| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.249.146 |
I've just finished reading the landlord's latest novel, and - as usual - enjoyed it immensely. TF is a dense, layered novel that concerns, among other things, the nature of perception. The basic plot is about a group of friends who disturb something during a camping trip. Years later, the results of their actions come home to roost and we are presented with a series of intense, suggestive set-pieces that question both the perception of the antagonists and our own straining perceptions. The whole thing reminded me of Japanese horror films like Dark Water and Kairo - Ramsey's trademark accumulation of subtle paranoid detail has never been used to such great effect, and the overall effect is one of awe. By the end of the book, it's still unclear if anything overtly supernatural has really happened, or if everything was simply the result of the damaged characters' skewed perceptions. In conclusion, I absolutely loved this. Loved it. IMHO, Ramsey is going from strength to strength, and his recent writing has an urgency that drags you, helpless, into the dark worlds he creates. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Just to add: the last chapter is sublime. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.194.250 |
Thanks for the mini-review, Zed. It sounds excellent. I'm eagerly awaiting my copies - I ordered one for myself and a couple of extra copies to give to friends as birthday/Christmas gifts, as usual. ;-) | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.236.13 |
So it's already available? | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.100 |
Glad you liked that chapter, Z! I'm fond of it. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Ramsey, to be blunt, you scared the shit out of me. Again. :-) Seriously, the final chapter surely ranks among the best prose you've ever written. I was reading in broad daylight, yet still had this absurd urge to look over my shoulder at the back of my house. Hubert - the PS edition is out now, and I can't recommend it highly enough. | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 69.157.42.110 |
"...the PS edition is out now, and I can't recommend it highly enough." Sold! Thank you for the mini-review, Gary. This novel sounds superb. Best, Richard | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
I'm halfway through it. Most compelling and intriguing. Zed, did you spot the references to Midnight Sun, The Hungry Moon and The Parasite? | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.93.30.31 |
Thanks for the review. My copy is waiting for me in the countryside, where I'll be next week. Really looking forward to it- well even more now :-) | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.229 |
I'm two-thirds of the way through this now. Last night it gave me a bad dream - the scene in the train on the way to Leeds. Great stuff. Funnily enough, Ramsey emailed me about a year ago asking about Leeds railway station, and it was kind of weird to see at last what he was writing at the time. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
You are probably woven into the station, in a Derren Brown way. I bet if you read that bit in a hypnotic trance you would see your face flung out of the page at you. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.216 |
I wouldn't want to find the weird mirror in this book anywhere... | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
Finally finished Thieving Fear last night. It's a very unusual and quite brilliant book. The whole thing works as a kind of crescendo of horror, gaining momentum as it reaches its denouement. And the last chapter - as Zed suggests above - is magnificent: one of the most creepily sustained pieces of writing I've ever read. Compare this to the 'descent into the bad place' in his first novel, and you can see how far he's come. Superb. Without giving much away, the ailments that inflict the four protagonists seem to be understandable responses to their chosen occupational pathways, each rendered nightmarishly concrete by whatever is leeching upon them. Indeed, the Frugo empire sits at the heart of the book as powerfully and as darkly influential as Arthur Pendemon, rubbing out imagination, distorting self-image, etc. The Epilogue, with its commodification of 'whatever will sell', is almost as unsettling as the main story, and probably more so in the grand scheme of things. Buyer beware... The whole book is a symphony of sly suggestiveness, including brilliant throwaway lines that gain resonance from their recipient's habitual interpretation. Folk are afraid to say anything directly (except about art, which seems to attract carte blanche abuse), and are simultaneously misunderstood at every turn; even family friends suffer such woes. Folk are disoriented, alienated from their peers, their environments, even themselves. Lived existence has been colonised by something dreadful, and why? It comes down to death; it always comes down to death. And thus to that finale... Overall, another fine addition to the Campbell oeuvre. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I knew you'd love this one, G. I still can't stop thinking about it... | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.92.216.182 |
Just got back from three days in the country side where I read Thieving Fear pretty much in one thrilling sitting. If you suffer from claustrophobia, a fear of swollen, distendended reflections, the taste and smell of earth, blackouts, and you are a masochist, then you have to read this book. I agree with all the above. The final chapter is amazing, and I loved all the characters in this. I was very fond of Rory- when he was there-, (and his interview scene was great.) Ellen also. All the characters. I was reminded of Silent Hill in parts, or actually the guys who designed Silent Hill sometimes remind me of Ramsey Campbell. I really enjoyed this. I thought the middle third of the book actually wouldn't have worked if it was in lesser hands- so I thought it was amazingly done. A page turner indeed. Thank you for a frightening and entertaining story Ramsey Campell. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.92.216.182 |
'distended' I think it should be writ... :-) | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
Now I'm fully retired from work, I'm wanting to catch up on the reading of favourite authors I've reluctantly let slip in recent years. I'm going to order this one (wonderful mini-review, Gary) and the Virgin 'Grin' one from Amazon. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.108.47.110 |
THE GRIN OF THE DARK will drive you mad, Des. I'm three quarters of the way through it and already have had a bad train journey and a nightmare that seem linked to the book. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.176.240 |
Joel, GRIN gave me bad dreams too. It's very potent. Still waiting for my copies of Thieving Fear... really hoping they weren't sent to Thailand or somewhere by mistake. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
Well, I've made a start. I've ordered Grin of the Dark just now.  . | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Grin of the dark is mental...just like someone we know.  | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
Albie, did you spot the reference to Ligotti in The Grin of the Dark? Nice bit of homage. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Nope. Was he Tubby's arch enemy, LORD GRIM? "I SHALL make you laugh, Lord Grim!" | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
No, there's a mention of a town that (as far as I know) exists only in a Ligotti story. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.244.67 |
Well that's going deep, deep undercover. Thought I would have spotted that considering Liggoti's use of quasi European sounding...erm...stuff. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.32.203 |
I smiled (grinned, even) when I saw the reference to Mirocaw. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
In the film THE KRAYS (scripted by the brilliant Philip Ridley), Ronnie tells someone: "I'll make you smile for the rest of your fucking life!" before he does something very bad indeed. Then there's Bradbury's classic 'The Smiling People'. Where there's smiling, there's horror. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
Sardonicus, that Russell tale. Cornel Woolrich's story about a guy being tickled to death. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
Don't Henry S Whitehead's 'Lips' smile? :-) | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
And the skull in Bloch's 'The Skull of the Marquis de Sade'. And there's a smile in Poe's 'Berenice' so winning, the narrator feels the need to rebuild it. Yup, all smiles are bad. :-( | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.37.37 |
Don't forget Paul Leni's film The Man Who Laughs. The bed-ridden female victim in Dreyer's Vampyr had a memorably unnerving smile, too. Whenever I see someone make one of those big, forced smiles, I think of Woody teaching his staff how to smile more effectively in The Overnight. The mounting strain and painfully black comedy in that scene is brilliantly handled. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
There are daggers in men's smiles. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.85.130 |
Not that I'm in a funny mood or anything but I read that as "There are daggers in men's willies." | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
It's from MacBeth, not Carry On Screaming. :<) | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
Do you feel a prick now, Ally? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.85.130 |
You and your Shakepeares :>) | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
Prithee, madam, hie thee to a Guinness brewery and fill thyself withal. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.85.130 |
Will do m'lord but not till I've talked to the Shakeshafts too. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
You're obsessed by willies, you are. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.85.130 |
When I read horror fiction - I have the willies. | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
The Amazon entry doesn't show the book cover. It's a shame as the cover illustration is brilliant. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
However, I see it's discounted! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thieving-Fear-Ramsey-Campbell/dp/1906301956/ref=sr_1_1?i e=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213440471&sr=1-1 | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
That cover's too good to waste - it's also a brilliant selling point! Kick Ass, Mr C  | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Are you the Fonz? | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I do have a black leather jacket, Albie. However, I don't hang around with teenage girls. So, on balance, the answer to your question is no. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Do you have fat legs like Fonzie? And a one dimensional head? | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Swirling eyes surround my wobbling head. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
I'm the only person I've ever met who doesn't get freaked out by MRIs, but you can count all those other fears among my own. Seeing a freak in the mirror is way up there, as is the too-close smell and taste of earth. Especially as it presses against windows and begins piling at my feet... You've claimed another victim, Ramsey. Too-thin apparitions pursued me in dreams from which I had to be shaken awake. Loved the allusions to Midnight Sun and Darkest Part of the Woods. Definitely saw this story through a J-horror filter, with jerky forwards-shot-backwards movements and a low subliminal background sound plucking at my nerves. And I have to say that PS know how to present books. From the binding to the cover art - exquisite. I've just bought another copy for a friend who could use a good scare - a fictional one for a change. Love, Niki | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
HAH! I thought you were being surreal then, Nikki. Were you not? I have a freaky freaky face. Really weird. Yet, in the right light I can seem...human. | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
You look like a typical Civil Engineering student. Not out of place in a University junior common room. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
That's a select view of my head. I have many faces depending on what angle you see. Most are just nauseating. Some are Fred Kreuger. One looks like a caveman! | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Short snippets of live conversation with a stranger I'll never talk to. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
This is my weird Jesus...  | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
That's not what you look like in the photos on the old board! | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
I shall heal you of your FACE! "BUT I NEED MY EYES TO SEE!" | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
>>That's not what you look like in the photos on the old board! What did I tell you? >>Short snippets of live conversation with a stranger I'll never talk to. Indeed. Do you hate me now? | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
You are Donovan Loucks and I claim my five pounds, etc: http://www.getnet.com/~dloucks/ | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
You ragging on me beard? I'll get me gangsta' mates on to yer. | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Do I hate you now? Nah! | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
http://files.myopera.com/Albie/albums/27650/04%20January%202008%20%284%29.jpg http://files.myopera.com/Albie/albums/27650/04%20January%202008%20%282%29.jpg Say you like my drawings! | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Meh. I can do better. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
You two seriously need to get a room. A nice padded one.  | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Given Albies condition that's an ill considered remark. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Aren't you assuming Niki was aware of that? I wasn't. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
Yeah, stop being an old nanny, Griff. | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Right Campbell. It's Shaun Hutson and Daniella Steel from now on! | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
>>Meh. >>I can do better. So can I. Show us yours then. >>Given Albies condition that's an ill considered remark. I'm the last one to take offence at my mental state, Griff. But then you were defending me, and that is touching. Nikki may feel free to say what he/she likes about my madness and know I take it as a compliment or good natured banter that reflects my own playing up of my condition.  Although truth be told I am a complete maniac and will kill one day. HAHAHAHAHA!(?) | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
>>Aren't you assuming Niki was aware of that? I wasn't. That Nikki wasn't aware or that I am mad? I would thought it were plain that I am as mad as the next man. Chortle. Who will post next? | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
I mean, if I'm not a bit mad then I'm one major sane knob head. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
Albie, have you read Harlan Ellison's story 'The Crackpots'? Very early Ellison (published in 1956) and a bit derivative (Sturgeon is all over it), but still a joyous meditation on the enigma of madness and the limitations of instrumental reason. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Niki is a she with one K and is considered by many to be mad herself. Though, as she knows she is mad, surely she can't really be. She also meant no offence, as she clearly has no knowledge of anyone's mental state here. Frankly, she was trying subtly (a bit too subtly it would seem) to nudge the thread back on topic. Love, Niki | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Albie - Post more of your pictures they're disturbing and remind me of some stuff from Ramsey in COLD PRINT, "Things I have tried to write about" or something similar. Brr. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.142.155 |
'Among the pictures are these' | ||
| Griff (Griff) Username: Griff Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
That's the one, Joel. Were you influenced by that writing, Albie? | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Joel - not read it. I'll have my eyes open. Nikki - I love it when people call me a lunatic - my court appointed solicitor refused to believe I was one. Griff - I know what you mean. I draw in doodle form all the time, with no idea what I'm sketching. But let's see some of your stuff, you hairy hammer. I wasn't influenced by that story to draw, no. I read that story quite recently. But have often seen the similarities. The one image I always seem to produce is a lone figure of a man. Sob! Funny, I wrote son, instead of sob. I CRUSH MY HUMANITY NOW!!!!!! Wiring, eh? | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Is there to be a Virgin edition of Thieving Fear? I've just finished GRIN OF THE DARK and was once again bowled over by the boss's ability to make me laugh out loud and fear to anticipate the next page. Great stuff that gave me a nightmare, I'm sure. I dreamed Tubby was about, and that was as frightening as shit, believe me. I'd figured a lot of the fun with the names, though -- SPOILER ii Ramsey didn't write that Rufus backwards is a phonetic "suffer" as I recall. He's still the best. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.24.122.40 |
>>>Is there to be a Virgin edition of Thieving Fear? I have it from the horse's mouth: yes. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Thank you, Mr Ed. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I hope it's not too late for me to say with reference to Niki's original post that it may be inadvisable to wake anyone who's dreaming of Pendemon, in case it releases him into the world. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
Yes, it's too late. He's here. There's nothing anyone can dddddddddddddddddddd | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
I had a horrible and prolonged dream about Freddy Kruger this morning. I thought I'd gotten rid of him. He's worse than in the films. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.103.184 |
I dreamt I stayed overnight with a guy I support who has been having lots of problems in order to see what might be triggering them off. At midnight the wall opened and these neighbours came in and started using his phone, watching his telly and stuff and eating his food. It was absolutely terrifying. When the dad saw me he held a gun to my head and I grabbed it and shot him in his. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.244.67 |
Sounds good. Does he have lots of people like that using him? Or was that secretly about you? Is that lass still living with you? | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.103.184 |
No - the guy really is having problems. He says the woman next door sometimes upsets him and I've never seen her or seen evidence of this; it just preys on my mind. Oh, she's gone. We get on OK now. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.244.67 |
My neighbours upset me with just being there. Any noise they make, even small, is an insult. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.244.67 |
Just to be reminded of them is an insult. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.103.184 |
I feel like that. And this guy has special needs - maybe that's what he's thinking. Sad aside; he's been getting rid of old Dr who videos by throwing them on the neighbour's roof - even Green Death! It's painful. You thought of anti depressants, Albie? they help me a lot. I must need them as I actually feel right. |