Fear Across the Mersey IV: The Whining | review by Rafe McGregor

Fear Across the Mersey by Ramsey Campbell

PS Publishing, hardback, £25.00, August 2024, ISBN 9781803943701

The title of this tale made me chuckle, bringing to mind various colleagues in various workplaces over the years, and I wondered if there would some humour in it. Definitely not: this is the most harrowing so far, a brutally realistic narrative concerning a starving stray dog on the superficial level and staging our capacity for inhumanity to other people and other species at the thematic level. I’ve already mentioned that Campbell has a knack for portraying compelling characters who are unsympathetic, which is evinced again here. On the basis of reading only four of the stories, he also has a knack for setting up the reader’s expectations for narrative resolution and then subverting those expectations. One might say the same of many authors, but Campbell’s subversions are so subtle that he configures an experience which is simultaneously anticipated and astonishing. Clearly the hand of a master of the craft.

Fear Across the Mersey III: The Christmas Present | review by Rafe McGregor

Fear Across the Mersey by Ramsey Campbell

PS Publishing, hardback, £25.00, August 2024, ISBN 9781803943701

The first story in the collection narrated in the first person, with all the challenges and opportunities that brings, and the first where I was familiar with much of the geography (though I’m sure it’s changed considerably in fifty years). ‘The Christmas Present’ is indeed about Christmas in terms of its thematic content and succeeds in exploring the meaning of the holiday in an intellectual and even philosophical way without ever becoming either didactic or dull. This is a signal achievement, given the story’s brevity, and the change of pace in the last two pages creates a rising crescendo with a sudden sense of urgency as Christmas (and who knows what else) approaches at breakneck speed. The conclusion is particularly satisfying, presenting a neat rather than contrived twist, a twist that is both expected and not quite what one was expecting, bringing closure in spite of ending in medias res.

Fear Across the Mersey II: Concussion | review by Rafe McGregor

Fear Across the Mersey by Ramsey Campbell

PS Publishing, hardback, £25.00, August 2024, ISBN 9781803943701

Like so many of the best short stories, ‘Concussion’ begins with a classic and consummate ‘hook’, a device whose purpose is to grab our attention immediately and then drag us through the narrative at breakneck pace until our efforts are rewarded with and in a rich resolution. The hook is the first paragraph, consisting of only two sentences, the second of which is an even bigger barb than the first. Campbell withholds his dénouement until the very last (much longer) paragraph and although it is perfectly plausible, it doesn’t quite fulfil the promise of the preface. What is remarkable, however, is his representation of the surreal or oneiric, sustained with great skill through all the intervening paragraphs. Campbell’s effortless switches between flashbacks and flashforwards are not only completely coherent, but provide a continual reminder that what we are reading is one or more of a hallucination, illusion, fantasy, or daydream.