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While this collection, like all in the Chaosium Cycle Series, suffers from rather slipshod editing and proofing, it is a very good anthology all the same. Campbell's uniquely crafted setting in the Severn Valley and Goatswood lends these stories an excellent backdrop that the anthology authors use to great advantage.There is a distinctly different flavour in Campbell's Mythos works than you find in Lovecraft's, and the majority of these stories really run with it, to the benefit of the reader.Pe...
Not super impressed. Basically a Ramsey Campbell "tribute album": a collection of short stories by different authors set in his "Severn Valley." More than half of the stories are Mythos-y; on the other hand, at least a quarter of the stories are just generic horror and could have been set elsewhere as easily as in the Severn Valley region. Mostly competent but nothing great. 2.5 stars.
I bought this collection when it first came out in the 1990s but only really started dipping into it recently. I've always been a fan of Ramsey Campbell's Cthulhu Mythos setting and his writing so it was a natural purchase. In truth the collection is hit and miss. There are a few stories that were obviously rewritten to fit the Severn Valley setting and (to put it bluntly) some dross as well. However, on the whole, it isn't a really bad lot. A good many of the stories start out really well but h...
I generally think these old collections from Chaosium are gems, one and all, from Howard's Nameless Cults collection, to the unsurpassed Encyclopedia Cthulhiana. This collection here, in honor of Ramsay Campbell, seems to be an exception. Don't get me wrong, the stories do meet all the criteria of decent storytelling, and a few are truly, truly good. However, the setting of Goatswood and / or the surrounding Severn Valley area are mostly used in a sort of token manner, for completely unrelated t...
My favorite Ramsey Campbell stories suggest rather than explain, and steer clear of cheesy cliches. I can't say the same for a lot of this collection. For example,How could such a thing be? I wondered. Whose souls were these? Were they the immortal parts of residents of the Severn Valley, the souls perhaps of local residents who had died, and been trapped here in this bizarre limbo, neither attaining heaven nor being consigned to hell?Ouch.
Great volume of Campbellian stories providing a nice variety of creepy and atmospheric tales all taking place in Campbell’s Severn Valley. The capstone on this collection is the fun tale “The Horror Under Warrendown” by Campbell himself. A nice read for Mythos fans.
A collection of stories based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. These are, to me, only slightly better than the original Lovecraft stories. Just not a fan of his writings. Not recommended