Editing Ramsey Campbell (section)

===The 1970s: "Determined to be myself": ''Demons by Daylight'' and early novels===
With his stories written between 1964 and 1968, beginning with ''The Reshaping of Rossiter'' (first draft of ''The Scar''), ''A Garden at Night'' (first draft of ''Made in Goatswood'') and ''The Successor'' (first draft of ''Cold Print''), Campbell set out to be as unlike Lovecraft as possible. Having discovered writers such as [[Vladimir Nabokov]], [[Robert Aickman]], [[Graham Greene]], [[Iris Murdoch]], [[William Burroughs]] and [[Henry Miller]], and such influences as the French 'new novel', he became interested in expanding the stylistic possibilities of his work. He finished the collection that would become ''Demons by Daylight'' in 1968, but it would not see print until 1973. Meanwhile, from 1969 to 1973, he continued to write short stories in which he gradually developed his own voice and themes and left the influence of Lovecraft far behind. Campbell worked in the Liverpool Public Libraries as a library assistant (1966–73) and was acting librarian in charge (1971–73).

In 1969, he had written ''Lovecraft in Retrospect'', a violent diatribe against Lovecraft, for the [[fanzine]] ''Shadow'',<ref>Campbell, Ramsey. ''Lovecraft in Retrospect'', ''Shadow'' 8 (1969).</ref> "condemning [Lovecraft's] work outright."<ref>''Chasing the Unknown'', p.16.</ref>  However, in his 1985 book ''Cold Print'', which collects his Lovecraftian stories, Campbell disavowed the opinions expressed in the article, stating: "I believe Lovecraft is one of the most important writers in the field"<ref>Campbell, Ramsey. ''Lovecraft: An Introduction'', ''Cold Print'' (1993), p. 1.</ref> and "the first book of Lovecraft's I read made me into a writer."<ref>''Chasing the Unknown'', p. 9.</ref> Around 1970, Campbell stopped using his first initial "J." on his work, though a few stories earlier than this appeared as by "Ramsey Campbell", and a few after still saw print as by "J. Ramsey Campbell". Campbell later legally changed his name to remove the "John".

After working four years in the tax office and seven years in public libraries, by 1973, Campbell became a fulltime writer, encouraged by the issuance by Arkham House of his second collection, ''[[Demons by Daylight]]'' (as by Ramsey Campbell). That collection had been due for publication in 1971, but was held back two years by the death of [[August Derleth]]. ''Demons by Daylight'' includes ''The Franklyn Paragraphs'', which uses Lovecraft's documentary narrative technique without slipping into parody of his writing style. Other tales, such as ''The End of a Summer's Day'' and ''Concussion'', show the emergence of Campbell's highly distinctive mature style, of which [[S. T. Joshi]] has written:
<blockquote>
Certainly much of the power of his work derives purely from his prose style, one of the most fluid, dense and evocative in all modern literature [...] His eye for the details and resonances of even the most mundane objects, and his ability to express them crisply and almost prose-poetically, give to his work at once a clarity and a dreamlike nebulousness that is difficult to describe but easy to sense.<ref>Joshi, S. T. ''The Modern Weird Tale'' (2001), p. 166.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Joshi |first=S. T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XLYnAwAAQBAJ |title=The Modern Weird Tale |date=2001-05-01 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-0986-0 |pages=166 |language=en}}</ref>
</blockquote>

The book's appearance induced [[T. E. D. Klein]] to write an extensive and highly positive review, ''Ramsey Campbell: An Appreciation'' in ''Nyctalops'' magazine, and critic [[S. T. Joshi]] has stated<ref>Joshi, S. T. ''Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction'' (2001), p.56</ref> that:
<blockquote>its [...] allusiveness of narration; careful, at times even obsessive focusing on the fleeting sensations and psychological processes of characters; an aggressively modern setting that allows commentary on social, cultural and political issues''—''all conjoin to make ''Demons by Daylight'' perhaps the most important book of horror fiction since [[H. P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft]]'s ''[[The Outsider and Others]]''.</blockquote>

Campbell has written that "Having completed ''Demons by Daylight'' in 1968, I felt directionless, and it shows in quite a few of the subsequent tales."<ref name="Ramsey Campbell 2008">""Truth or Consequences" in Ramsey Campbell, ''Inconsequential Tales'', NY: Hippocampus Press, 2008, 11.</ref> He wrote only four tales in 1970, and five stories in 1971. He has written that "retrospect demonstrates how untimely my decision [to write fulltime] was. Kirby McCauley, now my agent, had to tell me that the market for short horror stories was very limited ... My solution was to lurch into science fiction as best I could. Little of it sold..."<ref>""Truth or Consequences" in Ramsey Campbell, ''Inconsequential Tales'' NY: Hippocampus Press, 2008, 13.</ref> Many of the science fiction tales are collected in ''Inconsequential Tales'' (2008); he also wrote the novella ''Medusa'' (1973) and the short story "Slow" (collected in ''[[Told by the Dead]]''), but has stated that his science fiction "tried to deal with Themes, too consciously, I feel".<ref>Campbell, Ramsey. Introduction to ''Strange Things and Stranger Places'' (1993), quoted in S. T. Joshi, ''Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction'' (2001), p.150.</ref>

Outside the world of horror, he wrote a series of fantasy stories starring Ryre the Swordsman, who battles enemies on an alien world called Tond. Initially published in various anthologies, these stories were finally gathered in the collection ''Far Away & Never'' (Necronomicon Press, July 1996). In 1976 he 'completed' three of [[Robert E. Howard]]'s unfinished [[Solomon Kane]] stories, ''Hawk of Basti'', ''The Castle of the Devil'' and ''The Children of Asshur'' (published in 1978 and 1979). By the time Arkham House published his second hardcover collection of horror stories, ''[[The Height of the Scream]]'' (1976), he was beginning to be seen as one of the major modern writers of horror.

1976 also saw the publication of Campbell's first novel, ''The Doll Who Ate His Mother'', which immediately drew acclaim from figures such as [[Fritz Leiber]] and [[T.E.D. Klein]]. In this and ''The Face that Must Die'' (1979), Campbell began to fully explore the enigma of evil, touching on the psychological themes of possession, madness and alienation which feature in many of his subsequent novels. He also continued to write short stories, mainly supernatural, receiving the [[World Fantasy Award]] for "The Chimney" (1977) and "Mackintosh Willy" (1980).

Campbell has been a lifelong enthusiast of film; early stories such as ''The Reshaping of Rossiter'' (1964; an early version of ''The Scar'') show the influence of directors such as [[Alain Resnais]], and as early as 1969 Campbell had become the film reviewer for [[BBC Radio Merseyside]].<ref name="Ramsey Campbell 2008"/> He worked in Merseyside on the Friday edition of "Breakfast" and less frequently on Claire Hamilton's Sunday show. A longer version of his Merseyside reviews appeared on the Radio Merseyside website, where he also reviewed DVDs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/films/ramsey/ramsey_reviews.shtml|title=BBC - Liverpool - Films - BBC Radio Merseyside - Ramsey reviews|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> His love of old movies features prominently in two of Campbell's later novels, ''Ancient Images'' and ''The Grin of the Dark''.

Campbell wrote [[Novelization|novelisations]] and introductions for a series of novelisations of [[Universal Monsters|Universal horror]] films. The series has a rather complex publishing history. They were published in paperback in 1977 in the US, with uniform packaging, by Berkley Medallion Books as ''The Universal Horror Library''. All six of the Berkley editions were published under the [[pen name|house name]] 'Carl Dreadstone'; all six of the US editions featured stills from the relevant films. It is believed this set was made available as boxed set in slipcase, as well as sold individually. Only three of the novels were actually written by Campbell, though he contributed introductions to all six volumes. No US hardcover edition of the series is known. Campbell's contributions to the series were ''Bride of Frankenstein'', ''Dracula's Daughter'' and ''The Wolfman'', published as Carl Dreadstone. Three further novelisations which appeared under this house name were not by Campbell but written by other authors.<ref>Joshi, S. T., ''Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction'' (2001), p.145-147.</ref>  [[Walter Harris (author)|Walter Harris]] wrote two of the novels: ''Werewolf of London'' and ''Creature from the Black Lagoon''. The author of the sixth Dreadstone (''The Mummy'') remains unknown.<ref>Ian Covell [https://terrortakeaways.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/ian-covell-on-carl-dreadstone/#comment-1567 "Ian Covell on ‘Carl Dreadstone’"], ''Souvenirs Of Terror fiendish film & TV show tie-ins'', 3 October 2007, accessed 11 July 2011.</ref> UK editions followed—in 1978, Universal Books (a paperback division of [[Virgin Books|W. H. Allen Ltd]]) published ''The Bride of Frankenstein'' (by Campbell) together with Harris's ''The Werewolf of London'' and the (unknown author) ''The Mummy'' under the 'Carl Dreadstone' house name, with similar packaging under the title 'The Classic Library of Horror'. A further two years would elapse before the rest of the series was issued in the UK. The last three of the series were issued by Star Books (a W. H. Allen imprint) in 1980 (with different packaging from the 1978 titles) and these three appeared under a different house-name—'E. K. Leyton'. These were Campbell's remaining two novels of the series, ''Dracula's Daughter'' and ''The Wolfman'', together with Harris's ''Creature from the Black Lagoon''. At least one hardcover omnibus was published, presumably prior to the UK paperbacks: ''The Classic Library of Horror Omnibus—The Mummy & The Werewolf of London'' (London: Allan Wingate, 1978). Its existence suggests there may have been two companion hardcover omnibuses collecting the balance of the series (if this were the case they would contain the Campbell-authored novels), but their existence/issuance is uncertain. All six of the UK paperbacks and the hardcover omnibus omitted the film stills which appeared in the original US editions.<ref>Private collection of [[Leigh Blackmore]]</ref>

1979 saw the publication of the non-supernatural thriller ''The Face That Must Die'', the story of a [[homophobic]] [[serial killer]] told largely from the killer's point of view. Initially considered by numerous publishers, including Campbell's British publisher [[Thomas Tessier]] at Millington Books, as too grim to publish, it is regarded by many critics as one of Campbell's finest works. The novel was cut by Star Books, who first issued it in a paperback edition in 1979; it was not issued complete until the US Scream Press edition of 1983.