Editing Ramsey Campbell (section)

===The 1980s: ''The Parasite'' to ''Ancient Images''===

Campbell became even more prolific during the 1980s, issuing at least eight novels (of which six won awards) and three short story collections. He has written that after moving away from Lovecraft's influence he was "determined to sound like myself" but also that "The Chicago and San Francisco tales of [[Fritz Leiber]] were now my models in various ways. I wanted to achieve that sense of supernatural terror which derives from the everyday urban landscape rather than invading it, and I greatly admired—still do—how Fritz wrote thoroughly contemporary weird tales which were nevertheless rooted in the best traditions of the field, and which drew some of their strength from uniting British and American influences."<ref>Ramsey Campbell, ''Alone With the Horrors'' Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1993, p. x</ref>

In 1981, [[Stephen King]] published a semi-autobiographical overview of the horror field, ''[[Danse Macabre (King book)|Danse Macabre]].'' In a chapter focusing on 20th century practitioners, King devoted a section to Campbell's fiction, alongside that of [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Shirley Jackson]], [[Peter Straub]], [[Richard Matheson]], [[Jack Finney]] and others. On the basis of Campbell's earliest work, especially ''The Doll Who Ate His Mother'', King argued that the author's strength lies in his hallucinogenic prose and edgy psychology, the way his characters view the world and how this affects readers:

<blockquote>In a Campbell novel or story, one seems to view the world through the thin and shifting perceptual haze of an LSD trip that is just ending ... or just beginning. The polish of his writing and his mannered turns of phrase and image make him seem something like the genre's Joyce Carol Oates [...] as when journeying on LSD, there is something chilly and faintly schizophrenic in the way his characters see things ... and in the things they see [...] Good stuff. But strange; so uniquely Campbell that it might as well be trademarked.<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rs1WbPRa3LoC |title=Danse Macabre |publisher=Futura |year=1981 |isbn=978-0708821817 |location=London |pages=396–7}}</ref></blockquote>

King also singled out one of Campbell's early short stories for particular praise: "{{-'}}The Companion' may be the best horror tale to be written in the English language in thirty years; it is surely one of the half a dozen or so which will still be in print and commonly read a hundred years from now."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Danse Macabre|last=King|first=Stephen|publisher=Futura|year=1981|isbn=978-0708821817|location=London|page=398}}</ref> This story appeared in Campbell's 1982 collection, ''Dark Companions'', alongside other tales from that period commonly cited as early classics: "The Chimney", "Mackintosh Willy", and "Call First".

Starting with ''The Parasite'' (1980; published in the US with a different ending as ''To Wake the Dead''), and continuing throughout much of the decade, Campbell's full-length novels were consciously aimed at a more commercial audience. It features a point of view of a female protagonist who becomes embroiled in occult practices (with Lovecraftian undertones). In ''The Nameless'' (1981), also told from the point of view of a woman, a child goes missing and returns only years later, affiliated to a nefarious organisation. ''Obsession'' (1982) involves a group of childhood friends making a wish apiece concerning their futures, the manifestations tormenting them in later life; however, as is common in Campbell's work involving aberrant mental states, it is not entirely apparent that these events have a supernatural origin. In ''Incarnate'' (1983), the boundaries between dream and reality are gradually broken down as a group of characters involved in a psychological experiment begin to experience fragmentation in their everyday lives (the novel was written during the "terrible nightmare year" of Campbell's mother's last mental breakdown).

In ''The Claw'' (1983; originally published under the pseudonym Jay Ramsey) a family man is tempted by an African talisman to devour his own daughter and in ''[[The Hungry Moon]]'' (1986) a primordial moon entity stokes the religious hysteria of a quiet community. The latter book is a favourite among fans and a multi-character 'small town' horror story along the lines of similar work in this period, a subgenre arguably 'pump-primed' by the likes of Stephen King's ''[['Salem's Lot]]''. In characteristically honest and self-critical afterwords,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Claw|last=Campbell|first=Ramsey|publisher=Warner Books|year=1992|isbn=978-0708852583|location=London|pages=369–380}}</ref> Campbell has claimed that, despite its popularity, ''The Hungry Moon,'' along with the similarly commercial ''The Parasite'' and, to a lesser degree, ''The Claw'', are among the least successful of his works from this period, by turns awkwardly structured, containing too many ideas, and/or tending towards explicit violence. In contrast Campbell has stated his pride that ''The Influence'' (1988) and ''Ancient Images'' (1989) are subtler, tightly plotted novels of supernatural menace, each with (predominantly) female central characters and generating unease through the author's trademark suggestiveness and surreal imagery. In 1987, Campbell published ''Scared Stiff'', a collection of "sex and horror" short stories.

In the early 1980s Campbell had crossed paths a number of time in Liverpool at cinemas and various parties with a young Liverpool writer named [[Clive Barker]], who had been working around London as a playwright. Barker asked Campbell if he knew any markets for short stories and eventually asked him to look over a soon-to-be-published manuscript and the contract he had been offered for it. Campbell says "My jaw dropped when I looked at the manuscript—it turned out to be the ''[[Books of Blood]]''." Campbell wrote the introduction to the first edition.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Matthew |first=David |title=Ramsey Campbell interview - infinity plus non-fiction |url=http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intcam.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308060318/https://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intcam.htm |archive-date=2013-03-08 |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=www.infinityplus.co.uk}}</ref>

Campbell contributed numerous articles on horror cinema to ''[[The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural]]'' (1986).