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Post by sean on Feb 16, 2008 15:59:04 GMT
This was Ramsey Campbell's second collection, and in a way it can be seen as his first adult work (his first book, 'The Inhabitant of the Lake' was published when he was still in his teens). The writing here (stylistically at least, although in content some of them are very HPL-ish) is far removed from his earlier Lovecraftian tales. Terse, bleak and nasty, this is a book that really does leave an impression. I think I'm right in saying that Poppy Z Brite considers this to contain some of his best work... Arkham House (1973):  Star Books (1975):  Jove (1979):  Star Books (1980 reprint):  Carrol & Graff (1990):  Sorry that one is so small... THE BLURB FROM THE 1980 STAR BOOK: We all have our demons. Uneasy fears that worm into the heart. Childish anxieties throbbing malevolently behind the facade of everyday control. teetering obsessions and tightly-reigned derangements, rotting in the depths of the psyche, eating away at the deceptive visage of smiling sanity.
In Ramsey Campbell's world, the demons refuse to cower under cover of fantasy and darkness. They break out into the placid lives of rational people. They are waking nightmares. Demons by daylight.
NightmaresPotentialSet in the 1960s, Charles pops into Brichester's first love-in in the hope of meeting some nice ladies. It proves to be a flop, but he meets a man who asks him if he would like to go and meet some friends of his who were 'experimenting with the mind'... The End of a Summer's DayA genuine 'What the hell was that?' story. A couple join a tour of some deep dark caves, and when the party emerges the trouble really starts. Brilliant. A whole bunch of sexual repression going on here, and a bizzare twist which, even if not logical on any normal level, gives me the creeps every time I read it. At First SightA woman at a boring after-work pub outing picks up a strangely insubstantial admirer. Short, to the point, and grim. Errol Undercliffe: a tributeThe Franklin ParagraphsA piece proporting to document the correspondence between Campbell himself and fellow author Errol Undercliffe, telling of Undercliffe's interest in a mysterious writer Roland Franklyn. Neat. You get the feeling that each of the three writers involved contain more than a bit of Ramsey Campbell himself... The Interloperby Errol UndercliffeTwo boys bunk off school to try and find a rock club (a la The Cavern) called The Catacombs. They get lost and things get seriously weird... f**k**g scary, this one. They should have stayed at school, you might say, but even there they are not safe... RelationshipsThe SentinelsTwo couples take a drive up to Sentinal Hill to see the stones that stand guard there. When will these people learn?  The GuyThis one is as much concerned with class divisions as it is with outright horror, although it does contain one image (not telling!) that will haunt you. Set on November 5th, a second disaster (with echoes of the first) hits a family that the narrator's parents strongly disapprove of. The Old HornsA man goes missing during a drunken game of hide and seek at The Old Horns. Assumed to be able to look after himself, everyone eventually departs, leaving him to make his own way back. Concerned, the narrator later returns but discovers something he'd probably rather not have. The LostSet in Germany, this one tells of the holiday taken by two former friends whom haven't met in ten years. One of them still bears a grudge over past events. The StockingOffice flirting leads to unpleasantness. Not a whiff of the supernatural in this one, the only nastiness springs from the human mind. Great stuff. The Second StaircaseGhostly goings on in a London hotel, where a man witnesses deadly events from the recent past... ConcussionKirk is an old man who is convinced that he is not much longer for this world. Out of nostalgia for old loves, he takes a last trip to Liverpool. Or does he? In fact, how strong is his grasp of past events? Or present ones... This is a personal favourite, very ambiguous and dreamlike, reality is decidedly wobbly here. I read somewhere that Ramsey Campbell felt that this story could have done with more editing, but to be honest, I think it works fine as it is... the removal of any of the detail would lessen the overall effect, I feel. The Enchanted FruitA man walking in the forest at Goatswood eats an apple off a tree, something the doesn't always bode well. Made in GoatswoodA man buys his wife-to-be some garden gnomes from Goatswood. The future wife doesn't really like them, feels she is being watched etc. In my 'umble opinion, this is the weakest story in the book, which is a pity 'cos it could have ended with a real bang... A typically brilliant Campbell collection, although possibly not the best starting point for anyone unfamiliar with his short fiction. It was fun to revisit this one. |
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Post by dem on Feb 16, 2008 19:40:30 GMT
I found parts of this one a lot easier to get my head around than 'The Height Of The Scream'. Reading 'potential' for the first time, was struck at how different Campbell's work was to what I was used to but still incredibly nasty. 'At the end of a summers day' put me in mind of Robert Aickman and Karl E. Wagner maybe took inspiration from the Errol Undercliffe saga for his pulp tribute, Blue lady, Come back. And, of course, The Second Staircase has a wonderful special guest appearance from Michel Parry! A very dark collection, perhaps, but a fun one and I can well understand why readers regard this as among his finest - even if Campbell evidently doesn't, judging by his comments in an interview with Caroline in Pantechnicon #6!
Here's some I made earlier ...
Potential details the horrific fate of Charles when he falls in with a bunch of groovy devil-worshippers who realise he's just the guy they're looking for. Plenty of counter culture references. The setting is 'BRICHESTERS FIRST BE-IN: FREE FLOWERS AND BELLS' and the story is littered with references to 'Make Love Not War' badges, Lovecraft, two prog-rock bands (The Titus Groans and Faveolate Collosi; "Oswald, Kennedy, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe - Kill, Kill!" LSD and black magic.
The Stocking: Meet Tom. Not a man to conduct a harmless, pass-the-time office flirtation with. Certainly not the type of guy to follow through the creaky black door along the alley which has always frightened you. But Sheila isn't to know that ....
The Second Staircase; Featuring Michel Parry and - in passing - Richard Davis, although the central character is Michel's whiny photographer. Carol (a man) is haunted by a Swedish chambermaid who committed suicide, presumably due to the advances of the lecherous manager of the Hotel Docherty. Carol is unaware that the visitor to his room is actually a ghost, and flatters himself that the girl is fond of him because he is sympathetic, not like other men who only take pleasure in degrading women.
An early episode in the story sees Parry and Carol visit Soho and a cinema where a poster advertising House Of Dr. Jekyll features: "a half-naked girl in the monster's arms, the hunchback with the whip, the doctor fondling a skull". I've never been able to twig whether this is a reference to a real movie, or one that exists solely in the mind of R.C.
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albie
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 137
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Post by albie on Mar 13, 2009 13:35:38 GMT
The End of a Summer's Day freaked me out most of all his stories. But only once. I could never recapture that feeling. Maybe it just activated some deeply buried fear in me.
The Stocking made no sense to me at all. The last line, often the veil being lifted, confused me the most.
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Post by stuyoung on Aug 12, 2010 8:10:39 GMT
I read Demons by Daylight at the beginning of the year. There was a certain sense of trepidation as I'd already read 'The Old Horns' in an anthology and couldn't make head nor tail of it. Fortunately Demons wasn't quite as hard-going as I'd feared. I'm not claiming to have understood all the stories but whenever it got too confusing I just let the words wash over me and wallowed in the atmosphere.
Actually, I felt a bit better about my lack of literary acumen when I read T.E.D. Klein's essay 'Ramsey Campbell: An Appreciation' where he admitted that he had trouble understanding the stories too.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 26, 2012 19:20:33 GMT
I read Demons by Daylight at the beginning of the year. There was a certain sense of trepidation as I'd already read 'The Old Horns' in an anthology and couldn't make head nor tail of it. Fortunately Demons wasn't quite as hard-going as I'd feared. I'm not claiming to have understood all the stories but whenever it got too confusing I just let the words wash over me and wallowed in the atmosphere. Actually, I felt a bit better about my lack of literary acumen when I read T.E.D. Klein's essay 'Ramsey Campbell: An Appreciation' where he admitted that he had trouble understanding the stories too. I know the feeling. Last night I read "At First Sight" and "The Sentinel," and then I reread the Klein essay just to reassure myself (it's an excellent essay, and a funny one too). I think Stu's strategy is a wise one for approaching Demons. My reaction to most of the stories has been, "Well, that was mystifying--and, yet, creepy." The SentinelsTwo couples take a drive up to Sentinal Hill to see the stones that stand guard there. When will these people learn? Never, I hope. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 28, 2012 13:57:40 GMT
Made in GoatswoodA man buys his wife-to-be some garden gnomes from Goatswood. The future wife doesn't really like them, feels she is being watched etc. In my 'umble opinion, this is the weakest story in the book, which is a pity 'cos it could have ended with a real bang... I have to disagree here. The psychopaths of "The Stocking" and "The Lost" are all well and good, but I could never resist a good "sinister garden gnomes" story. |
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Post by Knygathin on May 20, 2017 14:52:06 GMT
I travelled through the idyllic rural area of Råbäck, with fine old mansions and giant oak trees, and it inspired me to reread M. R. James's "Count Magnus". It was even scarier this time, than my two earlier reads. Magnus de la Gardie appears to have been some alchemist sorceror, well-travelled, and of vastly evil psychopatic mental constitution. To think of him in these beautiful surroundings, is disconcerting, so very disparate from the common Swedish mentality of diffident social conformity. At the same time I can somehow well imagine him in this particular spot, because Råbäck gives an impression of great families of fortune living in isolated luxury, given time for intellectual and ritual excesses. I am convinced that M. R. James must have visited here, because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to blend so well the particular details of the scenery into the story. I am very excited right now, because I have started reading Demons by Daylight. Previously I have only read the collection Cold Print which I greatly enjoyed, and a few stray other stories. Demons by Daylight was always at the back of my head, for many years, but I didn't like the Arkham House cover art, so I never bought it. Recently I acquired a copy of the STAR paperback, and I love it! It is also wonderful to hold, stiffer than a regular paperback, ... and it is heavier in weight than can be accounted for by its paper alone. M. R. James, next to H. P. Lovecraft, is Ramsey Campbell's closest inspiration, isn't he? I was thinking it would be interesting to compare the stories of James, the academic scholar and antiquarian, to those of Campbell, the self-taught researcher and deep delver, in the "modern horror" of the legendary Demons by Daylight. So far it's different, ... more Lovecraftian, with added interesting turns. "Potential" is a great little horror story, with interesting cosmic perspective. Looking up, between the clouds, at the "lone far frosty star", is a telling detail in it. "The End of a Summer's Day" and "At First Sight" were too lowkey for me. Pretty creepy and disturbing with that roommate who seemed confident and socially successful, but instead spending her time in that unexpected way. But the dark stranger saying "To you" didn't reappear again, or lead to anything, which I found disappointing. In the closing line of the former story, the girl heard the first patter of rain after having gone deep into the cave. I didn't quite get the point of that. Unless the cave was just a metaphor, and she had fallen into a psychosis of her own darkness, still standing outside with the group as it started to rain? Or perhaps there was water dripping from the roof in the cave? "The Franklyn Paragraphs" This one is exceptional! Some favorite supernatural writing for me, deeply satisfying. And the best specific mundane details that can be found anywhere. Humorous too. Like the bus passengers ducking beneath a wasp; or the whistling fool; or the guy in the library, irritatedly hiding with his football coupon behind a barricade of books; ... Hilarious! Mundane observations are also used to enhance supernatural phenomena very effectively. I also very much like the original religious or spiritual premise in the story; that was a surprize. When comparing old and modern supernatural authors, I generally think the old ones have more of a genuine supernatural/spiritual perspective. The more modern, the more materialistic (and selfconscious?) the writing becomes. I think the pivot point came somewhere around Lovecraft; he consciously selected to be materialistic, and stood with one foot in either time. The reward of the materialistic perspective, I think, is more colorful and original concepts. But I welcome Campbell's spiritual side focus in "The Franklin Paragraphs"; that was delightful. Still, it feels somewhat more of an intellectual approach to it, than for the old ones, who were actually steeped in its belief.  |
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Post by ropardoe on May 21, 2017 9:44:01 GMT
I travelled through the idyllic rural area of Råbäck, with fine old mansions and giant oak trees, and it inspired me to reread M. R. James's "Count Magnus". It was even scarier this time, than my two earlier reads. Magnus de la Gardie appears to have been some alchemist sorceror, well-travelled, and of vastly evil psychopatic mental constitution. To think of him in these beautiful surroundings, is disconcerting, so very disparate from the common Swedish mentality of diffident social conformity. At the same time I can somehow well imagine him in this particular spot, because Råbäck gives an impression of great families of fortune living in isolated luxury, given time for intellectual and ritual excesses. I am convinced that M. R. James must have visited here, because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to blend so well the particular details of the scenery into the story. He did, in 1901 I think. But the real Raback isn't the one in the story. There's an article ("Who was Count Magnus?") on possible locations on the Ghosts & Scholars website. |
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Post by Knygathin on May 21, 2017 18:12:51 GMT
He did, in 1901 I think. But the real Raback isn't the one in the story. There's an article ("Who was Count Magnus?") on possible locations on the Ghosts & Scholars website. Like in the story, the real Råbäck lies at the foot of a long wooded hill, a very specific landmark in this particular region which is otherwise flat. The mansions and bucolic settings at Råbäck are also quite exceptional; I travelled around the hill, and surely the scenery was finest at Råbäck. Moist air comes in directly on this side from lake Vänern, making the vegetation very lush. But I am not so sure about the church in the story; he may have picked that from a nearby area. |
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Post by ramseycampbell on May 22, 2017 13:33:17 GMT
In the closing line of the former story, the girl heard the first patter of rain after having gone deep into the cave. I didn't quite get the point of that. May I refer you to one of the guide's comments about halfway through? |
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Post by Knygathin on May 22, 2017 18:38:56 GMT
May I refer you to one of the guide's comments about halfway through? Yes, that may be helpful. A key. I will se if I can unlock and release this literary spell. |
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Post by Knygathin on Jul 1, 2017 8:12:28 GMT
The supernatural elements in the Relationships section, were really subtle, and felt to me more like secondary attachments to what is mainly social writing (although with interesting observations in themselves). The stories in the book appear almost like mysteries, or jigsaw puzzles where the last piece suddenly clears everything up - but the reader must first have been carefully observant and put all previous pieces in place, to make it work. Some seem intentionally difficult to solve. Some reveal beautiful and rewarding concepts. My favorites are: "Potential""The Franklyn Paragraphs""Concussion" The last paragraph finally revealed a beautiful story of mental time travel. This is really how life is for someone whose projects have not come to fruition, and only has met with disappointments - linear time looses its meaning, and past episodes of regret mix up with the present. "The Enchanted Fruit"This one reminded me of Arthur Machen. It has some truly wonderful Nature descriptions. The words melted away and I was transformed in to the forest. And when he starts eating the magic fruit, it is pure ectasy. The deterioration of ordinary reality after that experience, is interesting to observe. A very good, original story. "Made in Goatswood"Enriched me with a fresh view of garden gnomes, from previously only having been one of condescending intolerance for people with uncultivated bad taste. |
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Post by bluetomb on Nov 9, 2017 15:30:55 GMT
Revisited this recently. Early in Campbell's career (1973), but a collection of swift developing powers. The subjects are mostly traditional, cults, ghosts, standing stones and the like, and one could recount the basic course of events of many and make them sound quite conventional. Very wrong this would be. There's a particular attention in all to place and time and character, a care and sense of real interest in these things in themselves, not just backdrops for scares. And this makes for a peculiar charge, a sense of reality skewed (not just ignored) that cumulatively can make one's own seem that way. Plus Campbell never talks down to readers. These are all stories that repay close reading and thought, for the telling details that draw his people and places, for the gaps that draw the imagination, where strangeness might lurk, and for the strangeness itself, which might be in just a phrase to a line. Quite often reading reviews of Campbell people complain of incomprehensibility, well I wouldn't say anything here is incomprehensible and only two, maybe three tales are particularly tricksy.
Of course, all this would mean little if the stories weren't interesting or well constructed. Mostly, Demons by Daylight is right on. There are relatable characters and situations, like a square at a cool party (Potential), sneaking away from school at lunch after a dispiriting maths lesson (The Interloper), the class divide (The Guy), various kinds of nerdery and pretension (several), and the complexities of romance (one story, Concussion) is not horror at all but a sad science fiction romance that reminded me of New Wave cinema). There's more setting and character building than action, but its never heavy and generally wise. Then when the action does kick in much is classic horror stuff, not too gruesome but direct and shocking. Most of the stories are digestible in a single sitting too.
This isn't perfect to me, not all the endings quite come off, some could have been stronger. One tale, At First Sight was a little bit too low key and mysterious all round to me, and another, The Old Horns doesn't completely pull off marshy cosmic horror mixed with nested dreams, poetic block and uncertain characters, a brain tickler whose key seems to me frustratingly close but elusive. I thought I had it, but can't be sure. Reading various reviews though, some have had quite different reactions.
Surely not for all, but on the whole well worth while I think.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 9, 2017 19:04:55 GMT
The Old Horns doesn't completely pull off marshy cosmic horror mixed with nested dreams, poetic block and uncertain characters, a brain tickler whose key seems to me frustratingly close but elusive. I thought I had it, but can't be sure. Reading various reviews though, some have had quite different reactions. I remember "The Old Horns" as being elliptically spooky. Or was that mystifyingly creepy? |
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Post by bluetomb on Nov 9, 2017 19:42:44 GMT
I've gone back and forth on this question, but I think elliptically spooky wins out. Though the horror is quite up front, strange and monstrous persons afoot and some fell deity in the ground itself, how much of what takes place is real rather than dreamed or imagined and how it all fits together is rather, well, elliptical covers it quite nicely.
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