one. The opening sentence of the book makes clear that there was an actual Pool that gave the town its name, and it's important to the tale. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
But that doesn't stop it reading like a pun Rasmsey... once again we're back in the territory of the writer putting stuff in that even he/she didn't realise. Can I just say that I'm over half-way through 'Midnight Sun' and am more deeply engrossed in it than any of your books since 'Incarnate' - although this one is more tightly constructed and more fascinating. Can I ask if 'The Hungry Moon' was your first attempt to emulate T.E.D. Klein's achievement in 'The Ceremonies' and that you were perhaps so dissatisfied with that book that you HAD TO rewrite it in 'Midnight Sun' with more truth. I feel in this book that for the first time you felt comfortable enough to speak with your own voice. The portrait of the happy little family and Ben himself is beautifully done and more true and convincing than anything I have read in the works of Stephen King. Thanks! | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I don't believe I was trying to do a Ted in The Hungry Moon, but I do think Midnight Sun was an attempt to improve on it - to refine it, you might say. By then I may already have decided that Hungry Moon was a mess. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
What I loved about 'The Ceremonies' was the meticulous attention to detail and deliberately slow pace with as much concentration on character and background atmosphere as on sheer plot (the mark of what I call a truly great novel). So far I'm finding that quality in spades in 'Midnight Sun'. A book that envelops you and draws you into its mysteries - exactly like Klein's works. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.167.117.66 |
"I don't believe I was trying to do a Ted in The Hungry Moon, but I do think Midnight Sun was an attempt to improve on it - to refine it, you might say. By then I may already have decided that Hungry Moon was a mess." And yet, 'The Hungry Moon' was my very first RC book Ramsey. You must have been doing something right -I did come back for more! gcw | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.0.106.15 |
I think it's a bit harsh to call 'The Hungry Moon' a mess though it is the most untypical and just plain weird Ramsey Campbell novel I've read to date. The book has an almost stream of consciousness feel to it like some bizarre nightmare. 'Midnight Sun' is very similar plot-wise but much tighter and more compulsively readable - I really fear for Ben and his family. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.228.92 |
I think I prefer The Hungry Moon. The monster alone is worth the price of admission, especially in the latter half of the book when it takes on surreal proportions. Stark and undiluted horror. |