The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants by J. Ramsey CAMPBELL

This might make an interesting setup for a Delta Green one-shot scenario, but it doesn't make for great fiction.

A longer story would have helped to develop more dread, as well. Naivete might have been developed, rather than curtly assumed. A longer lead-in might have made it more believable. One of the two main characters just seemed to willing to go along with just about anything with little or not questioning. I enjoyed 'The Render of the Veils,' but it is a story that definitely needs more breathing room (another early habit of Campbell's that he admits to in his afterword). Foreshadowing is not fore-10000 -candle-watt-shining, Ramsey. Ramsey's one weakness, and I've seen it in each of these stories so far, is that he telegraphs way too much. The semi-material nature of the insects and the notion of possessing the victim and leading them to bring catastrophe upon. 'The Insects from Shaggai' is full of great things. Features both undead and mythos! Four stars. It exhibits well Mark Fisher's notion of 'the weird' as something intruding in our world that should not be there. This tale is not outright scary, but 'the mythos' don't necessarily have to be. Campbell himself admits in the afterword that he is sometimes guilty of 'telling too much too soon'. Though I think that Campbell tips his hand way too much by 'giving it away' without the reader having to work for it, I still liked this story quite a bit. 'The Horror from the Bridge' is more like it. Well written, as you'd expect, but the mechanics of the piece felt amateur and really distracted this reader. Clearly a pastiche of Lovecraft, this relied a little too heavily on the old 'shell game' of teasing a reveal, then pulling it back, then teasing and pulling it back again, then revealing the thing that was previously teased about at the very end.

We begin with 'The Room in the Castle,' which was good, but not great. Call me mean.īut if Derleth had let his editorial judgement cut too deep, Campbell might not have ever emerged as the writer he has. The letters back and forth between the two during their initial exchanges before this book was first published paint the picture of a kindly mentor who, though unafraid to call out the young (and I mean very young) Campbell in strong editorial terms, shows a soft spot that this editor (namely: me) would have cut out of his own heart. August Derleth, who initially edited these stories, was generous to the young Campbell. But if you've read any of Campbell's later work, you can clearly see an emergent, if struggling, genius trying to claw its way out of the pit of pastiche with this collection. No, these stories are not terrible, not by any means. From Campbell's Afterword, it is clear that he is a bit embarrassed at having written these early tales.

The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants by J. Ramsey CAMPBELL