Startling Proof - Ramsey Campbell Uses Sock Puppets
Julian Karswell
Unhappy that not enough of his foot soldiers from the 'Ramsey Campbell
Message Board' have turned up on Google to do his bidding, he has once
again stooped to creating sock puppets.
Ramsey Campbell:
Email address: ram...@ramsey-campbell.com
IP detail: 195.93.21.7
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.ghost-fiction/msg/1ad1b1333061d572?dmode=source
The "Death" sock puppet:
Email address: my-name-...@hotmail.com
IP detail: 195.93.21.7
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.ghost-fiction/msg/ae2c29587efaf3d9?dmode=source
I think the time has come to stop just poking fun at the paranoid old
codger on my website. A *serious* analysis is called for.
The more sensible of his fans have been pleading with him to stop
pestering me, yet he cannot stop appealing to them again and again for
support. Hence the current plague of sock puppets and troublemakers in
ABGF.
Furthermore, the hypocrisy of Campbell using his column in ALL HALLOWS
to attack other writers whilst engaging in a vendetta of sock puppetry
and calls-to-arms against someone who dares question his own abilities
is so obvious that it requires little further explanation. Campbell
quite happily stabs his peers and colleagues in the back but he reacts
with extreme hostility if anyone shows insolence in his presence.
Poor old Campbell, he isn't so much the King Of Horror as the deeply
embittered and self-appointed Queen. He reminds me of Sgt Howey, the
fool who would be king for a day, except for the fact that Howey was a
likeable chap. No, better take a being with intelligence somewhat lower
than a man's but higher than a beast, and make him look like one of
those dreadful South American bird-eating spiders, and then make him
fool for a day.
Death
Death
Ah i see, you mean a critic with some credibility should do one as well.
Julian Karswell
> I thought you had already announced plans for a serious analysis of RC.
> Ah i see, you mean a critic with some credibility should do one as well.
I would urge you to drink less wine of an evening, Mr Campbell.
CB
ram...@ramsey-campbell.com
ever (that's ever as in even once) posted under any name except my own.
sean penguin
Julian Karswell wrote:
>Hence the current plague of sock puppets and troublemakers in
> ABGF.
>
Who? You have sock puppets on the brain.
I hope you count yourself as a 'troublemaker'.
Also, do you not think that it is possible that someone who reads
Ramsey Campbells work may have more than a passing interest in ghost
fiction or Lovecraft?
Death
> You're a coward who posts anonymously Your opinion counts for nothing.
But you still seem incabable of ignoring me though.
Oh look me and RC are on at the same time.
Ramsey, what was the inspiration for Unblinking?
Death
and the same.
sean penguin
Julian Karswell wrote:
a whole bunch of irrelevant stuff.
>
> ....on my website.
My favorite bit of your site is the unlinked page with your home
address and phone number on it.
smee
> Poor old Ramsey Campbell.
>
> Unhappy that not enough of his foot soldiers from the 'Ramsey Campbell
> Message Board' have turned up on Google to do his bidding, he has once
> again stooped to creating sock puppets.
<snip>
If you weren't such a thoroughly repellent fellow, Chris, this would
really be kind of sad and embarrassing. You've posted literally
thousands of messages to various newsgroups over the years, and yet you
continue to display yourself as a proverbial newbie: even the
rudimentary elements of netiquette seem to elude your feeble grasp; you
continually misunderstand the distinction between Usenet and Google
Groups; in spite of the fact that you employ the term in so many of
your posts, you seem not to really understand what a sock puppet really
is; and -- as on previous occasions -- you now demonstrate that you
don't quite comprehend what an IP address signifies.
Yrs,
Michael
sean penguin
And before you go off on another tantrum, due to your obviously high
paranoia levels I feel I must add that is in no way meant as a threat
of any kind.
Ian
> Wrong! I'm not RC, I'm Spartacus.
"Oooh! Hello there! I'm Jules and this is my friend Sandy!"
(caution: non-British readers younger than a certain age may find this
reference obscure).
--
Ian/Julian Karsmell
Death
Christopher Roden
<my-name-...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
>Round the Horne?
Steady on, Barker'll be claiming he wrote that series next, and will
be after you for breach of copyright.
Christopher
Death
Christopher Roden
<my-name-...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
>Round the Bend?
Is that why he looks so flushed on that pic on his website, d'you
reckon?
Al Smith
> ever (that's ever as in even once) posted under any name except my own.
Some might call that imprudent. However, it is nice that your fans
can thank you for your work.
Lee Carnell
> Message Board' have turned up on Google to do his bidding, he has once
> again stooped to creating sock puppets.
>
> Ramsey Campbell:
> Email address: ram...@ramsey-campbell.com
> IP detail: 195.93.21.7
> http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.ghost-fiction/msg/1ad1b1333061d572?dmode=source
>
> The "Death" sock puppet:
> Email address: my-name-...@hotmail.com
> IP detail: 195.93.21.7
> http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.ghost-fiction/msg/ae2c29587efaf3d9?dmode=source
>
You brought this up before, the IP address is not proof of the post coming
from the same PC (at least in this case). The IP address in question resolves
to cache-los-aa07.proxy.aol.com which would be used by many, many people on AOL
as their gateway to the internet.
Hardly proof that RC uses sock-puppets,unless you like to follow O'Brien logic,
in which case it must be true because no one can categorically (except Ramsey
Campbell - and I suspect you'll be unwilling to take his word for it) prove
otherwise.
This is the second time I've pointed this out. Can we now change the thread
title
to (Un)Startling Proof - Chris Barker doesn't have a clue.
---
Lee
Julian Karswell
> I have never (that's never as in not once) created a sock puppet or
> ever (that's ever as in even once) posted under any name except my own.
That doesn't mean that someone else in your house isn't posting
messages from your shared home computer. You have a wife and grown-up
children, yes?
CB
Julian Karswell
'Death' is indeed someone using Ramsey Campbell's home pc. AOL
confirmed that it is "extremely likely" that Death is posting from RC's
home computer when I called them to discuss the issue. And they have
said there is recourse for registering a complaint if any of AOL's
protocols have been breached.
By all means, do post links to any other messages on usenet which were
sharing this very same IP address yesterday. If your claim is right,
there must be many other people all sharing the same IP address.
PS. I suggest you go have a chat with Steve Duffy about this issue too.
Someone hacked into his AOL account and used it to post abusive sock
puppet messages on the internet, a fact he freely admits. We were able
to prove that by exactly the same process.
ram...@ramsey-campbell.com
I have never (that's never as in not once) created a sock puppet or
ever (that's ever as in even once) posted under any name except my own.
I am the only person who uses this computer; my wife and daughter and
son all have computers of their own. This is the plain truth.
Lee Carnell
So which is it? Is it Ramsey Campbell or someone else who created this
sock-puppet?
You originally state that it has to be RC, now you're saying it could
be someone else, in RC's household. Next you'll be saying that it could be
anyone else in the UK.
Lee
Julian Karswell
The truth is there for all to see. You and Death share the exact same
IP numbers.
I believe AOL when they say it is 'extremely likely' that you and
'Death' are posting from the same pc. They are quite skilled at this
sort of thing. Besides, it's in your interests to deny any link with
sock puppets, isn't it?
Julian Karswell
Ian
> Round the Horne?
>
You got it! Also Beyond Our Ken.
--
Ian
Ian
Messrs Barry Took and Marty Feldman might (if
still with us) contest such a claim.....
--
Ian
Julian Karswell
In keeping with the Kenneth Williams theme, I had always had you marked
down as a customer of Barclays Bank.
RPN
Julian Karswell wrote:
> You are talking nonsense.
>
> 'Death' is indeed someone using Ramsey Campbell's home pc. AOL
> confirmed that it is "extremely likely" that Death is posting from RC's
> home computer when I called them to discuss the issue. And they have
> said there is recourse for registering a complaint if any of AOL's
> protocols have been breached.
>
> By all means, do post links to any other messages on usenet which were
> sharing this very same IP address yesterday. If your claim is right,
> there must be many other people all sharing the same IP address.
Try reading the text in the box at the top of this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:195.93.21.7
Then read it again, because you probably didn't understand it the first
time.
RPN
Christopher Roden
>
>Try reading the text in the box at the top of this page:
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:195.93.21.7
>
>Then read it again, because you probably didn't understand it the first
>time.
>
>
And then, when you've read it twice, and possibly begin to understand
what is going on, you should issue an apology to Mr Campbell.
Julian Karswell
Jesus, talk about trying to handle a bunch of slippery eels. You all
keep replying on behalf of each other and then sneak out of answering
your own questions.
Everyone knows the Wikepedia site can be sabotaged and vandalised -
that's what the warning about vandalization on the Wikepedia website
means. Furthermore, several people in this discussion group use AOL (me
included) and we don't share that very same IP number. Only RC and
Death appear to do so. And furthermore to my furthermore, when the
exact same thing happened with Steve Duffy and a sock puppet, Steve did
indeed confirm that someone he knew had been hacking into his user
account to post nasty messages.
RPN - so what is your real full name exactly? Assuming of course you
are not one of these cowardly brutes who likes throwing dirt at others
whilst keeping his own identity hidden.
Death
To clarify:
I am not Ramsey Campbell, Mrs Campbell, either of the junior Campbells,
or any pet or familiar RC may own. Nor am i in his house or even inside
his computer.
Mr Pelham
Christopher Roden
<haunte...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Jesus, talk about trying to handle a bunch of slippery eels. You all
>keep replying on behalf of each other and then sneak out of answering
>your own questions.
>
>Everyone knows the Wikepedia site can be sabotaged and vandalised -
>that's what the warning about vandalization on the Wikepedia website
>means. Furthermore, several people in this discussion group use AOL (me
>included) and we don't share that very same IP number. Only RC and
>Death appear to do so. And furthermore to my furthermore, when the
>exact same thing happened with Steve Duffy and a sock puppet, Steve did
>indeed confirm that someone he knew had been hacking into his user
>account to post nasty messages.
>
>RPN - so what is your real full name exactly? Assuming of course you
>are not one of these cowardly brutes who likes throwing dirt at others
>whilst keeping his own identity hidden.
>
>CB
>http://hauntedriver.co.uk
Jeez, you really are a prize asshole, Barker. Seeing as you're so fond
of Google, try Googling "195.93.21.7" and then come back and tell us
what you find, and how many of them are Ramsey.
RPN
One thing I have been wondering, though, is whether your e-mail address
might be a nod to the Incredible String Band song of the same name.
RPN
Death
RPN wrote:
> One thing I have been wondering, though, is whether your e-mail address
> might be a nod to the Incredible String Band song of the same name.
Nope.
Anyone else care to try?
Death
RPN wrote:
> One thing I have been wondering, though, is whether your e-mail address
> might be a nod to the Incredible String Band song of the same name.
Death
i wouldn't have a clue how to hack into anyones computer except with
an axe.
Officially are you now stalking me?
Also
Could someone clarify which of my posts are abusive?
Pelham
Death
RPN wrote:
> One thing I have been wondering, though, is whether your e-mail address
> might be a nod to the Incredible String Band song of the same name.
RPN
Julian Karswell wrote:
>
> RPN - so what is your real full name exactly? Assuming of course you
> are not one of these cowardly brutes who likes throwing dirt at others
> whilst keeping his own identity hidden.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.ghost-fiction/msg/14a78c11eabda48f
bioch...@earthlink.net
>
> Hardly proof that RC uses sock-puppets,unless you like to follow O'Brien logic,
> otherwise.
>
I'm not aware of any situation where I stated that something I said
must be true because no one can prove it false. My apologies for an
irreverent question, but to what are you referring to?
Kevin L. O'Brien
John Pelan
You're expecting a twit that believes that one can install a
"spy-camera" on someone else's computer from 3000 miles away and
routinely claims he will complain to an entity known as "Newsnet" when
someone insults him is going to understand how relays and servers
work?
Oh well, at least it will keep him from posting his screeds for a few
hours.
Cheers,
John
Al Smith
Are you bigger than a bread box?
Ian
>
....
In keeping with the Kenneth
Williams theme, I had always had you marked > down as a customer of Barclays
Bank.
>
'Fraid I don't recognize the reference - it is some forty years since
I heard the series- but given the outrageous innuendoes and double entendres
they sprinkled around, maybe that is just as well ...
Shamefully, I have to confess that I have never, at any time in my miserable
and poverty-stricken existence (for I will not dignify it with the word
"life") had sufficient money to open a bank account.
--
Ian
Julian Karswell
It was a euphemism KW used, as revealed in the diaries which were
published posthumously after his suicide.
Julian Karswell
Terrifying. He disappears for a month after learning of the following
internet notoriety but all along he's been hiding in the shadows
waiting to scurry out the moment his name is mentioned.
KLOB should be renamed Lord Volde----shh, don't mention his name.
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Kevin_L._O'Brien
(Hey Pelan - KLOB was your star witness in the ISOMEDIA scandal, wasn't
he?)
Christopher Roden
<haunte...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Terrifying. He disappears for a month after learning of the following
>internet notoriety but all along he's been hiding in the shadows
>waiting to scurry out the moment his name is mentioned.
>
>KLOB should be renamed Lord Volde----shh, don't mention his name.
>
>http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Kevin_L._O'Brien
>
>(Hey Pelan - KLOB was your star witness in the ISOMEDIA scandal, wasn't
>he?)
This is a tactic used by Mr Barker to divert attention away from the
fact that he has, once more, proven himself to be wholly inept when
tracking down sock puppets.
Christopher Roden
I'd send him here:
>http://www.rabble.ca/rpn/
A few more voices to go with the ones that are already talking in his
head.
RPN
Since I happen to have the same name as a rather well-known British
comedian-author, I'm doing my best to discourage CB from bombarding the
poor guy with aggressive e-mails. It probably won't work though.
By the way, every (or nearly every) message that CB has posted in this
thread has a different NNTP host address. Does that mean that his name
is Legion?
RPN
RPN
I was just wondering whether there might be another ISB fan about. My
second guess would be Robert Burns, but I suppose I'm not allowed more
than one.
RPN
Lee Carnell
>
> I'm not aware of any situation where I stated that something I said
> must be true because no one can prove it false. My apologies for an
> irreverent question, but to what are you referring to?
>
> Kevin L. O'Brien
No problem Kevin, I've sent you en email with an explanation.
I apologise for mentioning you name, there was no need, or reason for me to do
so.
Lee
Joey
Death wrote:
I have incontrovertible proof of Death's true identity!!
The truth is incredible! Unmasking this particular individual is going
to generate more controversy and excitement than the discovery of toe
nails at the foot of Julian Karswell's bed the other evening!
As to his motivation, well, I can only hazard a guess - ever since
his appearance opposite Max Von Sydow in Ingmar Bergman's allegorical
masterpiece 'The Seventh Seal', he has craved acceptance and a life
in the limelight!
Yes, you're beginning to see it, aren't you? The actor Bengt Ekerot
it's claimed played Death - but in truth Bengt Ekerot is a sock
puppet!! created by Julian Karswell to plague rec arts music composers
Wagner!
Death played himself!
Death is Death - which explains the ease with which he can access the
PCs of various writers, celebrities and netkooks.
To quote Death from the film: "I am."
Julian Karswell
This is rapidly descending into farce. I'm being attacked by the
Keystone Kops who are in turn being led by Mr Bean and Chief Detective
Wiggum.
This just about sums up your collective behaviour. Lee Carnell, Chris
Roden and John Pelan are so hellbent on their vendetta that they're
prepared to welcome a complete basketcase like Kevin O'Brien onto their
team. Who's next? Slobodan Milosevich? Saddam Hussain? Osama bin Laden?
It speaks volumes that John Pelan relied on O'Brien to lie for him
about the ISOMEDIA share scandal. Never has the term 'thick as thieves'
had so obvious a double meaning.
CB
"I've... launched more careers than you've had pieces of ass!"
John Pelan, ABGF 2005
Julian Karswell
I was looking at the discussion group when your post suddenly appeared
with a star rating already attributed.
Such vanity from a coward who doesn't even post under his real name.
Yet you allege that you are not part of the problem. Hmm.....
Lee Carnell
>> > You are talking nonsense.
>> >
Thanks for your "informed" opinion, it's totally wrong though.
Everything I stated is correct and accurate, unlike your wild
accusations.
> > By all means, do post links to any other messages on usenet which were
> > sharing this very same IP address yesterday. If your claim is right,
> > there must be many other people all sharing the same IP address.
I'm not going to trawl through posts to find others posting via the
same cache server, as I value my time too much for that. This is not
a tacit agreement that you are correct nor does it imply that I agree
that such a search would be fruitless.
>>
>> RPN
>
> Jesus, talk about trying to handle a bunch of slippery eels. You all
> keep replying on behalf of each other and then sneak out of answering
> your own questions.
>
Do we have to answer our own questions? (that's rhetorical)
> Everyone knows the Wikepedia site can be sabotaged and vandalised -
> that's what the warning about vandalization on the Wikepedia website
> means. Furthermore, several people in this discussion group use AOL (me
> included) and we don't share that very same IP number. Only RC and
> Death appear to do so.
Try this google...
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22195.93.21.7%22&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB
Any comments?
> And furthermore to my furthermore, when the
> exact same thing happened with Steve Duffy and a sock puppet, Steve did
> indeed confirm that someone he knew had been hacking into his user
> account to post nasty messages.
Hmmm not really the same thing that you are accusing Ramsey Campbell of though
is
it? This is quite clearly a case of two individuals posting from totally
separate accounts who use AOL and their 'traffic' is routed via the same AOL
'node'.
Lee
deep1hybrid
didn't have the salmon.
Best,
Chuck
Charles P. Zaglanis
Assistant Editor, Book of Dark Wisdom
www.darkwisdom.com
Lee Carnell
> This is rapidly descending into farce. I'm being attacked by the
> Keystone Kops who are in turn being led by Mr Bean and Chief Detective
> Wiggum.
>
Rapidly descending? Not true... this whole thread is a farce, one initiated
by you.
> This just about sums up your collective behaviour. Lee Carnell, Chris
> Roden and John Pelan are so hellbent on their vendetta that they're
> prepared to welcome a complete basketcase like Kevin O'Brien onto their
> team. Who's next? Slobodan Milosevich? Saddam Hussain? Osama bin Laden?
Kevin asked a question after I mentioned his name in - on reflection
I should not have mentioned him - it served no purpose... I then apologise.
My vendetta? I don't follow you... I initially posted to point out the
erronious and farcical nature of your original acquation. My vendetta , if
it does exist, is the very same one that you insist your strive for
- the truth!
Lee Carnell
> PLONK
>
Do the right thing and apolgise for making your false claim.
bioch...@earthlink.net
I appreciate your graciouness and I thank you, but no apology was
necessary. I was more curious than anything else.
I'll look over your email and reply later today.
Kevin L. O'Brien
Sheerluck
"Christopher Roden" <ash...@ash-tree.bc.ca> wrote in message
news:6njkv1tqi7toud87s...@4ax.com...
> On 20 Feb 2006 15:17:49 -0800, "Death"
> <my-name-...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>Round the Bend?
>
> Is that why he looks so flushed on that pic on his website, d'you
> reckon?
>
FINALLY someones getting closer to the 800lb gorilla in the room......I
refer , of course , to cb's haircut .
While I have previously commented on the taste displayed by someone so
spectacularly ill-favoured putting their picture on their website , where it
could be seen by innocent women and children , I am at a loss to understand
how someone who looks like that could possibly get a matching haircut .
Was his barber a kind soul who gave him such a trim to deflect attention
from cb's unfortunate looks ?
Was said barber a true artist , a man who attempted to capture the very
essence of cb's personality , or lack thereof , in a sort of tonsorial
warning ?
Enquiring minds want to know .
Sheerluck
Ian
> Ian wrote:
> > haunte...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > >
.......
>
> It was a euphemism KW used, as revealed in the diaries which were
> published posthumously after his suicide.
>
Euphemism and me for yous'm
(This unpardonable monstrosity was first perpetrated by Marx, who
also invented Communism. Or it may have been his brother, Groucho).
--
Ian
Ian
> Have you come about the reaping, ala "The Meaning of Life?" If so, I
> didn't have the salmon.
>
> Best,
>
> Chuck
>
>
> Charles P. Zaglanis
But ..... but you *said* you'd have the gross of crocodile eggs awaiting
collection. They must be thrown from Beachy Head by noon at the latest.
--
Ian
Death
Yes.
Death
RPN wrote:
> I was just wondering whether there might be another ISB fan about. My
> second guess would be Robert Burns, but I suppose I'm not allowed more
> than one.
>
>
> RPN
Feel free to try again. I'm surprised no one has got it yet.
Death
Joey wrote:
>
> I have incontrovertible proof of Death's true identity!!
>
> The truth is incredible! Unmasking this particular individual is going
> to generate more controversy and excitement than the discovery of toe
> nails at the foot of Julian Karswell's bed the other evening!
I doubt Karswell would be so careless with his toe nails - he wouldn't
want his enemies to get hold of them, they'd be used in black magic
rituals against him.
>
> As to his motivation, well, I can only hazard a guess - ever since
> his appearance opposite Max Von Sydow in Ingmar Bergman's allegorical
> masterpiece 'The Seventh Seal', he has craved acceptance and a life
> in the limelight!
I'd like to point out i have no interest in chess and have to send an
avatar to deal with such situations that have been brought about by
that film.
>
> Yes, you're beginning to see it, aren't you? The actor Bengt Ekerot
> it's claimed played Death - but in truth Bengt Ekerot is a sock
> puppet!! created by Julian Karswell to plague rec arts music composers
> Wagner!
Stop it - you're making me feel ill.
>
> Death played himself!
>
> Death is Death - which explains the ease with which he can access the
> PCs of various writers, celebrities and netkooks.
I am Nyarlathotep - i have many masks
>
> To quote Death from the film: "I am."
For a moment i thought you were going to break into song.
Joey
Julian Karswell wrote:
Hmm indeed. I wouldn't know how to attrbute a star rating before my
post appeared. My names's not George W Bush, nor am I his darn brother.
Anyhow that damn post was worth 5 stars, and that's what I'd have given
it!!
We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.
Winston S Churchill
Death
deep1hybrid wrote:
> Have you come about the reaping, ala "The Meaning of Life?" If so, I
> didn't have the salmon.
>
> Best,
>
> Chuck
As ye sow so shall ye reap
But in this case Chuck, you're in the clear.
Death
Lee Carnell wrote:
My vendetta , if
> it does exist, is the very same one that you insist your strive for
> - the truth!
The truth is out there - but unfortunately some of us are unable to
recognise it.
Death
Sheerluck wrote:> >
> While I have previously commented on the taste displayed by someone so
> spectacularly ill-favoured putting their picture on their website , where it
> could be seen by innocent women and children ,
Can i interest you in some parental controls for your computer, guv?
Death
RPN wrote:> By the way, every (or nearly every) message that CB has
posted in this
> thread has a different NNTP host address. Does that mean that his name
> is Legion?
The time to worry is when he posts and it has the same NNTP host
address as Ramsey and myself.
Death
Julian Karswell wrote:
>
> Such vanity from a coward who doesn't even post under his real name.
> Yet you allege that you are not part of the problem. Hmm.....
If you're interested i suspect there'll be some white feathers going
cheep before long.
Burl Veneer
<my-name-...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
>> RPN
>
>Feel free to try again. I'm surprised no one has got it yet.
Charles Birkin?
Bill B.
Death
Is the correct answer. Congratulations
John Pelan
<my-name-...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
Sir Charles: Nice to have you here, even if it be posthumously. I'm
busily assembling your third collection and I do hope the selections
will meet with your approval. There's a chap round these parts name
of Barker who seems convinced that you ate babies, could you please
correct him on this, or at failing that, supply some recipes?
Cheers,
John
Joey
ram...@ramsey-campbell.com wrote:
> I have never (that's never as in not once) created a sock puppet or
> ever (that's ever as in even once) posted under any name except my own.
I should think by now Ramsey Campbell is questioning the reality of his
existence: is he a "sock puppet", and if he is who's responsible
for all those good books and stories?
About 1990-ish I made big changes in my life and gave my regular 9-to-5
job the elbow and set out to earn a living on my own as a freelancer.
It was tough. I had a four-year-old son and no regular income. Keeping
the wolf from the door and a roof over our heads demanded 200% plus
effort.
At that time I had heard good things about, but never read any of
Ramsey Campbell's stories. I had, however, read a wonderful novel by
Jonathan Carroll called "Voice of our shadow". The point being that
for my birthday in 1990 I received a five-pound book token and, when I
went in to the local book store, I found myself confronted by a new
Jonathan Carroll (can't remember the title now) and by Ramsey
Campbell's "Needing Ghosts" (price of both was £4.50).
What to do?
I couldn't afford both.
Which one should I go for?
It was torture, extreme unadulterated torture, and I must have stood in
that shop for almost an hour trying to make up my mind.
In the end I took "Needing Ghosts" and it was a decision I've
never regretted (I've read that darn book a good half-dozen times
since and have always taken great pleasure from it).
Time passes, things change, and life becomes more settled - easier,
perhaps. Certainly more affluent. So now I have every single one of
Ramsey Campbell's novels and story collections - and ditto for
Jonathan Carroll!
Obviously very different writers but forever linked by circumstances in
my mind.
Now of course poor Mr Campbell has this crisis of identity - who is
he really? If he is who he thinks he is, could Death be logging in on
his PC?
We may never know the answer.
Some years back a British magazine titled "Skeleton Crew" (now alas
defunct) carried a bad review of a Steven King title. King was not
amused. Rumour had it he believed his work had gotten trashed because
"Crew" tended toward small press rather than mainstream publishing
- and King was very successful, very mainstream.
Strange the way things turn, but shortly after this a certain Mr Barker
arrived on the scene attacking small press publishers, certain
mainstream authors (not King you'll note) and accusing all and sundry
of being sock puppets.
Could Mr B - no, I hardly dare suggest it! Could he be a sock puppet?
Could he in reality be Mr King, hell bent on reeking havoc on those he
sees as his enemies after that damn bad review in "Crew"?
The truth, as they say, is out there somewhere.
Sheerluck
"Death" <my-name-...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1140636442....@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
sites , but I don't think such software is designed to be proof against such
obscenities as cb's appearance .
Sheerluck
Al Smith
Guess that rules out really small midgets.
Mark Gibson
> "Oooh! Hello there! I'm Jules and this is my friend Sandy!"
> (caution: non-British readers younger than a certain age may find this
> reference obscure).
> --
Oh bother, it's a misquote. Shouldn't it be "I'm Julian and this is my
friend Sandy"? From "Round the Horne", circa 1969 I think.
Walter Fordyce Golding
You are quite right. I'm too young to recall the originals but I do
remember the recent stage play.
Ian
> In rec.arts.horror.written Ian <su...@flash.net> wrote:
>
>
> > "Oooh! Hello there! I'm Jules and this is my friend Sandy!"
> > (caution: non-British readers younger than a certain age may find this
> > reference obscure).
>
> Oh bother, it's a misquote. Shouldn't it be "I'm Julian and this is my
> friend Sandy"? From "Round the Horne", circa 1969 I think.
>
Right - a deliberate misquotation though, as Mister C Barker, a consulting
detective of no fixed Baker Street address was at the time going through a
phase of calling himself something not unlike 'Julian'.
I forget the details. That thread was some time ago, and drink and the Devil
have done for the rest of my memory.
--
Ian
Hangover Square, Kensington, London, England