What do you think?
Rate this book
Waking Nightmares
A collection of terrifying short fiction features stories about forests full of wooden demons and houses haunted by the future. By the author of The Count of Eleven.
Contents:
Introduction (Waking Nightmares).
The Guide (1989).
Next Time You'll Know Me (1988).
Second Sight (1987).
The Trick (1980).
In the Trees (1986).
Another World (1987).
Playing the Game (1988).
Bedtime Story (1986).
Watch the Birdie (1984).
Old Clothes (1985).
Beyond Worlds (1986).
Jack in the Box (1983).
Eye of Childhood (1982).
The Other Side (1986).
Where the Heart Is (1987).
Being an Angel (1989).
It Helps If You Sing (1989).
The Old School (1989).
Meeting the Author (1989).
Contents:
Introduction (Waking Nightmares).
The Guide (1989).
Next Time You'll Know Me (1988).
Second Sight (1987).
The Trick (1980).
In the Trees (1986).
Another World (1987).
Playing the Game (1988).
Bedtime Story (1986).
Watch the Birdie (1984).
Old Clothes (1985).
Beyond Worlds (1986).
Jack in the Box (1983).
Eye of Childhood (1982).
The Other Side (1986).
Where the Heart Is (1987).
Being an Angel (1989).
It Helps If You Sing (1989).
The Old School (1989).
Meeting the Author (1989).
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 28, 1991
405 people want to read
About the author
Ramsey Campbell
857 books1,593 followersRamsey 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."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 15, 2020
Just as Midnight Sun made me a fan of Ramsey Campbell in the novel form, Waking Nightmares has shown me what Campbell can do in the short form . . . and I’m mighty impressed!
This is the rare collection that pleased me top-to-bottom; not a dud exists among this book’s 19 stories. Sure, I liked some more than others, but they’re all really quite close.
Written over the span of the 1980s, these stories were previously published in other anthologies and magazines, but all were new to me.
I think my favorite is “The Old School”, a late entry about a concerned teacher, some kids, and an abandoned school. From the first line to the last Campbell effectively ratchets the tension, and he nails the landing. Maybe this story worked so well because I have a fascination with abandoned schools (and malls, and hotels).
Other favorites include:
“Meeting the Author”: a young child is stalked by the spirit of an angry children’s author and his pop-up character.
“Next Time You’ll Know Me”: a deep-dive into the psychological makeup of an angry, paranoid amateur writer convinced his ideas are stolen.
“Second Sight”: a blind musician is forced to relive a traumatic, horrific experience from his boyhood.
“Another World”: an adult cultist has escaped from under his father’s thumb and into the outside world for the first time.
“Old Clothes”: an old coat is possibly the vehicle for the dead’s revenge.
“The Other Side”: a teacher becomes obsessed with a clown-like figure wreaking havoc across from his flat.
“Where the Heart Is”: a man sells his home after his wife’s passing, and comes to regret it . . . Making him want to return.
Waking Nightmares is a masterful collection sure to satisfy any horror lover, and I’d recommend those new to Ramsey Campbell start here. I’m certainly going to read more of his short fiction—and soon!
This is the rare collection that pleased me top-to-bottom; not a dud exists among this book’s 19 stories. Sure, I liked some more than others, but they’re all really quite close.
Written over the span of the 1980s, these stories were previously published in other anthologies and magazines, but all were new to me.
I think my favorite is “The Old School”, a late entry about a concerned teacher, some kids, and an abandoned school. From the first line to the last Campbell effectively ratchets the tension, and he nails the landing. Maybe this story worked so well because I have a fascination with abandoned schools (and malls, and hotels).
Other favorites include:
“Meeting the Author”: a young child is stalked by the spirit of an angry children’s author and his pop-up character.
“Next Time You’ll Know Me”: a deep-dive into the psychological makeup of an angry, paranoid amateur writer convinced his ideas are stolen.
“Second Sight”: a blind musician is forced to relive a traumatic, horrific experience from his boyhood.
“Another World”: an adult cultist has escaped from under his father’s thumb and into the outside world for the first time.
“Old Clothes”: an old coat is possibly the vehicle for the dead’s revenge.
“The Other Side”: a teacher becomes obsessed with a clown-like figure wreaking havoc across from his flat.
“Where the Heart Is”: a man sells his home after his wife’s passing, and comes to regret it . . . Making him want to return.
Waking Nightmares is a masterful collection sure to satisfy any horror lover, and I’d recommend those new to Ramsey Campbell start here. I’m certainly going to read more of his short fiction—and soon!
August 23, 2018
After quiet enjoying Campbell's The Influence, I'm finding this collection of stories drawn from over a similar period rather underwhelming. Campbell here maintains an exquisite sense of place and image, and never really tips over into embarrassing over-reveals like lesser horror writers, but all the same there's just not that much going on beneath the surface here, at least as can be developed over 20 or so pages. I recall having the same issue with Harlan Ellison collections I've read: not purely entertaining enough to be pure entertainment, yet not really necessary for anything else. Campbell, at least, is a far better prose technician, I think, and creates far stronger images. The most chilling (and recommendable) here so far, actually, is the least supernatural: "Another World" which details a confused young man forced to step out into the urban world beyond his cloistered home after the death of his hyper-religious father. Not so incidentally another couple stand-outs, "Being an Angel" and "It Helps If You Sing", also skewer obsessive or cultish religion, marking Campbell as a kind of corrective to the dominant Catholicism of all too much horror fiction (unless he's like Flannery O'Connor, actually a Catholic loathing evangelicals). Just in front of Angel, the longest story in the collection is "The Trick" and the extra time and care elevates it above the others as well (along with its strong sense of place and the dreary-mythic lore of a suburban street). Perhaps I just need that extra room for development and changing expectations for these to really stick with me. So, for me, enjoyable and competent, intermittently great, occasionally running together a bit. I probably should have stretched these out over a few months, actually, rather than get it from the library and so force consumption into mostly a matter of days.
May 17, 2018
This is a collection of short horror and supernatural fiction published between 1980-89 and prefaced by a short introduction in which the author outlines the circumstances in which they were written. On the one hand, I admire the atmosphere and technique in which the very setting of the stories often contributes to a sense of claustrophobia, futility and ultimately inevitability of the protagonist's fate. On the other, reading so many over a couple of days does emphasise the similarity between some of them, and in the setting/characters, especially when two stories about teachers are set back to back, the first being far superior to the second.
The better stories in the collection evoke a sense of disorientation - 'In the Trees', for example, which well evokes the panic of becoming lost in a wood, especially when something unfriendly seems to be in there with you - or the sense of being controlled by adults and their not-well-understood own burdens as in 'Eye of Childhood'. One or two, however, seem so over the top - 'Playing the Game', 'The Other Side' -that they are in danger of straying into the arena of self parody.
Some are truly horrific - 'Another World' and 'It Helps if You Sing' being examples. I found 'The Guide' particularly affecting: this story in the style of M R James, and featuring a guidebook that James actually wrote, details a fate which is certainly undeserved by the lonely widower who explores a clifftop church rather reminiscent of the one in James' iconic story 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad'.
Given that I found the collection rather uneven as suggested, I've settled on a 3-star rating.
The better stories in the collection evoke a sense of disorientation - 'In the Trees', for example, which well evokes the panic of becoming lost in a wood, especially when something unfriendly seems to be in there with you - or the sense of being controlled by adults and their not-well-understood own burdens as in 'Eye of Childhood'. One or two, however, seem so over the top - 'Playing the Game', 'The Other Side' -that they are in danger of straying into the arena of self parody.
Some are truly horrific - 'Another World' and 'It Helps if You Sing' being examples. I found 'The Guide' particularly affecting: this story in the style of M R James, and featuring a guidebook that James actually wrote, details a fate which is certainly undeserved by the lonely widower who explores a clifftop church rather reminiscent of the one in James' iconic story 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad'.
Given that I found the collection rather uneven as suggested, I've settled on a 3-star rating.
February 28, 2012
Ramsey Campbell writes such splendidly subtly unsettling horror. He does quiet dread feeling just about better than anyone out there. It's always interesting and impressive to read horror where the writer doesn't use gore, sex or extreme violence to convey the story, yet it's still so very effective. As a reader of various styles of horror, I appreciate it. I'd recommend it to any horror fan looking for something different, it would also be a great introduction to Campbell's work.
August 19, 2022
Letteratura di genere, a mio avviso, ben fatta, che si legge con piacere.
March 24, 2017
A short story collection from Ramsey Campbell is like opening a kitchenful of cupboards, each one containing a distinct, disturbing, creepy treat.
June 22, 2022
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 stories more than others, I enjoyed them all. The stories are atmospheric, just the right length, and have well done, creepy endings.
The Guide (4/5)
Next Time You’ll Know Me (4/5)
Second Sight (4/5)
The Trick (2.5/5)
In the Trees (4/5)
Another World (3/5)
Playing the Game (3/5)
Bedtime Story (5/5)
Watch the Birdie (4/5)
Old Clothes (4/5)
Beyond Words (4/5)
Jack in the Box (5/5)
Eye of Childhood (3/5)
The Other Side (4/5)
Where the Heart Is (3/5)
Being an Angel (3/5)
It Helps if You Sing (4/5)
The Old School (4/5)
Meeting the Author (5/5)
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 stories more than others, I enjoyed them all. The stories are atmospheric, just the right length, and have well done, creepy endings.
The Guide (4/5)
Next Time You’ll Know Me (4/5)
Second Sight (4/5)
The Trick (2.5/5)
In the Trees (4/5)
Another World (3/5)
Playing the Game (3/5)
Bedtime Story (5/5)
Watch the Birdie (4/5)
Old Clothes (4/5)
Beyond Words (4/5)
Jack in the Box (5/5)
Eye of Childhood (3/5)
The Other Side (4/5)
Where the Heart Is (3/5)
Being an Angel (3/5)
It Helps if You Sing (4/5)
The Old School (4/5)
Meeting the Author (5/5)
January 2, 2013
Novels by Ramsey Campbell are almost impossible to find in bookstores these days. Instead, one can only find his annual compilation of Best New Horror (usually co-compiled with Stephen Jones). I find that quite odd for a horror writer who has churned out dozens of books over a career spanning over three decades.
So on my last trip to Singapore, i was almost delirious with excitement to have returned with a stack of Ramsey Campbell books from the second hand bookstore. Most were old editions and out-of-print issues.
Waking Nightmares (first published 1991) marked a turning point in his career as a horror writer. An heir-apparent to the throne of Lovercraft, Campbell's earlier short stories were more akin to the horror of British moors, fogs and undescribable supernatural beings (mostly published in trade magazines and anthologies). With this collection of short stories, he began crafting tales that were more of a modern horror - of slashers, serial killers, hauntings and strange children. But it's a mixed bag. You'll still find Lovecraftian tales sandwiched between tales more along the lines of Richard Matheson, and pretty much everything in between.
The tales are rather mild in terms of modern horror, but British-style creepiness still peppers each story. There's also a touch of humour occasionally.
This would be a good reference for anyone who wants to start reading Campbell, whom i think is better at writing shorts rather than lengthy works of fiction.
So on my last trip to Singapore, i was almost delirious with excitement to have returned with a stack of Ramsey Campbell books from the second hand bookstore. Most were old editions and out-of-print issues.
Waking Nightmares (first published 1991) marked a turning point in his career as a horror writer. An heir-apparent to the throne of Lovercraft, Campbell's earlier short stories were more akin to the horror of British moors, fogs and undescribable supernatural beings (mostly published in trade magazines and anthologies). With this collection of short stories, he began crafting tales that were more of a modern horror - of slashers, serial killers, hauntings and strange children. But it's a mixed bag. You'll still find Lovecraftian tales sandwiched between tales more along the lines of Richard Matheson, and pretty much everything in between.
The tales are rather mild in terms of modern horror, but British-style creepiness still peppers each story. There's also a touch of humour occasionally.
This would be a good reference for anyone who wants to start reading Campbell, whom i think is better at writing shorts rather than lengthy works of fiction.
July 25, 2020
I really feel like I completely missed something with this book. Every story ended with a "oh is that it?" and I couldn't find the horror in most of them. None of them were memorable for me and I ended the book incredibly disappointed as I kept thinking "the next one will be something". Spoiler: it never was!
It took me about 3 months to plod through it and I went into each story with an open mind but unfortunately there wasn't anything in it for me. I was quite disappointed as I've really been enjoying short stories recently but I'm happy that I gave it a real shot.
It took me about 3 months to plod through it and I went into each story with an open mind but unfortunately there wasn't anything in it for me. I was quite disappointed as I've really been enjoying short stories recently but I'm happy that I gave it a real shot.
Read
November 6, 2010I have heard many times in my readings about Robert Aickman that Ramsey Campbell was similar to him. I finally got around to checking him out and although so far he can't touch the pure oddness and beyond literary magic of Aickman, this is the closest I've seen of that in another writer. A couple clunkers here, but otherwise a great book for cold weather. A lot of attention to nature and physical surroundings.
June 24, 2013
just ok. nothing more. some stories are better, some worse. not a King though.
November 13, 2015
A lot of these stories were really interesting. I can see some people getting paranoid from reading this, but I liked it.
November 3, 2020
This was my introduction to Ramsey Campbell and I was not disappointed. I enjoy Campbell's prose and ability to gradually darken the mood throughout the progression of these stories. Despite the horror aspects of these short stories, I have to say "Where the Heart Is" took me by surprise with its discussion of grief. Campbell did a great job not overstaying his welcome in the subject matter which I felt gave the short story its emotional effect. When I say he didn't overstay his welcome in the subject matter, I'm referring to some writers who prefer to bathe their readers in sadness, pain, misery, or what have you in an attempt to give their story emotional depth.
My favorite stories from this collection are "The Guide", "The Trick", "Old Clothes", "Where the Heart Is", "Being an Angel", "It Helps If You Sing", and "Meeting the Author". I definitely will be purchasing more short story collections from Ramsey Campbell in the future to add to my collection.
My favorite stories from this collection are "The Guide", "The Trick", "Old Clothes", "Where the Heart Is", "Being an Angel", "It Helps If You Sing", and "Meeting the Author". I definitely will be purchasing more short story collections from Ramsey Campbell in the future to add to my collection.
August 1, 2024
I saw another review that used the word underwhelming and I think that’s perfect for this book. There were a few stories I really dug but most of them were quite underwhelming. Maybe it was just me hyping my own self up for a Ramsey Campbell collection. If you like him, and I do, definitely read it if you haven’t. You might enjoy it
September 17, 2018
Great collection of brutal little stories. The last story is by far the best, but most of them are quite good.
June 15, 2020
Nice collection of short horror stories.
December 24, 2021
Average collection of short stories.
April 21, 2022
Brilliant collection,loved it.
September 10, 2023
That was disappointing. This was my first Campbell. His short stories are highly regarded, especially from Cthulhu mythos lovers. But I didn't feel much of anything reading these. They were very alike each other. This collection had two speeds. Stories about normal people encountering the uncanny, with the exact same beats every time but a different monster. And abnormal people creating the uncanny, with the exact same beats every time but a different form of... let's call it generic madness. I wanted something to jump out at me, to make me understand why he's considered a master of horror, why other authors that I love sing his praises. And I came up wanting. Nothing was spectacularly awful. Just riding the middle of the road so intensely that I won't remember any of these in a couple months.
July 5, 2013
Alcuni racconti li ho trovati molto belli, altri piuttosto strani. Pochi, infine, non li ho proprio capiti, forse problema mio o della traduzione talvolta involuta.
In ogni caso è un autore che prima non conoscevo, forse in Italia sempre considerato più per "addetti" che per il grande pubblico, ma che vale davvero la pena di far conoscere a fondo.
In ogni caso è un autore che prima non conoscevo, forse in Italia sempre considerato più per "addetti" che per il grande pubblico, ma che vale davvero la pena di far conoscere a fondo.
November 25, 2021
Mi ero fatto troppe aspettative su questo libro. Forse sarà perché in questo periodo sto leggendo troppe collezioni di racconti horror e magari il genere mi sta stufando, ma non ho trovato nessun racconto interessante. Non riesco neanche più a ricordare la trama della maggior parte dei racconti.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews