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48th out of 165 books
—
245 voters
Alone With the Horrors: The Great Short Fiction, 1961-1991
Ramsey Campbell is perhaps the world's most decorated author of horror fiction. He has won four World Fantasy Awards, ten British Fantasy Awards, three Bram Stoker Awards, and the Horror Writers' Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Three decades into his career, Campbell paused to review his body of short fiction and selected the stories that were, to his mind, the v
...more
Three decades into his career, Campbell paused to review his body of short fiction and selected the stories that were, to his mind, the v
Hardcover, 448 pages
Published
May 1st 2004
by Tom Doherty Associates
(first published 1993)
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This was a book I really wanted to like. Up to now I've had very mixed experiences with Campbell's work. I really liked Ancient Images, although more so for the subject matter than the execution. Overnight and Secret Story were just ok, never great, and the short stories of his that I read varied in quality. With this volume I think maybe now I have read enough Campbell to make up my mind. This volume was for the most part an excruciatingly tedious read. Great Short Fiction...I don't think so. T...more
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I am a HUGE fan of horror stories....so I was very excited to finally read this book. HOWEVER.....this book was quite the letdown. Most of the stories were so odd they were hard to grasp what Ramsey Campbell was trying to say in them. Out of the 37 stories in the book....only one was absolutely fantastic and worth reading in the book...."Heading Home". I still can't get that story out of my head......it will haunt me for the rest of my life.....great writing.I decided not to keep this book in my...more
This book is comprised of what is said to be some of Campbell's best short stories over the course of three decades. It was an alright right all in all. I felt some of it was a bit dated, although it might have simply been borrowed from and used in later literature and film. I also ended most of the stories with little satisfaction, almost as if I had just completed watching a dry episode of The Outer Limits or something. The first story in the book not only borrows from the mythos of H.P. Lovec...more
I feel somewhat redundant reviewing Ramsey Campbell. The horror field has spoken: he’s a genius, especially in his short fiction, and he excels at mixing creeping dread with the mundane. I even knew this already, since I’d read a smattering of his short stories and a handful of novels, but since I didn’t get the full effect before reading Alone with the Horrors (a thoughtful early All Hallow’s Read gift from my sister), I’ll risk a full, if obvious, review.
Firstly, this is a genuinely excellent...more
Firstly, this is a genuinely excellent...more
Horror fiction works when it manages to provoke an emotional response. Something needs to jump out of the pages and affect the reader emotionally in some way. That's all. Horror fiction don't need elaborate conclusions or morals. These tales don't need elaborate characters or context. It succeeds when it evokes an atmosphere of dread.
Ramsey Campbell's Alone with the Horrors compiles some horror short fictions of the aforementioned author. It doesn't pretend to collect his best works but to orde...more
Ramsey Campbell's Alone with the Horrors compiles some horror short fictions of the aforementioned author. It doesn't pretend to collect his best works but to orde...more
This definitive collection deserves at least three stars for it extensive retrospective of 30 years of Ramsey Campbell's short fiction. It collects 35 of his best including all of an earlier anthology titled Dark Feasts. It is the perfect collection to discover and assess Campbell's literary output.
But that's not an easy thing to do. While Campbell can be a eerie but effective writer, he is also a bit frustrating. At his best, he can evoke a form of urban unease. He may be one of the first horro...more
But that's not an easy thing to do. While Campbell can be a eerie but effective writer, he is also a bit frustrating. At his best, he can evoke a form of urban unease. He may be one of the first horro...more
This book was one of the longest, most tedious reads I've encountered in quite some time. It was certainly one of the worst collections of short stories I've ever read. Really it's only saving grace is that Campbell seems to have come up with an effective formula for his fiction: a guy with a sketchy and mysterious past finds himself becoming increasingly isolated throughout the story and encounters terror along the way before facing a disturbing realization. Obviously Campbell's a huge fan of L...more
Ramsey Campbell is one of my favorite horror writers, because, for the most part, he writes horror that is cerebral -- much like Lovecraft, this man has the ability to set the scene and build up the feelings of horror in the pit of your stomach, then leave it all to the reader to figure out what's just happened or is going to happen next. I bought this one because of the Lovecraft influence on some of Campbell's stories and was not at all disappointed. However, beyond Lovecraft's influence, Camp...more
Campbell is certainly one of the best horror writers out there, though I think I would have been more impressed by his prose when I was younger. I'm not sure why I never read him before. Stephen King's praise in Danse Macabre tip the scale for me. The earlier stuff is all right, if thin; and being heir to Lovecraft doesn't seem like such a high offic these days. Still, the stories toward the end of the book are gripping and genuinely creeptastic. "Again" made me say "Yeaggh!" out loud on the tra...more
You may also enjoy the classic horror of Ramsey Campbell. Like Bradbury, he writes character-driven novels with a strong sense of place that adds quite a bit to the creep factor of his stories. Try some of his short stories to get a taste of his writing style.
I know this guy is supposed to be a master of horror fiction, but honestly very few of these stories were that thrilling or interesting. He tries too hard to be subtle and literary. I want to feel scared not intellectually figure out whether or not I am.
One of the great practitioners of the weird tale. His short stories have always been better than his novels, that is more because weird horror is always best in an abbreviated form. This short story collection proves it.
Superb. A definitive collection from the best horror writer the world has ever seen.
I thought it was a bit hit and miss - enjoyed stories like "Call First", and "Boiled Alive" but thought others like "Another World" fell flat. Though overall thought it deserved 3.5 stars. Thought it was interesting as well how you can gradually see him move away from supernatural horror to psychological horror over the years
This book was hit and miss for me. There were some pretty creepy stories but there were some duds in between and they were often enough to keep me from truly enjoying it.
This book was very dissapointing. I had to pull through it at times and almost gave up on it. The horror is subtle....not my kind of thing!
Some seriously scary short stories in here, folks. Not the kind of thing you want to be reading right before bed.
I wish this version had the same ridiculous but cool looking J.K. Potter photomontages as the british version.
These stories are all pretty good and spooky. And thank god none of that mafia nonsense he's been into lately.
May 22, 2013
Cat
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Derek
marked it as to-read
May 15, 2013
Renee
marked it as to-read
May 15, 2013
Clutsky
marked it as to-read-horror
May 14, 2013
Azathoth R'lyeh
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Ken Jacobs
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John Ramsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."
More about Ramsey Campbell...
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May 17, 2013 05:12am
May 17, 2013 08:57am