Book Review: Ghosts and Grisly Things

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Ghosts and Grisly Things     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Ramsey Campbell
Class/Genre:   Fantasy   Horror   [Short Stories]
Tor, Nov 2000, $24.95, 300 pp.

Ramsey Campbell is more known for his novels such as SILENT CHILDREN and NAZARETH HILL. Still his previous anthologies have been well received (see ALONE WITH THE HORRORS: THE GREAT SHORT FICTION OF RAMSEY CAMPBELL 1961-1991 AND STRANGE THINGS AND STRANGER PLACES). So for Mr. Campbell to provide his audience with twenty tales that vary in terror (and quality) is not surprising. The subjects deviate from modern day scenarios to homage to classic horror creatures.

Not for everyone because Mr. Campbell’s writing often lives up to his title, the stories are creative, quite depressing, yet often humorous. The stories diversify between physical horror (ask the charity runner, the vampires or the other alleged creatures of the night) to psychological terror (talk to the mother avenging her daughter’s murder). All the stories are good, but the best contain characters forced to challenge real or imaginative phantoms. Hopefully readers will not have to wait five plus years for Mr. Campbell’s next anthology.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner