| Author | Message | ||
     Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Sometime in the 80s, somewhere in the States, 13-year-old me found a battered paperback horror novel in a secondhand shop. The cover showed a creepy little girl in flames and it was called THE NAMELESS. It was by someone I'd never heard of - a British author named Ramsey Campbell. I devoured it in two days, thrilled and terrified by its dark, unhappy ending. I was an instant fan. I spent the next few years seeking out and reading everything I could by him. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day that same 13-year-old (older now and better dressed) would be signing copies of a book alongside her writer hero. I'm still reeling from that. So thank you, Ramsey, for scaring me so delightfully over the years. Thank you for forgetting my tongue-tied groupie first encounter. Thank you for your encouragement and friendship. And thank you for having this message board, where I met the love of my life. You drew me in with an unhappy ending only to help me find a happy one. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.31.223 |
He's a dude, isn't he? Readers of my novel 'Canted Steps will quickly be able to identify my own sense of gratitude to the guvnor. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 82.27.28.165 |
Gary, is that a fancy way of saying you ripped him off? | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.31.223 |
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| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Kate, that was very moving. I must say, my FCon highlight was sitting next to Ramsey for two of the launches and having the chance to have a proper chat with him - it's been a while since I had the opportunity. I think each of us who are writers on here owe a massive debt in some way to Ramsey. As GF says, he's the guv'nor. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.68 |
Ramsey is indeed the boss man. And I think everytime I've met him my tongue has grown too big for my mouth, my clothes have shrunk and an army of ants have crawled around my neck and down my spine. I really do need a better deod'rant. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.135.73 |
Lovely post, Kate. Great to chat to Ramsey and Jenny at Fantasycon! And to sit next to Ramsey at the signing session for the anthology. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
Very moving post. And yes, Ramsey is the man. Nuff said. | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Very nice post, Kate. As for me, whenever I've spoken to Ramsey, I've always forgotten the basic tenents of English. He's always been very gracious about it though. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Thanks for sharing that, Kate, it's made my day. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Can't tyoe much - eyes too blurred (I was going to say that's not Ramsey's fault but I suppose it is really, the little matchmaker  ). | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 95.131.110.102 |
Very nice post, Kate... | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.69 |
Eyes too blurred? Ah, middle age means glasses, eh, Lord P ;-) | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Wonderful sentiments, Kate. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.68 |
That made me very happy, Kate. I'm proud to be a friend of you both and to have brought you together (and Jenny helped!) By the way, I see Lord P can't even type "type"... And thanks to all the rest of you folk! | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.253.79 |
A moving post indeed.... And I too, am one of those who took a sharp left turn when I read Ramsey's work - though for me, it was a combination of short-stories and The Parasite. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
But a course of flea treatments soon fixed that. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Aw, Kate, that's so sweet. I must say that, having seen you and your good Lord at FCon, you are a lovely couple. I had no idea you'd met through this board! That's lovely.  I'm also glad to see (from this and Stevie's thread) that I'm not the only one who gets tongue-tied in Ramsey's presence!  |