Fear Across the Mersey XXV: A Chill off the River | review by Rafe McGregor

Fear Across the Mersey by Ramsey Campbell

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

I’m partial to an afterword (or notes or a postface) in an edited collection, as they often shed light on either the sources of inspiration, creative process, or both (unlike introductions or prefaces, which are often redundant) – Stephen King’s notes are exemplary in this regard. In ‘A Chill off the River’, Campbell takes his readers on a tour of all of his Liverpool based fiction, both the short stories that appear here and the novels set in Merseyside. He includes some autobiographical comments and occasional self-assessments as well as some general reflections on what King calls ‘the craft’. Several of the latter are particularly interesting, such as the attempts of his publishers to dissuade him from setting stories in the North of England and concerns by the same that horror fiction had been consigned to history. A brief but fascinating read.

I enjoyed writing the rolling review and learned a lot about the geography of Merseyside, proving Samuel Johnson’s point about fiction ‘instructing by pleasing’ (he was actually referring to poetry). I had an idea that Campbell and King were two of the – probably the two – greatest horror writers of the last fifty years and thought they made an interesting pair for comparison. While they are the same age (Campbell is a year older) and both prolific writers of short and long fiction, King is a household name and Campbell a ‘fan favourite’. I think the difference in success is consequent on King being better known for his novels, which is itself a consequence of their early success as Hollywood adaptations, beginning with his first, Carrie (1974). In contrast, only three of Campbell’s novels have been filmed, all in Spanish. Like many others, I seem to have underestimated and underappreciated Campbell…Fear Across the Mersey has instructed me on the error of my ways.