Growing up in the blitzed landscape of post-war Liverpool, Campbell avidly consumed the work of Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Franz Kafka and the cinema of film noir.Ĭampbell's earliest tales, written when he was 11 years old (1957–58 under the influence of a magazine from Bolton, Lancashire, called Phantom), comprised a self-illustrated collection of sixteen stories and a poem he entitled 'Ghostly Tales'. Joshi), as well as in the novella The Enigma of the Flat Policeman (2020).Ĭampbell's mother 'wrote a great deal, novel after novel, but was largely unpublished aside from a handful of short stories in writer's magazines.' She encouraged her young son to send his writing off from an early age.

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. Campbell states, 'I didn't see my father face to face for nearly twenty years, and that was when he was dying.' Years later, Campbell's mother degenerated into paranoia and schizophrenia, rendering his own life a living hell-an experience he has discussed in detail in the introduction and afterword to the restored text of The Face That Must Die.

Campbell's father became a shadowy presence more often heard than seen. Campbell's childhood and adolescence were marked by the rift between his parents, who became estranged shortly after his birth. He was educated by Christian Brothers at St Edward's College, Liverpool.

Joshi stated, 'future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood.' In a 2021 appreciation of his collected works, The Washington Post said, 'aken together, they constitute one of the monumental accomplishments of modern popular fiction.' Overview Early life and work Ĭampbell was born in Liverpool, England, to Alexander Ramsey and Nora (Walker) Campbell. Klein has written that 'Campbell reigns supreme in the field today', and Robert Hadji has described him as 'perhaps the finest living exponent of the British weird fiction tradition', while S. Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. Three of his novels have been adapted into films. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awards. Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. Horror, thriller, dark fantasy, science fiction Campbell at a book signing in New Brighton, 2013Ĭarl Dreadstone, Jay Ramsay, Montgomery Comfort

The Nameless by Ramsey Campbell