GARY FRY

THE LAST REVELATION OF GLA’AKI by Ramsey Campbell Review by Gary Fry There’s no delight the equal of dread, Clive Barker once suggested, and he’s not far wrong. But I’d like to offer a rival for this distinction: the prose of Ramsey Campbell’s more recent work. I read this novella in three sittings but sorely wish it could have been just one (the usual necessities of life got in the way: work, sleep, errands, etc). It strikes me that the novella is the perfect form for horror fiction, allowing authors space in which to develop their ideas while not losing readers’ attention between too many reading periods. I think this point is especially relevant to Campbell’s work, which relies on a steady, oblique accumulation of hints and suggestions that build up in the mind, so that you almost feel as if it’s you putting the pieces together and not the author at all. That makes his fiction quite unique; it’s a hugely collaborative effort and presumably different for each reader. It’s surprising...

LAST DAYS by Adam Nevill A review by Gary Fry I came to this book excited. Folk whose opinions I respect said it was the real deal. I’d not long since finished the author’s Ritual and loved that. So what could Adam do here , I wondered. I got stuck in to find out. I won’t bore you with a recap of the plot; I’ll just get talking about things that struck me most about the book. First, the atmosphere: it’s pretty full-on right from the off. Dusky old buildings in the middle of nowhere, weird things appearing in the walls, rumours of heinous acts committed in the past… My favourite early set-piece (and I do mean set-piece and not simply scene) was the “hobo” in a London house. Adam controls all this with masterly sleight-of-hand, building to it by allusion rather than simply enacting it “live”; we witness it via after-the-event footage and thus experience its true impact. The same goes for a lot of back-story in the book – for instance, the stories about events during the Last Days, espec...

Delighted to announce the publication of my third novel CONJURE HOUSE (DarkFuse). Here is the creepy prologue to whet appetites. If you like what you read, take it further and buy a copy in paperback or ebook (links below).     CONJURE HOUSE   PROLOGUE     “Mum, I’m bored,” said Anthony, fiddling with the lace of his left shoe. He’d hooked both thumbs inside the loops and was tugging uselessly at the knot. “Already?” Mum replied as she put away crockery from their meal this evening. “But you’ve only just started your half-term holiday. Can’t you go and play with something like Simon is doing?” Anthony’s younger brother sat across from him at the kitchen table. Earlier he’d brought in a bucket of clay from the nearby lakeside to work on his model of an elephant. His hands dexterously shaped the trunk, which looked in danger of falling off. It wasn’t even a school project—what was the point? “That seems like an age ago!” said Anthony, thinking of his cl...

WHITSTABLE by Stephen Volk (Spectral Press) Review by Gary Fry I was born in 1971, a few years later than a number of my peers, and in the horror world, that short span of time seems to make a critical difference. For instance, I didn't get into the Hammer Horror scene in the same way as others, probably through lack of exposure on TV and at the cinema (but also because I was a chicken-shit kid). Anyway, the main impact this seems to have had is to deny me a substitute father in the form of the fine, venerable, benevolent and all-round good guy Mr Peter Cushing. I have no particular affection for this hero of young men and actually feel a little bereft, as if I've missed out on something. My loss, clearly. So when I heard that Stephen Volk had written a novella starring Peter Cushing - a roman a clef , if you please - I was drawn more to the fact that it was written by the author of the wonderful Ghostwatch than anything else. What could the novella mean to me above the virtu...

Here's the cover for my novella MENACE, coming out from DarkFuse in early 2014. It's very leftfield, but the colours and imagery are suggestive and evocative and I love it.

THE KIND FOLK by Ramsey Campbell Review by Gary Fry One of my most enjoyable reading experiences occurred when I was about 18 and I devoured Algernon Blackwood’s “Ancient Sorceries” in one sitting. The prose purred (in-joke, folks) and the whole thing left me with that satiated feeling in my belly, which only literary fiction can achieve, the sensation that folk who only ever watch films will never understand. Anyway, fond memories lingered, but then a few years ago, I reread it. They say it’s dangerous to go back and thus it proved. I enjoyed the novella all over again, but it didn’t do what it did on that first reading. Oh, I don’t know: maybe I was just “in the mood” back then. In any case, ever since that day, I’ve been seeking similar reading experiences. Lots of authors “do it” for me: the exotic jauntiness of Martin Amis; the bullish insistence of Lovecraft; the cheery gravity of Stephen King; and a bunch of other fine folk. But there’s one author whose prose has always captivat...

Absolutely stunning front and back cover material for my forthcoming PS Publishing collection of short stories SHADES OF NOTHINGNESS. The artists is Ben Baldwin. I need say no more; just behold...