Editing Ramsey Campbell (section)

===''Ghostly Tales''===

Campbell's earliest tales were written when he was 11 years old (1957–58) and were influenced by a magazine from [[Bolton]], Lancashire, called ''Phantom''. These early tales formed a self-illustrated collection of sixteen stories and a poem entitled "Ghostly Tales".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ramsey Campbell - Ghostly Tales {{!}} Vault Of Evil: Brit Horror Pulp Plus! |url=https://vaultofevil.proboards.com/thread/6736/ramsey-campbell-ghostly-tales |access-date=2024-05-03 |website=vaultofevil.proboards.com}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=January 2025|reason=[[WP:USERG]]}} Campbell intended to submit these to ''Phantom'', but his mother, who regarded literary success as a possible way of financing her escape from her disastrous marriage, persuaded him to wait until he had a whole book to show to publishers. His English teacher, Brother Kelly, used to have him read his stories to the class. Campbell (as John R. Campbell) submitted ''Ghostly Tales'' to "numerous publishers"<ref name="catalystmedia.org.uk"/> including Tom Boardman publisher; Boardman rejected it as they did not publish ghost stories, but his rejection letter included encouragement to Campbell to keep writing.<ref>Ramsey Campbell, "It Came from the Past", ''Ghostly Tales: Crypt of Cthulhu'' 6, No 8, whole number 50, Michaelmas 1987, edited by [[Robert M. Price]]), p. 3</ref> This collection of [[juvenilia]] was published thirty years later, as a special issue of ''[[Crypt of Cthulhu]]'' magazine titled ''Ghostly Tales: Crypt of Cthulhu'' 6, No 8, whole number 50, Michaelmas 1987, edited by [[Robert M. Price]]. It is of interest that, though the stories are mostly mainstream spectral lore, one story ("The Hollow in the Woods") can be considered a very early mythos yarn.

Another issue of this magazine ''Crypt of Cthulhu'' No 43 (Hallowmas 1983), titled ''The Tomb-Herd and Others'' collects various early stories, including some early drafts of tales later published revised in Campbell's first book, ''The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants'' ([[Arkham House]], 1964). The manuscripts of Campbell's early tales are housed at the Local History Library of the Liverpool Public Libraries.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Laura Smith |title=Library: Special Collections & Archives: Ramsey Campbell Archive |url=https://libguides.liverpool.ac.uk/library/sca/ramseycampbell |access-date=2024-05-03 |website=libguides.liverpool.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>