Cold Print

by Ramsey Campbell

15 tales of relentless evil incarnate (one never before published), illustrated by JK Potter.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Cthulhu Mythos, Fantasy, Lovecraftian, Anthologies

217 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Ramsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

time again for LOVE ♥ CRAFT ♥ CONNECTION!

this connection-collection includes hunky bachelor AZATHOTH and hot-to-trot bachelorette SHUB-NIGGURATH, as featured respectively within the stories "The Insects of Shaggai" and "The Horror from the Bridge".

Azathoth


Nickname: the mad nuclear chaos at the center of the universe
Likes: staring at the stars, dreaming, music - especially the pan-flute
Dislikes: judgmental and close-minded people :(
Favorite Craft: as Mr. Azathoth is roughly the size of a star, his biggest hobby is - understandably - subduing then devouring planets
What He Is Looking For: cocky civilizations interested in 'thinking outside the box', getting hypnotized en masse, and then being slowly digested.

(((((♥)))))

Shub-Niggurath


Nickname: she-goat of the woods with a thousand young
Likes: relaxing in nature and in subterranean caves
Dislikes: uptight people, smokers (fire in general)
Favorite Craft: as a "fountain of uncleanliness", Ms. Niggurath enjoys simple, primordial delights such as creating, procreating, and bubbling forth various pseudopods and crawly, flappy minions
What She Is Looking For: adventurous souls willing to live in the moment, just let it all go and try something new!

__________

and now for the review:

2 Stars for the first two-thirds. uninspiring and only vaguely entertaining H.P. Lovecraft pastiches. of interest only to Ramsey Campbell and Cthulhu Mythos completists.

4 Stars for the awesome final third. now this is the Campbell that i am familiar with: brilliant, challenging writing; compelling use of the unreliable narrator and the tortured inner monologue; an increasingly pervasive feeling of dread tinged with a yearning desire for transcendence of some sort; chilling scenarios with often genuinely upsetting imagery and disturbing endings. bravo, Campbell! some really excellent writing in:

"Before the Storm": the inner monologues of a man transformed and the harried customer service staff forced to deal with him - a grotesque and often hilarious story.

"Cold Print": liberated but lonely gay sadist finally meets some people who understand and appreciate him. awww!

"The Tugging": my favorite story. a reporter slowly realizes that his troubling dreams, the weird criminal antics of his grandfather, and an approaching 'stray planet' are all somehow terribly linked with some, er, pretty big worldwide changes about to occur.

.....To everything - turn, turn, turn
.....There is a season - turn, turn, turn
.....And a time for every purpose under heaven

"The Faces at the Pine Dunes": an eventually-cosmic coming of age tale, at first rooted in prosaic, kitchen-sink realism. the young protagonist is expertly and sympathetically depicted. and that final image of his parents... ugh!

"Blacked Out": if you are in a remote part of bavaria and approach an unknown village, one preceded by a completely blacked-out road marker...
DO NOT GO TO THAT VILLAGE, DUMMY!

"The Voice of the Beach": a sinister other-dimension that once inhabited our own dimension of space seeks to return, one man at a time. perfectly drawn atmosphere and a truly unworldly horror.

Cold Print is worth seeking out for folks who appreciate literary horror - if only for those last few tales. so for those six great stories: job well-done, Campbell!

[Forrest · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've previously reviewed most of the early stories in this volume in my review of The Inhabitant of the Lake and Other Unwelcome Tenants. On re-reading these stories (which I'm not going to re-review here), I think they've lost some of their initial luster. Perhaps this is because Campbell continues in the same vein in many of the stories that are contained in Cold Print, but that are not in Inhabitant, which makes the stories in the middle of the volume feel like a hackneyed copy of . . . himself? I find myself possibly having fallen out of love with these stories because there's little original in them.

After the original series of Lovecraft pastiches, it becomes clearly apparent that Campbell is experimenting with grammar, vocabulary, and form. This gets more than a little tedious, at times. I found myself thrown out of the story, in these instances, partly because I fell into some of the same traps as a younger writer, and I feel a degree of self-loathing when I see this immature claptrap.

Before you think I hated this book, I didn't hate it. I should probably launch into my story notes so you can get a more holistic view of my thoughts and feelings while reading. Again, I am going to avoid commenting on stories I already reviewed in my other Campbell review except to say that they did not stand the test of time and were much more flat and blasé the second time around.

"The Church in High Street" is, yes, a derivative work of Lovecraftian horror. But there are hints of Campbell's own style peeking out, a certain restraint and cleverness that veterans of Lovecraft will notice as different (and, in my case, refreshing). Take, for example, this sentence:

In High Street at last, the moon hung over the steeple of the hill-set church like some lunar diadem, and as I moved the car into a depression at the bottom of the steps the orb sank behind the black spire as if the church were dragging the satellite out of the sky.

"The Will of Stanley Brooke" is most definitely Campbell's own, no mere mimesis of Lovecraft. The story's understatement carries the full shock of the unrevealed reveal. The old trope of the sudden change to a person's last will and testament takes a new twist.

"Before the Storm" is an atmospheric piece contrasting wildly divergent viewpoints that come together in the ultimate moment of horror. Ultimately effective, this tale comes short of greatness by the distracting use of too many adverbs, to put it plainly. And that's exactly the problem - so many words ending in "-ly," with many of them straining (and sometimes brazenly breaking) the limits of good grammar. Now, I'm all about breaking grammar rules to make a point, but doing it by a flurry of words ending in "-ly" just seems so . . . juvenile?

The title story is not only effective, but there is some knockout writing here, regardless of genre. For example, the sentence fragment: He closed his eyes again; the room and bookcase, created in five seconds by the neon, and destroyed with equal regularity, filled him with their emptiness .
., is a brilliant way to pull the reader's senses into the story - much more effective than any of Lovecraft's indescribable horrors, which he goes on to describe ad nauseum. Here, Campbell's restraint is his strongest selling point. There is also a certain whimsical nihilism that cuts deeper than HPL's cosmic horror, not because it is bigger, meaner, or scarier, but because it is altogether unfair. The main character, Strutt, is an undeserving victim, chosen seemingly at random, which somehow makes it seem more personal, as if the universe is just picking on him for no good reason other than to make him suffer. This is more Ligotti than Lovecraft.

Normally, I would love a piece such as "Among the Pictures are These". Its a catalog, of sorts, a "story" format of which I am fond. There were lots of good descriptions, but not enough meat behind the images to discern any innovative or shocking story between the lines.

The Tugging" was frequently too precious about it's nods to fans of Lovecraft's work. There were a couple of momenta when Campbell's mastery of prose shone through, standing out from the discordant and inconsistent stream-of-consciousness, but so much was obscured by the looming form of HPL that one might title this story "The Shadow Over Campbell". Just when it looks like he is going to shine, he eclipses his own voice by calling out too barefacedly to his predecessors.

The main trope of "The Faces at Pine Dunes" is well-worn, close to worn out for those familiar with Lovecraftian fiction. As with the previous story, at times, Campbell's prose gets in it's own way, but at other times it is brilliant. If this was the first time I had read such a story, I would be elated. As it is, I found it very "swingy," up and down, which is a bit disappointing, frankly. It's not a bad story, but it's not great, either.

"Blacked Out," the penultimate story in this collection, hits all the right notes of atmosphere and tone. Yes, you know the end two pages into reading it, but Campbell's slow revelation of the inevitable is plenty to carry the reader along for the ride. His engagement of all the senses here is laudable, and the careful restraint actually bolsters the crescendo. Definitely one of the better stories herein.

As I read "The Voice of the Beach," I'm listened to the album "Stay Down" by Two Lone Swordsmen. Honestly, I can't think of a more appropriate soundtrack, especially the song "Spine Bubbles". It's like that song was written for reading that story! "The Voice of the Beach" is cosmic horror without all the words and names. You know, no Nyarlathotep, no squamous or Eldritch anything. This is exactly what I was hoping for: cosmic horror in Campbell's voice with only the faintest hint of HPL so far away that you can hardly hear him. Now, if the collection had started in this vein and continued from there, I might like it a lot more. Not bad, just too much HPL taint. Too little Campbell, a little too late.

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Nov 2019: revisiting selected pieces...]

The intro is quite interesting; Campbell is candid and not very forgiving of his early stories. (I do remember "The Stone on the Island" from somewhere, though I don't recall the casual sadism that Campbell is embarrassed about.)

"The Moon Lens": we've seen this "bloke is trapped in a threatening small town, shit happens" trope a lot. The lens are kind of fun. But there's so much B-movie mechanics (he blocks the room door with the bed! Oops, now he can't unblock it! etc). And that voiceover explaining Shub-Niggurath! Blah blah.

"The Render of the Veils": the opening scene, with the protagonist caught in the rain, looks forward to Campbell's later work. But then we end up in a pretty standard hallucinations-with-odd-alien-device scenario, straight out of Frank Belknap Long's "Hound of Tindalos", or was it "Space Eaters"? In any case, Stuart Gordon's From Beyond is a fine over-the-top reworking of this.

"Before the Storm" holds up reasonably well. I'd forgotten about the abrupt shifts in POV, and only remembered the elegant (?) ending. The length helps (a mere 10 pages), though these days I'd prefer a tighter treatment.

"The Insects from Shaggai": I just can't get into all the different alien races, who did what to whom, what planets they hopped, etc. But I'm sure other fans cared.

"Inhabitant of the Lake" is probably my favorite of Campbell's early Lovecraft stories. The lake setup is nicely constructed, the buildup is effective (though too long), and the climactic "battle" is fun. (I remember an article mentioning the penetration/castration imagery in this; was it Campbell's? No, I'm not making this up.) I know it's the period style, but we do get mercilessly telegraphing passages like:

"Nothing I could put my finger on but I certainly wouldn't like to live down there alone. There's something about those trees growing so close and that black water --- as if there were things watching and waiting... but you must think me crazy. There is one point, though --- why were those houses built so far from everywhere? By that lake, too --- I mean, it's hardly the first place you'd think of if you were going to build a row of houses. Who'd be likely to live there?"

Maybe a bunch of crazy cultists worshipping the predictable Lovecraftian monster god, that's who! Zzzzz.

"Blacked Out" is "Moon Lens" in Bavaria, with the sexual frustration that pervades quite a few of Campbell's post-Lovecraft stories.

A lot of trampling through the mud and undergrowth in "The Faces at Pine Dunes". The main story is nicely told through uncomfortable family interactions, with Lovecraftian cliches mostly slipping through in small fragments. There's after all so much flesh in the way.

Funny, my memories of "The Voice of the Beach" include a number of desperate and cryptic messages written on the sand, none of which is in the story. (Maybe there's another beach story?) I appreciate what Campbell is trying to do here, but two not very interesting middle-aged guys grumbling at each other gets a bit thin after 15 pages or so. I like the device early on with the narrator omitting words referring to the beach. But not much is done with it, and the foreshadowing seems unnecessary (and old-fashioned). Aickman or Evenson would probably have just dropped you into the murky (grainy?) situation and left you to figure out how it's going to work out.

The title story still packs a punch though. The way things just rev up in the last scene is pretty memorable.

The setup of "The Tugging" is too long for my taste, though it's probably consistent with the period style. Nice effective ending, with its genuinely cosmic implications.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What's interesting about this collection is that you can see the progression - not necessarily chronologically - from straight Lovecraftian pastiches, to more original Lovecraftian pastiches, to very original pieces of cosmic horror propelled the fear of the unknown and alien, without relying on any forbidden texts or strange sounding gods or ancient cults. Regardless, every story in this collection works on the mind in terrible, fierce ways...

[Perry Lake · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Cold Print” is a collection of short stories by British horror master, Ramsey Campbell, all on Lovecraftian themes. About half of them are his early stories from the 60s, one is from 1976, and the rest come from the 80s.

As I had already read the two best stories in this volume, the collection seemed like Campbell's second best work. But that's hardly fair. All the stories are good; “The Tugging” and “Cold Print” are exceptionally good and the most original.

Lovecraft's stories might come across as quaint bits of New England in the 1920s, but Campbell's world is very modern and very grimy. He takes the commonplace events in our world and makes them sinister reminders of what lies beyond the veil. His half-insane narrators are the tour guides into the otherworldly realms just beyond our graffiti-scrawled streets and inhuman entities lurking in the back rooms of porn shops.

Stories like this swallow you into their vagina and give birth to you with a completely new mindset… which actually happens to a hero in one of the stories!

[Maggie Siebert · Rating 2 out of 5]

mr. campbell i believe you have wonders for me to behold yet still but this shit was a fucking slog

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un gran libro de cuentos lovecraftianos. A partir de los relatos de Lovecraft un sinfin de autores siguío la estela del autor de Providence y inspirados por él hicieron su propia aportación a los mitos. Ramsey campbell era un imberbe chaval de Liverpool que se dedicaba a escrivir pequeños pastiches de Lovecraft hasta que fué contactado por August Derleth. Derleth le sugirió que modificase el contexto de los relatos y los pasase a su propia tierra. Ramsey decidió crear su propio contexto con lugares como el valle de Severn o Brichester. El resultado es muy bueno y aunque en este extenso tomo hay algunos relatos que son la obra de un primerizo, otros están a la altura de H.P y son una maravilla.
De todos los que hay me quedo con estos:

La iglesia de High street(***): Un hombre se dirige a Temphill porque un amigo suyo le ha conseguido un trabajo en la ciudad. Al llegar encuentra una ciudad extraña con gente arisca y cultos. Nadie sabe nada sobre su amigo. Las circunstancias empujarán a el protagonista a decidir entre seguir buscando o escapar de la ciudad.

Los insectos de Shaggai(*****): Parece escrito por el mismo Lovecraft. Narra los viajes de unos extraños insectos que parasitan la mente de las criaturas de diferentes planetas hasta que llegan a la tierra. Puede mirar de tú a tú a cualquier relato del maestro.

El regreso de la bruja(****): Genial ambientación. Un hombre compra una antigua casa en Brichester que parece encantada porque una bruja murió en la misma. La bruja intenta poseer al inquilino desde el más allá.

La llanura del sonido(****): Unos estudiantes visitan una antigua posada en ruinas en Goatswood.
Lo que allí encuentran es algo que une nuestro mundo con otros. Me recordo a los relatos de Kadath y el ciclo de los sueños de Lovecraft pero con un toque de terror.

Hay que tener en cuenta que la mayoría de estos relatos fueron escritos en la adolescencia del autor y tiene muchas otras novelas donde ya define un estilo más propio y que tengo ganas de paladear.
Pero si amas al Lovecraft clásico te encantarán algunos de estos relatos. Por otra parte, destacar que Ramsey campbell ha vuelto a los mitos, ahora en su madurez, con una trilogía sobre Glaaki, uno de sus "antiguos", que suena muy bien.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of the author's short fiction ranging from his early efforts in the early 1960s to mature work of the early 1980s when this collection was published. The earlier, very Lovecraft influenced, stories are rather clumsy pastiches and didn't really hold my interest, but the later work where the name checking of standard Lovecraft entities recedes into the background and only minor references are made, such as to books from the Mythos which people come across, are much more successful.

The final story in the book, 'The Voice of the Beach', is influenced by Algernon Blackwood's 'The Willows' as Campbell acknowledges in his introduction to the collection where he says that he attempted in it to return to the aims of Lovecraft who was a great admirer of Blackwood's story. As in the best of Campbell's fiction, it is unsettling and disturbing, with things only half seen or sensed providing the chills. Mainly due to such later tales, my rating is raised to a respectable 3 stars.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book back in Oct/Nov of 2012 and as someone who loves Lovecraftian tales, this was a real treat. Of the 21 stories here, I only disliked two, and quite a few were downright amazing. There's many Lovecraftian story collections, August Derleth wrote one, but his stories all follow the same formula: a man uncovers evidence of occult activity in an isolated house, perhaps his ancestors' house, then bad stuff happens. But we find a lot of variety in this collection, especially toward the second half.

The best in my opinion were "The Insects From Shaggai," "The Inhabitant of the Lake," "Before the Storm," "Cold Print" and "Voice of the Beach." The last has been hailed as Campbell's best writing ever, and I can agree at least that it's a very creepy, subtly horrific story.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Ramsey Campbell's Lovecraftian tales. This is the Campbell I like. He takes the Cthulhu Mythos and gives them his own introverted British touch. You can almost choke on the atmosphere. Some say Cmmpbell is often too vague or esoteric for his own good and they would be right. However there is something quite impressive about his early Lovecraft influenced fiction.

[Brian Sammons · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one does the Cthulhu Mythos like Campbell. He's my second favorite author of cold, cosmic horror right after H.P. Lovecraft. Yeah, he's that good.

[K.T. Katzmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully British mythos fiction with a caveat.

Ramsey Campbell's creations haved wormed their way into the Cthulhu canon. Who can forget the awesome cosmic wonder of Fat Naked Headless Man with Mouth Hands?

I kid. He's much more alien in the story. But still, there are nifty monsters here, and Campbell writes with a definite style.

There's one problem, and that is the question of which style you're getting.

A lot of these stories come from Campbell's early career, before he himself admits he found his voice. He's speaking in Lovecraft's style, and we all know what a Lovecraft pastiche feels like. It's surprising to realize that some creatures in my daughter's copy of Where's My Shoggoth? started out in stories that seem less impressive compared to Mr. Campbell's mature work.

Still, very fun stories. Campbell's good at making aliens, self-depreciating in his introductions, and definitely hits his stride later in the book. If you like weird fiction or bizarre monsters, give this one a whirl.

[Henrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual--reviews coming as I read the stories. Which means that it may take a long while before this is taken off the currently-reading list;-)

SEPTEMBER 4 (IRRC):

"Cold Print":

Hailed as one of the stories that takes the Cthulhu Mythos away from mere pastiche and into modern settings and storytelling. "Cold Print" lives up to this reputation (as well as being a sort of "modern classic" in the genre), no doubt about it, but the link to that sub-genre is rather meager, in my opinion. Sure, there is Campbell's contribution to the Mythos, The Revelations of Glaaki, but that's about it. It doesn't even have much of an important bearing on the plot, as far as I can tell.

That said, this story about an unsympathetic protagonist with, ahem, odd sexual preferences was interesting and with astute descriptions of that character's mood, personality etc. And with a bookshop as an important setting in the story, how can I not like it?;-) So, in brief, I liked the story on its own merits.

SEPTEMBER 11:

"The Return of the Witch":

According to Campbell's excellent foreword/introduction, "Chasing the Unknown," this story was suggested by two HPL notes. That alone of course makes it interesting for an HPL buff like me;-)

Unfortunately I found the actual execution rather lacklustre. Admittedly, Campbell's extraordinary sense of words, persons & atmosphere cannot be denied, but the story and the plot is too much like many other, classic witch/haunted house stories.

It was an all right read, but I had higher expectations.

SEPTEMBER 12:

"Blacked Out":

Not a Mythos tale, but certainly one that follows HPL's advices on how to craft a dark, creepy story. And even though I had flashbacks to HPL's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" this is certainly Campbell's own story.

The fact that the story takes place in a country where the protagonist doesn't speak the language (German) sets the mood of alienation perfectly. And the things he see & experience in the small hamlet, first at a distance and later closer than he likes, are marvelously built upon each other, so there is a continuous rise of dread and expectations in the reader.

The best of it all is that nothing is ever revealed; all is only hinted at. Wonderful.

SEPTEMBER 20:

"The Franklyn Paragraphs":

Great, great story. This is a well-executed example of a story that takes some HPL elements (letters shared with us, the readers, to reveal horrors chiefest among them) and uses it splendidly in a modern setting and in a modern tone of voice. Modern, that is, in the 1960s and before computers. I wonder if a similar approach--but in our computer age with e-mails, attachments et al--has already been written? Could be interesting.

Again a story where not much is explained in the end, just hinted at, but it doesn't matter. The road up till then is grim and capturing in a dreadful way. Wonderful!

SEPTEMBER 23:

"The Will of Stanley Brooke":

A short tale. Campbell takes the necromancy element from HPL's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and warps it into this one. It was a nice read. The execution and ending was, in my opinion, more like a "shocker tale" á la Robert Bloch than HPL.

OCTOBER 2:

"The Faces at Pine Dunes":

An example of a Mythos story that doesn't really have anything to do with HPL himself, but certainly has learned a thing or two by August Derleth and his bend of the genre. Some may see this as a detriment but I don't, in this case. It's just a fact. And when you get that you're into a nice ride of a tale.

It is, as is often the case with Campbell, about family relationship and dark secrets. And about witchcraft with a Mythos twist to it;-)

I liked it quite much. I found it a little difficult to follow at first, since I didn't really see what was going on, but when finally this was settled I was captured all the way to the ending's unspeakable ritual-like scene. And nice touch with the son-taking-over-the-traditions, Mr. Campbell;-)

OCTOBER 3:

"Before the Storm":

Excellent story!

The narrative is superbly strange and goes beyond what is usually done, so for a little while the reader is having a hard time figuring out exactly what is going on--and from what perspective we see things, creating an upsetting read.

The storyline is fairly classic, I discovered. A patient is at the psychiatric ward and is extremely paranoid and with a distorted sense of reality... Or...?;-)

More reviews to come, as usual;-)

[Dion Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Lovecraft influenced collection, I found the stories more like the next generation, instead of set at the same time as the Lovecraft stories, with a more up to date but not modern feel, which I enjoyed, it gives you the impression of the mythos over time and its constant presence over generations.

[Gale Blackwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly disappointing. As far as lovecraftian horror goes this may be the worst of it I've read so far.

The only stories that I could say were good at all were The Render of the Veils, The Faces at Pine Dunes, and perhaps the Tugging, although the ending of The Tugging was wholly unsatisfying. The others were not written well enough to be cohesive or often to even keep my interest, and when they did show horrors that were even vaguely lovecraftian they revealed far too much about the origins and nature of these horrors to ever really be successful in the genre. The reason why Lovecraft's work is so good is because of the mystery of it, because of the vast and incomprehensible nature of the horrors presented. Here, they're shown to be almost relateable at times. At best, Campbell is a cut above mediocrity, at worst, he's repugnant

[Esdaile · Rating 1 out of 5]

I first heard of Ramsey Campbell from reading a series of essays in German by Werner Olles called Grenzgänger des Geistes, which is a collection of essays about those whom Olles calls “forgotten, underestimated and ostracised writers of the 2oth century”. Campbell was mentioned by Olles as being one of many writers "influenced" by HP Lovecraft. On the strength of that information I bought Ramsey Campbell's "Cold Print". “Influenced” proved to be an understatement.

That Campbell'scollection "Cold Print" has been published, been successful and received favourable reviews (a quotation from the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural asserts confidently that Campbell is "The greatest living exponent of the British weird fiction tradition.”) is exlusively thanks to the powerful imagination of his master, HP Lovecraft, for on the evidence of this collection of Lovecraft lookalike short stories, Campbell himself has no imagination whatsoever, powerful or otherwise.

Campbell himself provides an introduction to his book with an introduction to HP Lovecraft, which is the only genuinely weird feature of this book.

One hears of a lack of originality, of plagiarism, of derivative writing. Campbell takes those practices a step further to the point that he is copying Lovecraft and presenting these short stories as his own, a possible uneasy conscience being discernible in his “introduction to HP Lovecraft” which serves, how appropriately, as an introduction to his own writing.

“His own” writing? Truth to tell, this sorry collection of Lovecraft plagiarisms can not rightly be described as Campbell's own writing at all. It is a copy and paste collection taken directly out of Lovecraft, devoid of any originality whatsoever, the reader is transferred from a spooky New England to a spooky Old England and a sub Lovecraft takes off from where Lovecraft left off with nothing new for the reader. It is hard to believe that any writer should so relentlessly with such utter lack of his own imagination simply copy another. In the mistaken hope that the first short stories might be youthful first attempts and our new horror story writer would have something new to write about in subsequent tales, I waded through half the stories looking in vain for something that had not been conceived by HP Lovecraft until I finally abandoned hope. Campbell offers us HP Lovecraft in England and nothing more. The Horror from the Bridge,The Insects from Shaggai. On and on it goes. The same old repellant shapes, old ones, unspeakable blasphemies, things with unpronouncable name sand hideous tentacles, growths of hideous form never intended by nature etc. It is NOT DIFFICULT to copy Lovecraft. Campbell dishes them all up again. So far as I can see he leaves nothing out and he provides nothing new. Maybe one gorged on Lovecraft wishing Lovecraft had written more might find pleasure in this copycat collection. For my part, I don't see the point, except conning the punters and making money of course and Copycat Campbell has done that all right.

This contemptible collection of Lovecraft copycat tales received favourable reviews and sold well, obviously readers and reviewers just cant have enough of the HP horror sauce. It is true that as history advances it is more difficult for writers to find any new evil under the sun, but this collection is so blatantly a rewriting of another writer, that the Lovecraft estate, if there be such a thing, could sue Campbell for breach of copyright with some real propect of success.

Campbell should be ashamed of himself for this doleful copy of the original and I suspect that he is.

Rare are the books in my possession that suffer the fate of a trip to the wheely bin. Cold Print is one of them.

[Ian Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the privilege (for which I paid, admittedly) of owned a signed hardcover of the expanded version of Cold Print. Its 21 stories and 2 essays include all of Campbell's early Cthulhu mythos fiction, with The Inhabitant of the Lake collection in its entirety and miscellaneous stories published elsewhere.

The first and most recent piece is 'Lovecraft: An Introduction' from 1990. At the risk of suggesting the book goes downhill from there, it's my favourite piece and the most engaging yet erudite defence of Lovecraft's worth as a prose writer that I've yet seen. It makes a refreshing counterpoint to the standard narrative that he was a terrible craftsman of the language despite his exceptional imaginative vision.

As to the fiction, Campbell makes an honest assessment of it in his introduction to the 1985 edition entitled 'Chasing the Unknown'. This material is often fun pastiche but much of it is only a step or two above juvenilia and frankly isn't going to set the world on fire even for most enthusiasts.

Campbell knows this and goes into surprisingly frank detail on his process of developing and maturing as a writer (including the role of August Derleth), being at times embarrassed of his early work but proud of how far he's come. It's a pre-emptive mea culpa for readers backtracking from his later work, but even-handed for all that.

Nevertheless, this an enjoyable experience for anyone interested in the evolutionary tree of Lovecraftian fiction in the decades between its originator's death and its 21st century pop-culture rediscovery.

[Arnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202...

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suffers from the same mythos infodump as most Lovecraft followers. Lovecraft for all his faults was an excellent writer. Campbell less so. Still he's thoughtful and has his own ideas.

[Rolando S. Medeiros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impressão Fria é um conto de terror e fantasia urbana pertencente ao Mythos do Lovecraft, porém escrito e pontilhado com características narrativas e cenários próprios de seu autor: Ramsey Campbell.

Campbell joga em casa, faz a história se passar na sua própria cidade inventada, cenário de outras histórias dele, Gloucerstershire: uma cidade suja, cheia de becos estreitos que dão em ruas ocultas, pessoas estranhas, bares auspiciosos e bibliotecas obscuras onde as verdadeiras prateleiras estão escondidas.

A atmosfera do conto (grande característica da maioria das histórias do Mythos, por sinal) é muito melhor que todos os outros aspectos da narrativa, mas isso não tira os méritos do autor. O personagem principal também é interessante e diferente daquele batido personagem Lovecraftiano (quase sempre igual) ou o pedaço de cartolina do Ashton Clark Smith, aqui o protagonista é uma personagem de verdade, com preferências próprias e uma perversidade latente — que se revelará nos livros que ele procura (adianto, não são de ocultismo, não é tão clichê assim); algo crucial para o desfecho do conto.

É diferente de outros autores do Mythos. Não há o excesso de horrores indescritíveis do Lovecraft aqui. E, em vez do horror cósmico aparente, o que corta a história é um clima taciturno. A ambientação também difere de um Ashton Clark Smith da vida, saindo das raízes de cultos antigos e aproximando, por exemplo da abordagem do Alan Moore do Ciclo Lovecraftiano.

Apesar de terror praticamente nulo, o que é um pequeno ponto negativo, não há como negar que o Campbell está tentando colocar seu tempero próprio na abordagem do universo. Ele se afasta do pastiche, do horror natural e ruma ambientes e narrativas mais modernas, com mais aspecto de pulsões, fetiches e psicologia em geral.

Uma história de horror, um protagonista com preferências estranhas, um cenário bem escrito e a ação transcorrendo, com direito a uma entidade lovecraftiana aparecendo, dentro de uma livraria. Um conto bom. Só bom.

[G.R. Yeates · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of Ramsey Campbell's Lovecraftian fiction is interesting for a couple of reasons. One, it shows us where the master began, weaving tales of the Cthulhu Mythos in the fictive towns of Brichester and Goatswood. The reason I have not given the collection more stars is because, for this reason, it's maybe not so satisfying as a whole as his later work. Some of the stories are fantastic, such as The Inhabitant of the Lake, Cold Print and The Church in High Street, whilst others follow Mythos story patterns to a point where they become overly familiar and thus conclusions are easily guessed at before they occur. This is still a very entertaining collection though for the Lovecraft fan and for those who wish to see how Ramsey Campbell has developed as an artist over the years.

[Peter Davis-Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book for any fans of horror anthologies and also for fans of Lovecraft fiction.
I picked it up from a charity shop for next to nothing but believe me when I say without hyperbole, you can buy brand new & full price & you'd be getting a bargain.
Can't recommend highly enough

[Anastasia Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to like it a lot more as I love a lot of Campbell's work.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read overall. RTC.

[Gonzalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a young CoC player, I thought Ramsey Campbell was “the other Lovecraft.” I had read exactly one story of his, “The Church of High Street,” but had apparently created some of the creepiest Great Old Ones. Over the years, I have read many CoC scenarios with Cambell’s creatures, usually finding them above average. I had not read his Mythos stories, until now.
In case I get sidetracked, the book is a must for worshipers of Cthulhu. The introduction is just superb, defending Derleth as a preserver of Lovecraft and criticizing King. The latter might be the modern master of terror, but no Mr. King, Lovecraft is not a phase, and Campbell proves it both in theory and in practice. I wholeheartedly agree with the author it is very possible the work of Lovecraft is best enjoyed if started at a young age, but it can be a long-time relationship, even if it is not always a faithful one.
Writing proof of this are the first few stories in this collection. I won’t say they are bad, but they certainly left me with a “maybe I am too old for this” feeling. After all, they are the work of a teenager. Fortunately, soon we find ourselves in the midst of what are the “core” Mythos stories: “The Render of Veils,” and “The Inhabitant of the Lake”, are great. So is the “The Moon-Lens.” Even if it feels like a copy of “The Shadow over Innsmouth”, it is a good one. The one exception from these earlier stories is “The Insects from Shaggai,” but I am biased. I never liked these inter-dimensional flies, and the original story didn’t do enough to change my mind. Of the stories not included in “The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants”, “Cold print” certainly deserves to give name to the volume. It might be the story where cosmic horror and modern/slasher horror merge. There is a tangible maturity in this and later stories, not only because of the sex, but because characters have relationships that go beyond the friend in trouble or the solitary uncle. Sometimes it is family, real family, but because many are girlfriends, it gives them a distinct “Shinning” feeling. “The Tugging” precedes King’s story by a year, but if we are picking sexist horror, mine is “The Faces at Pine Dunes.” Do not despair, socially conscious reader, perverts get what they deserve in “Blacked Out.” I do not know if I liked more because it takes place in Germany, or because it reminded of an incident that happened while playing Pathfinder.
It was a CoC campaign with Eihort and its brood what finally encouraged me to read this book. Maybe because of that I had higher expectations for “Before the Storm.” That is the only mild disappointment I had with this book. I know the 60’s and the 80’s are well over, but it was refreshing to read some “modern” Mythos. I will probably read some of Cambell’s non-Mythos books, but I have no clue where to start.

[Rob Moses · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pero qué gran relato de Ramsey Campbell aportando sus ideas a los Mitos de Cthulhu. Vemos en este relato otro dios primigenio quien siendo invocado por el protagonista, Sam Strutt, llega a nuestro mundo para causar terror, destrucción y sufrimiento. Sam quien pretende encontrar libros de su interés, llega a dar con un bibliotecario que le invita a su biblioteca a que se dé una vuelta, ya que él posee varios títulos que le pueden interesar. Así que Sam llega al sitio donde hay títulos de diferentes temáticas. Éste se lleva un libro el cual en cuanto lo lee por las noches llega a padecer ciertas pesadillas, así que piensa investigar el origen de esos sueños tan oscuros. Es por esto que Strutt regresa a la biblioteca pero se da cuenta de que ya no está el biliotecario que lo atendió la vez pasada. Sino que en su lugar se encuentra a otro hombre que le explica el origen de esos sueños, sacando así un tomo bastante grande que lleva por nombre "Las Revelaciones". Este tomo contiene grandes secretos de los primigenios y cómo invocar a algunos seres que no pertenecen a este mundo. En especial a Y'Golonac, dios de la depravación.
Revelaciones un volumen escrito por Glaaki dice lo siguiente: "Más allá del vacío en la noche subterráneo hay un pasaje que lleva hasta un muro de enormes ladrillos y más allá del muro se encuentra Y'Golonac, servido por deformes figuras ciegas que moran en la oscuridad".



Ramsey Campbell es bueno para hacer extraterrestres, se auto-deprecia en sus presentaciones, y definitivamente llega a su paso más adelante en el libro. Si te gusta la ficción extraña o monstruos extraños, vale la pena leerlo.

[Arthur B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The expanded version of Cold Print (debuting in 1993 and displacing the earlier, truncated 1980s release) was the first truly all-encompassing collection of Ramsey Campbell's Cthulhu Mythos stories. It includes all the tales from his debut collection, The Inhabitant of the Lake, but these early-career works were patchy since he was still weaning himself off the bad habits common among Lovecraft imitators of the era; however, the subsequent tales take up a substantial amount of the collection, and find him coming into his prime. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/200...

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, but imperfect, collection of Lovecraftian stories by Ramsey Campbell.

The stories in this collection vary in quality quite a bit. Some of them, such as The Inhabitant of the Lake, are amazing and among some of the best Lovecraftian stories I've ever read, while others, such as "among the pictures are these:" are lacking in structure and, in the case of that particular story, feel pointless.

Overall though I'd say this collection is definitely worth checking out if you're a horror fan, or looking for some Lovecraft style stuff.

[Michael Tenerowicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously a Lovecraft enthusiast, Mr. Ramsey has put together a fine collection of 1980s horror. His writing style, definitely very British is first-class. It's just that of all the genres, horror has grown the most over the last forty years. If you saw the Exorcist today ( even though it was way ahead of its time, groundbreaking) today it would be just another gore flick. I liked the idea that most of these stories were staged in relatively the same area in Britain. It helps tie the legends together. Overall, a good reading experience though not very terrifying.

[Nickolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven book of overtly Lovecraftian short stories - picks up the pace intermittently and then about halfway through. The first stories are from early in Campbell’s career. Several stories in this collection are involved with making the sexual subtext in many of Lovecraft’s stories more overt, though the stories in this collection are exceedingly tame on a modern explicitness rating.

A few of these stories are considered classics -such as "The Inhabitant of the Lake" and "The Insects from Shaggai", but as I said quality overall is uneven.