Told By The Dead by Ramsay Campbell
01/11/2003 . Source: Donna Jones 

pub: PS Publishing. 359 page hardback. Price (deluxe): £60.00 (UK), $90.00 (US). Price (hardback): £35.00 (UK), $50.00 (US). ISBN: 1-902-880-70-6 (deluxe hardback); 1-902-880-69-2 (hardback).

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'Told By The Dead' is a collection of Ramsey Campbell's short stories. They span over two decades and include disturbing head teachers with disturbing family members, a song that should never be heard, an insurance job that goes horribly wrong for its instigator, a card game that has dark motivations and even a man whose life results in tatters because of a shadow that literally is tatters.

I have to admit that in my teens and early twenties all I would read was horror. The genre fascinated me and the fact that it holds so many facets that evoke so many different emotions, some quite opposite to the obvious, held some marvel for me. So when I had the opportunity to read and review an author with Ramsey Campbell's following and reputation for controversy I jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately, Campbell let down my balloon. I had heard that Campbell had an unreachable prowess for literary excellence and yet all it appears to me is a penchant for pretentious spouts of multi-syllable English word use. The one thing he seemed incapable of doing is putting life into his characters. They seem one dimensional and cardboard. Perhaps that is where the title comes from? You don't actually care what the hell happens to them and at the end of reading one of these short stories you forget them very quickly.

I read a short story that was labelled horror not so long back called 'Jumper' written by Garrett Addams. It had won the Observer Newspaper competition that Stephen King had set up after his book 'On Writing' had been published and appeared in its paperback edition. It was fantastic. I can remember pretty much all of the emotions that it stirred and the shock that came when the main character's actions are totally opposite to what you are expecting. That is the way to write and remember a short story, Campbell fails dismally.

His stories take shape using reflections of life, that he picks up from television or just an experience. Where this falls down is that he doesn't seem to expand on the idea. Paltry story-telling with a use of words with literary abandon?

Definitely so. His story-telling evokes no emotion whatsoever except a high level of boredom. There is no point to nearly all the stories and the build up seems an unnecessary deluge of words that just happen to be in Campbell's head.

Okay, so I really didn't like the book? Well, there is something far more evil than a bad book. It's a bad book sold at extortionate prices for people with more money than common, in the sensory reflection of the word.

As a trade copy, I saw a signature from its author thus indicative that the author can sign his name, three illustrations that were um...dull and basically the words 'First Edition' at the front. It is disgusting that a book is sold on a reputation that isn't held up with the goods of great horror writing. I would be doing myself a grave injustice by saying that this book is worth the money, I'm too honest for such a thing.

If I could say to you that there was one story that was really amazing and you have to read it then maybe just maybe this book would be worth the read. Not one in a collection of twenty-three stories entertained me. 'Agatha's Ghost' came close but in the end it was lost amongst the swamp of bad ones. I'll concede that maybe his writing style isn't my taste but I really don't think that that is the case. I got several people to have a read of his book and all of them said the same thing: they didn't like what they read.

These stories do indeed seem wooden and dead. Maybe fans of Ramsey Campbell will want this book no matter what I say but anyone else who appreciates a good book should give this one a wide berth.

Donna Jones