Scott David Aniolowski (ed.) – Made in Goatswood (Chaosium, 1995, 268 p.)
A CELEBRATION OF RAMSEY CAMPBELL
Most acknowledge him as the greatest living writer of the horror tale in the English language. This volume contains all-new stories by seventeen admiring fellow authors. All the stories are set in that ancient and fearful portion of England's Severn Valley which Mr. Campbell evoked in narratives such as "The Moon-Lens". Included in this book is a new story by him, his first Severn Valley yarn in decades. Published in conjunction with his trip to the United States.
Content:
Needing Ghosts and Ancient Images – Introduction by Scott David Aniolowski
The Severn River Valley - map by J. Todd Kingrea
A Priestess of Nodens - A. A. Attanasio
Ghost Lake - Donald R. Burleson
Beauty - Fred Behrendt
Unseen - Penelope Love
Fortunes - Keith Herber
Cross My Heart, Hope to Die - J. Todd Kingrea
I Dream of Wires - Scott David Aniolowski
The Turret - Richard A. Lupoff
The Second Effort - John Tynes
The Queen - Diane Sammarco
The Undercliffe Sentences - Peter Cannon
The Awakening - Gary Sumpter
Random Access - Michael G. Szymanski
Free the Old Ones - C. J. Henderson
The Music of the Spheres - Kevin A. Ross
Growing Pains - Richard Watts
The Beard of Byatis - Robert M. Price
The Horror Under Warrendown - Ramsey Campbell
As editor Aniolowski isn't keen on story introductions – as he wrote in a later volume – most of the writers remain in a vacuum. A few the fan of this literature may know, a lot are unknowns. I disagree here with Mr. Aniolowski, this approach just makes the whole project even more arbitrary.
Most of the stories are not very memorable, a lot of writers were obviously of the opinion that it is enough to name-drop the location to qualify. That is not to say these stories are always bad in itself, but why bother?
"Fortunes" by Keith Herber is a prime example of this. Two young lads visit a fortune-teller on a fun fair. The guy give them a sealed envelope. It is their death-date, as is revealed. The first one opens it years later and commits suicide on the day. The narrator finds his envelope after this. The message destroys his life, he also will take his own life when the day comes. It is a well-written short weird tale, but the only connection to the Campbell universe is that the fun-fair is in Brichester. Edit that sentence, and the story could be published anywhere.
The exact opposite it The Queen by Diane Sammarco, which is either the only tale she ever published ot just another pseudonym. This is basically a prequel to The Insects from Shaggai. Not bad at all, a bit too pastiche maybe, still a nice idea.
On the whole this is a rather limp affair. The story by Mr. Campbell is, as far as the plot is concerned, also very by the numbers. But even if it seems – this was my impression - like a conscious approach to resurrect the Cold Print times at the start of his career, at least it is better written than 90% of the other material. As far as theme-anthologies are concerned, this is disappointing.
