My favourite novel of 2022 was undoubtedly Paul F. To younger readers this method of ‘research’ might come across as dated or quaint, but I found it both nostalgic and exhilarating. Back then there was no internet, instead there were telephone books, and in the case of this novel also hunting down telephone boxes, getting change for telephone calls, endless calls chasing down leads, hotel rooms with no telephones, and convoluted searches for contacts in address books or time-consuming dead ends. The plot concerns a woman researching an obscure horror film, and since it was written in 1988 this makes it incredibly different to how one might conduct similar research in 2023. I have been reading Campbell since I was a teenager, which was around the time Ancient Images was first published, but for whatever reason this was not a book I came across during my formative years, or any time since. However, mining one of the most outstanding back-catalogues in 20 th century horror fiction for rereleases such as Ancient Images, The Influence (1988) and the much more recent Three Births of Daoloth trilogy is a smart move, hopefully bringing this unique author to a younger generation of readers. As a reader I have particularly enjoyed Campbell’s association with Flame Tree Press as the blend of the old and the new fiction is nicely pitched due to the fact that this author’s current output is so strong he does not need to rely upon past glories. See our wiki for past AMAs.Over the last few years Flame Tree Press has undoubtedly become the new home-from-home for horror legend Ramsey Campbell, who have released a number of both new novels and repackaged a number of his older works, including Ancient Images, which was first published back in 1989.

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The grin of the dark by ramsey campbell