The Height of the Scream

by Ramsey Campbell

Ramsey Campbell's third short story collection.
FROM THE STAR BOOKS EDITION:
"A fracture in the smooth surface of everyday life lets loose the liquid rush of pure terror that clutches your heart into spasm, and casts you out into the limited darkness of your own fears. You are reaching THE HEIGHT OF THE SCREAM."

4000 copies printed.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Weird Fiction, Collections

229 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

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."

Reviews

[Ross Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recently reminded that Poppy Z. Brite dedicated her collection Are You Loathsome Tonight, “To Ramsey Campbell, Master of the Form.” This early collection of shorter works, assembled in 1976 by Arkham House, provides ample evidence of that mastery. The Height of the Scream exemplifies “quiet horror,” that fear based in an unmistakably building, paralyzing dread, inevitably arriving at that point where every shadow, every speck of ash contains a malevolence darker than the darkest imagination. Herein, protagonists of every stripe are terrorized by things as seemingly benign as whimpering dogs, windblown bits of trash, strange mailings, telephones, and the compulsion to dance. Some, it seems, are terrified by their own very Britishness. But it works, often to horripilating effect. Not to say that The Height of the Scream is all goosebumps and dread; Campbell’s humor and light touch shine throughout. His word choices are exquisite; his descriptions cinematic and resonant; his themes universal. For frequent tourists to those darker reaches of the imagination, The Height of the Scream is well worth seeking out.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A creepy collection of horror stories from an author in his prime. Ramsey Campbell is regarded by many as Britain’s answer to Stephen King, and this is one of his most intriguing, if not totally successful, collections.

It kicks off with THE SCAR, a truly nasty effort about a sinister doppelganger. The author leaves no stone unturned in his quest to disgust and frighten the reader. Relentlessly horrible, this. Then we move onto THE WHINING, in which a man befriends a stray dog. It’s Campbell exploring his favourite topic – psychological torment – with lots of cold realism and hidden metaphor. MISSING is less successful, detailing social decay and horror; it’s short and seemingly plotless, but still gripping.

REPLY GUARANTEED is a chilly ghost story about a woman in a hospital bed haunted by a man in a wheelchair. It sounds odd and it is, an M. R. James type story updated to the 1970s. Even better is JACK’S LITTLE FRIEND, a modern updating of the Jack the Ripper story, which is one of the author’s best of all time.

BESIDE THE SEASIDE is another Jamesian effort, quite remarkable in places, and suitably atmospheric. THE CELLARS concerns the fungus spores that infect a subterranean labyrinth, a simple story with appropriately horrible situations. The titular story, THE HEIGHT OF THE SCREAM, is one I didn’t like; the telepathic story seems all over the place, and the characters unlikeable.

LITTER is a predictable but atmospheric little yarn about sentient evil; CYRIL seems to be non-horror on the face of it, but has a nightmarish climax. SMOKE KISS sees the protagonist pursued by evil smoke, following on from the evil sand, litter and dust we find elsewhere in this volume. THE WORDS THAT COUNT is something else entirely, a puzzle in short story format; it’s actually an acrostic, and makes sense when read as such.

ASH is another fairly creepy ghost story, this time about sentient ash (do I see a theme yet?) but THE TELEPHONES had no substance behind it and was another I found disappointing. IN THE SHADOWS is another lacklustre one, but things pick up a little for HORROR HOUSE OF BLOOD, a ‘fun’ outing inspired by the grisly shockers common in British cinema during the 1970s.

[Murray Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ramsey Campbell’s third collection, with stories ranging from 1965’s “The Cellars” to 1974’s “In the Shadows”.

My favourites:

“The Words that Count” was one of the first Ramsey Campbell stories I read. It’s “written by” a young woman who’s just starting to feel the conflict between obeying her repressively religious father and her feelings for her boyfriend. A strange booklet is posted through the letterbox, with a single word on each page. She finds the pages individually beautiful, but her father is horrified when he realises what the words are saying. It might be thought of as something of a gimmick tale, but I still remember the pleasure I had on realising what Campbell had done with this story.

In the title story, the narrator’s friend reveals how people have been acting more and more antagonistically in his presence — spontaneously breaking into arguments and fights, and in one case a bizarre suicide - and he believes it’s him that’s making them do it. Then the narrator starts to notice it happening to him, too…

“Horror House of Blood” is the best tale in the book, for me. A deliberately gruesome title belies what is, in fact, a subtle psychological horror story. A young couple, Marilyn and Frank, allow a low-budget horror flick’s final scenes to be filmed in their home. Afterwards, the horrific mock-killing haunts both of them, as though seeking to be played out again, this time for real.

Some of the stories in The Height of the Scream are early ones, and a little confusing in places. (In a couple of cases, I was halfway through reading a story before working out what the relationship between the key characters was.) But this book sees the early Campbell growing into his post-Lovecraftian style, getting into a stride that would see him through decades of fine short stories. Not an essential or introductory collection, but a must for Campbell completists.

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Rick Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine, creepy collection. The stories are more ambiguous in its horrors, so you really have to go in-depth with their meaning and explanations. The ones that really stick out to me are The Cellars, Ash, and Horror House of Blood. The sexual connotations stick out for a few, and you can tell in these early stories his signature style of writing is starting to flourish for him to become the master that he is. A must read for fans of Dark Fiction.

[Jeannie Sloan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rounded up for stars.This book is about 3 1/2 stars.It is pretty dated but that can be fun to be able to look back on what the culture was like in the 1970's.It even has a photo of the author and his wife on the back both with long hair.
I enjoyed hearing about 'bean bag' chairs and MJ 'Joints'.I was born in 1965 so I missed most of the 70's and don't remember it much.But I do remember bell bottom jeans and tall boots.
Anyways,the stories are pretty good.Many have been anthologized so there are not a lot of new stories for me.
But I do think anyone who is a fan of the author would like this book.It shows where his head was at during a period in our lives that was characteristic of the clash of older vs. younger people and also shows some of the politics around in the 1970's in England.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early collection by Campbell. I believe this collection came out just prior to his novel The Doll Who Ate His Mother. I've been a long-time fan of Campbell's work. Campbell might by an acquired taste and the stories a bit out of date next to the current stuff out there now. There can be jarring shifts of POV and odd passages that call for a second read, but there is rarely a story not worth the effort. This is old-fashioned horror that pairs nicely with October evenings.

[Rob Frampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The skin-crawling, creeping terror of suburban Britain has never been better-captured than in Ramsey Campbell's fiction. Mundane verging on supernatural, no Elder gods, just the ordinary becoming unerringly, inevitably terrible.

[Jim Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat of a mix after Demons by Daylight, but a few stories have bite. 'The Scar' is a terrifying doppelganger tale. The fungoid tunnels of 'The Cellars' haunt me.

[7thTrooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minst sagt en bättre läsupplevelse än "The Doll Who Ate His Mother", som förvisso inte var dålig men inte heller speciellt bra. Läste Cold Print i en annan samling och gillade den riktigt mycket så det blev mer av hans noveller. Vilket visade sig vara ett bra beslut. Jag ska absolut återvända till hans romaner med men än så länge ligger hans styrka i kortare verk. I alla fall "The Doll..." led ganska mycket av utfyllnad, någto som som bekant inte är lika stort problem när man jobbar med noveller. Författarens mest kända influens är väl Lovecraft men han rörde sig tidigt ifrån det. Det här är hans tredje samling, tydligen släppt precis innan nämnda "The Doll...", och det finns inte mycket till influens från Mästaren från Providence . Den största influensen är snarare M.R James, en herre jag tidigare inte heller haft världens bästa kontakt med. Men Campbell förvaltar det på ett bra sätt utan att det blir segt som ofta var fallet med James. Det är inte mycket blod och slafs (om än att det finns med det med) utan mer anspelningar och Campbells speciella prosa som gör att stämningen fungerar. Nämnda prosa är hyfsat blandad men man känner igen Campbell rakt igenom. En paranoid slags prosa där en plastpåse i vinden kan beskrivas som ett organ färskt slitet från en människokropp, glänsande och drypande, tills karaktären ser vad det egentligen är. Vissa noveller har ett mer utbroderat språk än andra, bara. Den började lite segt, utom "The Whining", men efter några stycken kom det igång och höll igång med en kort, kort räcka mindre bra i mitten innan de tre sista höjde betyget igen. Krypande, ofta i stadsmiljö, obehag och bra stämning, i vilket fall.

[Mike Tomano · Rating 4 out of 5]

My introduction to the great Ramsey Campbell. I first read it in the early 90s, after becoming aware of his work in Stephen King's Danse Macabre. A fine collection of short stories by this underrated master. Campbell writes very imaginative prose that speaks to the reader like the residue upon waking from an unsettling dream. Recommended.

[Matthew Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Campbell but I found this collection to be rather uneven. A lot of his early stories are written in such a way that they can sometimes be hard to follow narratively and this problem crops up often in this collection. There are still several excellent stories but I don’t feel it’s as strong overall as his previous two collections.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one quite challenging, although I'd say I enjoyed it. I really had to learn how to read Campbell's stories here. Stories are often presented through the eyes of the characters, in ways that are disjointed or confusing. It can be hard to follow along. Right around the middle of this collection I was fairly frustrated but by the time I got to the last few stories I was really into it.

[Arthur B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as groundbreaking as the preceding Demons By Daylight, whose stories overlap in terms of when they were written with this one, but still very good. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/200...

[Julio Gagne · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first and last Ramsey Cambell. Some dense Lovecraftian writing but without the sense of dread that carries you past the difficult prose.

Meh

[Kevin Carson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Campbell's first collection of short stories, so very uneven in quality.

[Cassidy K · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories didn’t all blow me away but were generally pretty good quality so I dug it

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the six Campbell short story collections I've read, I think this one could be the weakest of the bunch. Not as groundbreaking as "Demons by Daylight," as polished as "Dark Companions," as pervy as "Scared Stiff" (and lacking the youthful exuberance of "The Inhabitant of the Lake" and "Cold Print"), even Campbell has noted that perhaps the book was too experimental and "less sure of itself." The experimental stories here are actually some of the more interesting ones... the problem is that of the 18 stories collected here, too many of them blend into each other, and there are too many stories in which the main character is first haunted, then attacked, by otherwise benign objects/elements, such as beach sand, ashes, cigarette smoke, and so on: in one amusing story, a man is even attacked by sentient litter inside a shopping mall, though in Campbell's defense, even the narrator of that story acknowledges how absurd it all sounds. Like Aickman, sometimes Campbell can be too oblique for his own good.

[Mygale · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm passed half of the book and still, I find it boring to read. There's something that I just don't like even though I had read other Campbell's stories in the past. But this book so far is just not my cup of tea. These are short stories but too many times there are things that appears in phrases just 'out of the blue' and you have to understand were it comes from... It it comes from somewhere! Like if describing bits and parts of a dream that aren't matching up together. As if the texts had been compressed to a minimum.

Anyways that being said, perhaps the author is just not my type of author.
I'll force my way through this book and will surely never pick it up again.

Edit: just done reading "Litter". So far the best story in the book...

Done. Book was a real boredom.

[Wesly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection of earlier short stories by Ramsey Campbell, and well worth reading if you're a fan of his novels. Some of the stories rely on a literary convention that I might describe as "ending with unfinished business". You may or may not be satisfied by these; they left me with a distinct feeling of unease, but without a sense of (arguably conventional) dramatic conclusion. Especially effective is the second-person narrative "Jack's Little Friend", in which you (the protagonist) discover an item formerly owned by a notorious figure. Unpleasantness ensues.

[Debra]

Recommended author and book as noted in Chapter 9 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre.

[Paul Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this collection 30 years ago and just thinking about it has set my teeth to chattering.