Some Cosmic Horror Short Stories

I was in the mood to read some cosmic horror recently, so here are three stories by three of my favorite authors. 

The Voice on the Beach by Ramsey Campbell 

From Alone with the Horrors (Arkham House, 1993)

A man who lives by a beach has strange visions while a friend is visiting. Atmospheric and a good example of cosmic horror but this was too much of a slow burn for me. It has a creepy ending that packs some punch, it just took too long to get there. 

Rating: 3/5

The Onion by Caitlin Kiernan

From Bradbury Weather (Subterranean Press, 2024)

A young man who saw something mysterious in his childhood is now married to a woman who is attending meetings to try to come to terms with something unusual in her life. Interesting characters and gradual revelations kept my attention, leading to an open-ended ending that worked for me.

Rating: 4/5

Hallucigenia by Laird Barron

From The Imago Sequence and Other Stories (Night Shade Books, 2007)

Oh wow, this was good. A mysterious location, a tragedy, an investigation, and strange visions. Cosmic horror with a dash of noir. Outstanding. This novella is the second thing I’ve read by this author, and I loved it. I really need to read more Laird Barron. 

Rating 5/5 

Books I Read in July 2022

 Six books this month.

Black Wings Has My Angel (1953) by Elliot Chaze

An escaped convict who served in WWII teams up with a woman on the run for the ultimate heist. The characters are flawed but fascinating. The prose is clear and elegant, the dialogue is sharp, and the story is haunting. One of the best crime noir novels I’ve ever read. 

The Runestaff (1969) by Michael Moorcock

An exciting conclusion to the History of the Runestaff. As with the previous volumes the story is very fast paced. The book is divided into three parts and everything is set up for the final confrontation by the end of part two. 

If I have a criticism, it’s that so many things happen and get wrapped up really, and I mean really quickly, in the last few chapters. On the other hand, it was a heck of a wild ride. I’m looking forward to reading more of Moorcock’s work. 

Far Away and Never (1996) by Ramsey Campbell 

This is a collection of sword and sorcery and fantasy stories by Ramsey Campbell, an author more well known for his horror stories.

One of the stories, “The Ways of Chaos,” is actually Campbell’s chapter of a round-robin novel based on a Robert E. Howard fragment. It didn’t do anything for me, probably because it’s part of a longer work. Three of the other stories are fantasy stories in the vein of Clark Ashton Smith. I found them to be a little wordy and obscure. 

My favorite stories are the first four sword and sorcery stories featuring a wandering swordsman named Ryre. In each story Ryre has to use his wits to deal with something monstrous. These stories first appeared in the Swords Against Darkness paperback anthology series in the 70s. They were creepy and creative. 

Night Winds (1978) by Karl Edward Wagner

This is a collection of stories about Kane, a wandering swordsman cursed with immortality. One of the things I really like about these stories is that they are all different. The first story kept me guessing until the very end, the second story begins with an interesting conversation which leads to all out adventure, the next two have different elements of gothic horror, the story after that is epic, and the last is a great example of travelers telling stories at an isolated inn. Another thing I liked is that all the stories have layers and interesting themes that become apparent once you get to the end. It’s all very well done. Every story is a standout.

My full review can be found here:

We Learn by Writing: Night Winds by Karl Edward Wagner

Bloodstone (1975) by Karl Edward Wagner

Kane the immortal swordsman comes across a mysterious ring. He learns that it’s part of a giant gemstone called Bloodstone, which controls a lost city from the stars. The city is now overrun by the Rillyti, devolved lizard men descendants of the original builders. Kane plays two sides against each other in an attempt to take control of the city. This was a wild mix of fantasy and science fiction with some great characters. I loved it. 

Dark Crusade (1976) by Karl Edward Wagner 

Kane deals with a deadly cult that has come to power and is storming the land. As in Bloodstone, Kane is manipulating various groups in order to come out on top. The book is well titled. Wagner was doing Games of Thrones-like grimdark stories in the 70s, folks. I learned from the Dark Crusade podcast that Wagner spent six months researching pre-firearm cavalry battles and it shows. The battles were thrilling. I enjoyed it but Night Winds is my favorite.

Books I Read in June 2022

Seven books this month. 

Companions on the Road (1977) by Tanith Lee 

This is a collection of two Tanith Lee fantasy novellas that were originally published as chapbooks. 

In “Companions on the Road.” two soldiers and a thief make off with a chalice after the sacking of a citadel. They then find themselves pursued by three dark riders. 

In “The Winter Players,” a young priestess tracks a thief after he steals an artifact from the temple she is responsible for. 

As in the other work I’ve read by Tanith Lee, the prose in each story was lyrical and descriptive. At only about a hundred pages each, Lee introduces convincing settings, fleshes out interesting characters, and builds tension. I enjoyed both stories and their conclusions immensely. 

The Magic Man and Other Science-Fantasy Stories (1965) by Charles Beaumont 

Charles Beaumont was an American author of short stories and novels, as well as scripts for television and movies. He wrote a number of classic Twilight Zone episodes and his novel The Intruder (1962) was adapted into a film starring William Shatner. Unfortunately, Beaumont passed away at the age of 38. 

The stories from this collection were chosen from three earlier collections. The stories are a mix of dark suspense with some science-fiction. I enjoyed them. Many of the stories definitely have a Twilight Zone-like feel. If you like dark stories or stories with dark humor, you’ll probably like them too. 

There’s a foreword by Ray Bradbury and an afterword by Richard Matheson. Bradbury was mentor to both Matheson and Beaumont, and Matheson and Beaumont were friends.

Favorite Stories:

“Miss Gentilbelle” 

“The Vanishing American”

“The Dark Music” 

“A Death in the Country” 

The Summer Book (1972) by Tove Jansson 

This novel by the creator of the Moomin characters tells the story of six-year-old Sophia and her grandmother as they spend the summer on an island in the Gulf of Finland. 

Sophia’s father is also on the island but he’s usually in the background. Sophia and her grandmother play together, go on walks, and have talks about all kinds of things including life, love, and even death. 

Each chapter is a vignette, but they subtly build upon each other. As you read you learn more about the characters, the island, and the surrounding ocean. 

The grandmother had difficulty moving around and was cranky sometimes and Sophia could be volatile and impetuous, but the love they felt for each other was clear.  The characters felt very real to me. 

When I got to the end of the book, I didn’t want it to end, just like the summers of my childhood.

Waking Nightmares (1993) by Ramsey Campbell 

This is a collection of nineteen Ramsey Campbell horror short stories from the 1970s and 1980s. There’s also an introduction by the author in which he talks about the origins of the stories.

In a previous Campbell collection I read, Demons by Daylight, there were some stories I just couldn’t wrap my head around. That wasn’t the case with this collection.

While I enjoyed some more than others, I enjoyed them all. The stories are atmospheric and just the right length. Most of the stories have well done, creepy endings. One of my favorite stories, “The Guide,” was inspired by the ghost stories of M. R. James, which I read at the end of last year. 

Favorite Stories:

“The Guide” 

“In the Trees”

“Bedtime Story” 

“Jack in the Box”

“Meeting the Author”

The Jewel in the Skull (1967), The Mad God’s Amulet (1968), The Sword of Dawn (1968) by Michael Moorcock 

These are the first three books of The History of the Runestaff series by fantasy author Michael Moorcock. They are part of his Eternal Champion series.

In a far-off future, after a great apocalypse, the brutal Dark Empire of Granbretan seeks to conquer all of Europe. Count Brass of Kamarg seeks to remain neutral. Dorian Hawkmoon of Köln, a prisoner of the Dark Empire is fitted with a black jewel that allows his captors to observe what he sees. He is sent to gain the trust of Count Brass and kidnap his daughter. If Hawkmoon doesn’t obey, the jewel will kill him. 

The world is interesting, the story is imaginative, and there’s lots of action. The books are short and the events move quickly. I wasn’t surprised when I read that Moorcock wrote these books in three days each. They’re pulpy and a lot of fun but things get a little repetitive in the third book. 

These short novels are from early in Moorcock’s career so there’s a focus on action and just some hints of the themes that he will apparently explore in his later work. At the end of the third book things are set up for the final volume. I’m looking forward to reading it to see how things play out. 

Ramsey Campbell, Demons by Daylight, and Language

“Campbell, fortunately, seems to have mastered that trick of dancing just beyond our reach. Most of his stories have a hazy, dreamlike quality in which events are comprehensible when taken by themselves as discreet units, but in which they are piled upon one another so frantically that one gets lost in the swirl.” - T.E.D Klein

Ramsey Campell has been writing for over fifty years. Demons by Daylight is his second collection of horror short stories. His first collection, The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants, is a collection of Cthulhu Mythos stories. He was eighteen when it was published. Four years later he moved away from Cthulhu stories with Demons By Daylight. Instead of cosmic horror, the stories in this collection are often about relationships, repression, and anxiety. They sometimes take place in the brightness of day.

After reading the first couple of stories I started thinking I wouldn’t be liking this collection. Although the writing flowed and the stories were atmospheric and creepy, the endings were mystifying. I’d get to the end of a story and think, “What just happened?!” But as I kept reading I got to some stories where the endings, while still a little mystifying, made more sense and were interesting.

The writing in all the stories is amazing, unlike anything I’ve ever read before. They have a dreamlike quality to them. For example “The Enchanted Fruit” has some of the most beautiful descriptions of a forest that I’ve ever read. Unfortunately after an interesting buildup the story just ends. The stories I didn’t care for all have the same thing in common, I have no idea what happened or the story feels incomplete. I liked about half of the stories. 

The author often tries to create paranoia and a dream-like atmosphere by describing distorted images, including bits of overheard conversations, and jumping from one paragraph to the next without transitions. It all seems very experimental and can be confusing. While I feel it didn’t work in every story, it really worked for me in  “Concussion,” my favorite story. It’s about an old man struggling to remember past events and the woman he fell in love with. The story has a science fiction twist as past and present become a blur. 

The stories that I liked left a strong impression on me. Until now I’ve never encountered an author where a number of stories are confusing, but the writing grabs me so much that I want to read more.

After the first few stories I started wondering if I was the only one that didn’t get what was going on. I decided to look up what other people had to say before reading any further. I found an essay titled “Ramsey Campbell: An Appreciation” by horror author T.E.D. Klein which first appeared in the H. P. Lovecraft fanzine Nyctalops. That’s where the quote above comes from. I found this next quote referring to Demons by Daylight really interesting.  

“One of the first things that strikes one about Campbell's stories in this new collection is that—following the trend of his earlier pieces—they are extremely difficult. . . . Still, being "difficult" is not necessarily a fault; and for horror, in fact, it is almost always a great virtue. Several years ago, when I was teaching school, a fellow teacher was charged with being "too difficult" for the students; the material he presented was, it was argued, "over their heads." I recall his reply: "I think it's important to give them a little more than they can handle," he said. "I like to remain a little beyond them."”

 

Having worked as an English teacher in Japan for years, teaching students and training teachers, that got my attention. This next part even more so.

“For an English instructor this may or may not be true; but for a horror writer, it should probably be the rule. Writing horror stories must be rather like playing the Pied Piper; if the tune one pipes is too fast or difficult or subtle, the reader grows bored and drops out of the dance. If, on the other hand, the tune is too plodding and predictable, the reaction is the same: boredom, loss of attention. The trick, apparently, is to dance just a little ahead of the reader, teasing him, leading him on.”

 

I feel it’s absolutely true for an English instructor! The interaction between a reader and an author is similar in some ways to a student and a teacher. One of the things that I learned in studying language acquisition is the formula “i + 1” which is input + 1. It’s part of Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Language Acquisition which consists of five hypotheses. One of them is the Input hypothesis. Here’s the definition from Krashen’s website:

 

“According to this hypothesis, the learner improves and progresses along the 'natural order' when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a stage 'i', then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input' that belongs to level 'i + 1'.”

A lesson is a balancing act. If it’s too easy students get bored, if it’s too challenging students get frustrated. In both cases they don’t move forward. A good lesson challenges students without frustrating them. It’s not easy, it’s actually challenging. But a good teacher is aware of this and will adjust the level of the lesson when they find themselves teaching at the “i + 10” level or something. Striking the right balance motivates students to not only push themselves in class but to also put in the effort to prepare for the next class.

I feel that what Mr. Klein is saying not only applies to language teaching and horror books, but to all types of writing. It’s all about balance. Bore or frustrate the reader and the reader will put the book down. 

I liked what Mr. Campbell had to say about language and writing in an article in Publisher’s Weekly:

“Early on, I became aware that good horror fiction achieves its effects through the selection of language and the timing of prose. I’m also convinced that the genre is an eloquent medium for discussing the world we make and how we live in it, not to say die. I’ve no plans to leave the field: it’s where I live. I’d call much of what I write, comedy of paranoia.”

When I started this book I felt some frustration and was wondering whether I should continue.  But as I read further I found stories that although they challenged me they also intrigued me quite a bit. I’ll definitely be seeking out more of Mr. Ramsey’s work. 

Story Ratings:

Potential (3/5)

The End of a Summer’s Day (2/5)

At First Sight (2/5)

The Franklyn Paragraphs (2.5/5)

The Interloper (3/5)

Sentinels (2.5/5)

The Guy (4/5)

The Old Horns (3/5)

The Lost (3/5)

The Stocking (3/5)

The Second Staircase (2/5)

Concussion (5/5)

The Enchanted Fruit (2/5)

Addendum:

T.E.D. Klein’s essay can be found here:

Ramsey Campbell Criticism - Essay - eNotes.com

T.E.D. stands for Theodore “Eibon” Donald. He gave himself the nickname Eibon, a character from Clark Ashton Smith’s Hyperborean Cycle.

A video explaining Comprehensible Input can be found here on Stephen Krashen’s website:

Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition (sk.com.br)

Mr. Campbell’s article from Publisher's Weekly can be found here:

Why I Write...Ramsey Campbell (publishersweekly.com)