In particular, his 2005 novel Secret Stories (published in the U.S. The invented locale of Brichester was deeply influenced by Campbell's native Liverpool, and much of his later work is set in the real locales of Liverpool and Merseyside. At the suggestion of August Derleth, he rewrote many of his earliest stories, which he had originally set in the Massachusetts locales of Arkham, Dunwich and Innsmouth, and relocated them to English settings in and around the fictional Gloucestershire city of Brichester, near the River Severn, creating his own Severn Valley milieu for Lovecraftian horrors. His first collection, The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants, is a volume of Cthulhu Mythos stories published by Arkham House in 1964.

Campbell sold various of his early stories to editors including August Derleth and Robert A.W. However, his concept of what was possible in the weird genre changed radically when he discovered Lovecraft's work. Another issue of this magazine - Crypt of Cthulhu No 43 (Hallowmas 1983), titled The Tomb-Herd and Others collects various early stories including some early drafts of tales later published revised in Campbell's first book, The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants (Arkham House, 1964).

(This collection of juvenilia was eventually published as a special issue of Crypt of Cthulhu magazine titled- Ghostly Tales- Crypt of Cthulhu 6, No 8, whole number 50, Michaelmas 1987, edited by Robert M. His earliest stories, written in 1957-58, when Campbell was but eleven years of age, comprised a collection called Ghostly Tales. Joshi) Hornsea, UK: PS Publishing, 2002.Ĭampbell had already been attracted to the weird field before he read H. Although both parents lived in the same house, Campbell states, 'I didn't see my father face to face for nearly twenty years, and that was when he was dying.' Other autobiographical pieces regarding Campbell's life are available in Section V, 'On Ramsey Campbell' in his essay collection Ramsey Campbell, Probably: 30 Years of Essays and Articles (ed. John Ramsey Campbell (born Januin Liverpool) is an English horror fiction author, editor and critic.Ĭampbell's childhood and adolescence were marked by the rift between his parents and his mother's developing schizophrenia, an experience he has discussed in detail in the introduction and afterword to the restored text of The Face That Must Die.

Ramsey campbell the face that must die