Alone with the Horrors: The Great Short Fiction of Ramsey Campbell, 1961-1991

The marrow-chilling tales in this comprehensive, chronologically arranged collection, selected from Campbell's 30-year career, demonstrate the ways this sophisticated British writer inspires fear without resorting to blood and gore. From his excellent early pastiches of H. P. Lovecraft's tales (``The Room in the Castle'') through his early work in his own style (``The Man in the Underpass'' and ``In the Bag'') and up to such recent entries as the high-tech ``The End of the Line,'' Campbell ( The Parasite ) subscribes to the less-is-more school of horror: a sudden cold touch on the back of the neck elicits far more terror than might any torn-off limb or chopped-up torso. Campbell's use of narrative pacing has matured over the years, as has his command of language. The only flaw here is the repetitiveness of tone; if the stories are read at one sitting, their structures become routine and their weird touches predictable. Taken one at a time, however, these 39 eerie tales, many illustrated by J. K. Potter's manipulated photographs, will yield 39 sleepless nights. (Feb.)