New Terrors

by Ramsey Campbell (Editor)

Pan, 1980. Paperback original anthology of new horror. Introduction by Ramsey Campbell and these never-before-seen “The Stains” by Robert Aickman; “City Fishing” by Steve Rasnic; “Sun City” by Lisa Tuttle; “Yare” by Manly Wade Wellman; “A Room With a Vie” by Tanith Lee; “Diminishing Landscape with Indistinct Figures” by Daphne Castell; “Tissue” by Marc Laidlaw; “Without Rhyme or Reason” by Peter Valentine Timlett; “Love Me Tender” by Bob Shaw; “Kevin Malone” by Gene Wolfe; “Time to Laugh” by Joan Aiken; “Chicken Soup” by Kit Reed; “The Pursuer” by James Wade; “Bridal Suite” by Graham Masterton; “The Spot” by Dennis Etchison and Mark Johnson; “The Gingerbread House” by Cherry Wilder; “Watchers at the Strait” Gate by Russell Kirk; “220 Swift” by Karl Edward Wagner; “The Fit” by Ramsey Campbell.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories, Audiobook, Canon

335 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

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

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this on the clearance rack at Half-Price Books (go clearance rack!). I picked it up because of the Karl Edward Wagner and Manly Wade Wellman stories. Those two stories definitely met my expectations. I found it enjoyable reading overall. This is horror and weird fiction, and the "new terrors" mantle is appropriate. And it isn't the screaming scary kind of horror. It's the 'that's kind of messed up' horror, which is infinitely more chilling to this reader. This was one I read during the day and I was glad I did. These stories gave me that uneasy feeling I don't want to go to bed on, much like an overly full stomach.

This book has the first story by Robert Aickman I read, "The Stains." When I think of him now, I will think Refined British Gentleman writing, and definitely weird fiction. Nothing that I've heard about him from fans has disagreed with this description. I found that Ramsey Campbell is also a bit on the refined side, and more sinister, but equally weird.

Like most anthologies I've stumbled across, this one encouraged me to seek out more works by most of the writers included in this genre. Probably not a good thing for my pocketbook, but a great thing for my horror collection.


If you can find this and you like modern classic horror (horror from the mid-century and up to the 70s), I'd recommend picking it up, especially if you find it for a good price at your neighborhood used bookstore. Recommended.

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A horror anthology from 1980, which lived up to but did not exceed my expectations. Apparently some other editions included additional stories, but there are the ones that were in my copy:

The Stains · Robert Aickman - Long story, good build-up, quite creepy, but I thought the ending fell flat, and didn't live up to the promise... A man grieving the death of his wife meets a mysterious young woman in a remote rural area, while visiting his brother, a noted specialist in lichens.

City Fishing · Steve Rasnic - Hey, this is back before he became Steve Rasnic Tem! Plays off both stereotypes about rural hicks and urban ghettos in an interesting way, but was only OK.

Yare · Manly Wade Wellman - A folklorist is tricked into becoming a monster hunter.

A Room with a Vie · Tanith Lee - Loved this. Not strikingly original, but a nice riff on the haunted-hotel-room theme.

Tissue · Marc Laidlaw - eh, not for me. Again, a nice psychological buildup regarding the interdependence of families, but the end relies solely on physical grossness, which makes it a little weak, to me.

Without Rhyme or Reason · Peter Valentine Timlett - Really well-done story, with some nice twists. A young woman is placed as a housekeeper of sorts to an eccentric, wealthy older woman. But when she discovers how many women have preceded her in this position, her fears are stoked.

Love Me Tender · Bob Shaw - This was the only story in this anthology I'd previously read. A nice horror riff on insect mimicry, in a remote shack down in the swamp. There's a similar sci-fi story out there... which I've read at least twice, and now I have no idea what it was. Arg. I'm asking BookSleuth now...

Kevin Malone · Gene Wolfe - Thematically similar to the Timlett piece preceding it, but with shades of Beauty and the Beast. A young couple answer an ad for employment at a manor house. When they arrive, they are given anything most people would dream of... but yet, horror ensues. Well done.

Chicken Soup · Kit Reed - A story of a mama's boy gone bad...

The Pursuer · James Wade - A man is convinced he has a stalker. But is is true, or paranoia?

The Spot · Dennis Etchison & Mark Johnson - A horror story about the emptiness of the entertainment industry, and ambition. Creepy, but I didn't love it.

The Gingerbread House · Cherry Wilder - A woman goes to visit her brother, who's rented a cute cottage in Germany. All seems idyllic... but, as it turns out, the woman is anorexic, her brother's on the lam, and the house is haunted.

.220 Swift · Karl Edward Wagner - A Lovecraft-esque story of a rural town, and the beings that lurk in the forgotten tunnels underneath...

The Fit · Ramsey Campbell - A nasty witch who tries to control people by giving them handmade clothes freaks out a young man. Well, either it's the witch, or his forbidden but blossoming attraction to his aunt. Take your pick.

Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game - Stephen King. Huh. I usually like King's short stories, but this has got to be the poorest offering from him that I've read. A couple of hicks get drunk, drive around, and ambiguous weirdness ensues. It didn't do it for me.

[Imogen Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

(specifically read the stains by robert aickman! lichen yes pls)

[ItzSmashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like all horror anthologies, some stories are better than others. But other than a few exceptions, I didn't find much to enjoy in this one. Many were too short, with 6-7 pages of setup and then one paragraph of horror quickly wrapping it up. Not one I would recommend to Anthology fans.

[Graham P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my, how paperback covers like this one bring me back to those days as a kid, standing before the shelves of horror paperbacks at Walden Books, ogling at the covers and wondering what horrors were contained within. Really, a whack cover that truly doesn't justify the quality of the prose. First off, Robert Aickman's 'The Stains' is a brilliant novella, where a lonely man wanders the hills, curious at why a young, beautiful woman is collecting rocks covered in lichen. Aickman builds a surreal horror landscape with diligence and doesn't stoop to the below-the-belt grue at any point. Majestic restraint. Damn, his grey, fog-shrouded landscape is one I won't soon forget, and it's one of the best pieces in the collection. 'City Fishing' (Steve Rasnic Tem) and 'Yare' (MW Wellman) follow - and while the former is intriguing in its simplistic surreal telling (descent into hell), it doesn't crush the reader - and nor does the following with its pulp tradition boldly put to the page (zombie, legend, campfire, quick resolution). Tanith Lee's 'A Room with a View' is one of those seaside 'quiet' tales about a room in a hotel where bad things have happened, and as the main character realizes, becomes a living, breathing thing. The ending on this one is a head-scratcher. And so is the climax to the following story, 'Tissue' by Marc Laidlaw, which contains grotesque imagery concerning filial symbiotic bonds (literally). 'Chicken Soup' by Kit Reed continues the horrors of parental suffocation with a mother who refuses to leave her son's side, and that's even after a horrible accident. 'The Fit' by Ramsey himself is a cruel take on Henry Jame's 'Romance of Certain Old Clothes', and it contains some images that only Campbell can master and sneak under a reader's skin with resonating precision. After reading this story, one won't soon forget the laundry drying on the clothesline. 'Kevin Malone' by Gene Wolfe is a melodramatic stinker - like Shirley Jackson's work but so void of style and suspense, it comes across as trite, easy. Dennis Etchison's 'The Spot' is a rumination of old hollywood stars and where they go when they're no longer remembered. Some haunting images here (especially at who's in the kitchen getting dinner ready), and while there's no shortage of dread, there's a sympathetic, somewhat sad tone to the story that elevates it to the one of the best in the collection. '.220 Swift' is another classic Karl Edward Wagner tale, and after reading it, one has to think that Neil Marshall was influenced by it before making 'The Descent'. Sir Stephen King closes it all out with a head-scratcher about men drinking beers and driving shit-box cars along a desolate stretch of highway. Not bad but he sure has done better.

A fine collection of strange fiction, and while some stories fall flat, most have something uniquely different in a genre that was at its peak in the early 1980s. Don't let the awful cover fool you into thinking otherwise.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting first volume of a anthology of short stories in the horror field, representing the best known horror writers of the late 1970s/early 1980s. Most of the names you would expect are present, including Ramsey Campbell himself who also edits the anthology, Robert Aickman, Dennis Etchison, Steve Rasnic and Graham Masterton, but also some writers who straddled the fantasy field also, or are better known for their fantasy, such as Tanith Lee and Lisa Tuttle, and Joan Aiken in the children's fantasy/historical field. Some 'obvious' ones are missing, such as James Herbert, Stephen King and Guy N Smith, for example, but maybe they are in volume 2.

Given that Campbell excels in the unsettling creepy end of the horror spectrum that is mainly the tack here. Certainly not the gross out gore fest that some anthologies become, and that's my preference.

The ones I found most effective were Lee's 'Room with a Vie' which takes its premis to the logical conclusion, Joan Aiken's 'Time to Laugh' where a young schoolboy burglar gets more than he bargains for, Russell Kirk's 'Watchers at the Strait Gate' where a priest is asked by a tramp he has known for years to hear his confession, and Campbell's 'The fit' which nicely combines the growing pains of an adolescent boy with the tale of a weird old woman who is terrorising his aunt.

[Archaic Blurb · Rating 5 out of 5]

New Terrors
Edited by Ramsey Campbell
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5 stars)

Thoughts

Wao… just freaking WAO! This collection blew me away! I’m not even kidding when I say this is one of the best vintage horror short story collections I’ve ever read. Every single story in here was top-tier horror—no filler, no duds, just pure creepy goodness from start to finish.

I usually struggle with modern horror because it rarely gives me that deep, eerie vibe I’m looking for, but New Terrors? Oh man, this hit all the right notes. These stories didn’t just spook me—they stayed with me. Some were so creepy they actually gave me goosebumps while reading. That almost never happens to me!

It’s rare to find a collection where every story feels solid, but this one delivered big time. The atmosphere, the writing styles, the originality—it’s all here. I’m beyond glad I tracked down the original 1980 edition. Sure, my copy was kinda beat up, but I did my best to fix it up because it’s totally worth saving.

Now I’m super hyped to read New Terrors 2. If it’s anything like this one, I know I’m in for another dark and twisted treat. If you’re into classic horror that actually feels like horror, this one’s for you.

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[Felipe Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly good.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book Kit's Wilderness written by David Almond is a very interesting book because the author puts a dark turn on an average town. David's specific way of writing makes this book very mystical because it will take random turns from what I would have expected. For instance; when Kit moves to Stonygate he meets some new friends, "I'd only been in Stoneygate a week when Askew found me, I was alone at the edge of the wilderness, standing against the broken fence, I stared out across this new place, the wide space of beaten grass where dozens of children played." (9) then it began to take a darker turn than what I thought that it would be, the author took a dark turn and introduced the readers to the game called "Death." The beginning of the book starts off with a rather interesting introduction, "In Stoneygate there was a wilderness. It was an empty space between the houses and the river, where the ancient pit, the mine, had been. That's where we played Askew's game, the game called Death" (5).
David keeps the story flowing well, it never seems to have a dull moment even when the chapter is just about Kit's grandfather, even that is intriguing to read. Kit has a group of friends who take a main role in the book, they are explained to be happy and normal like regular children. But they play the game called Death and some of them have "Died" from this game. The game "Death" is almost the entire main focus of the novel, which makes it a dark style of writing because the cave where the kids play the game is an old mining shaft which is also a key part in the book. Overall this has to be one of my favorite books that I have ever read, I strongly suggest it to anyone who likes dark style books with some drops of happiness.