Kalteldur

The early Lovecraftian universe
of Ramsey Campbell

As mentioned earlier, I have always been a die-hard Lovecraft fan. I´m also a great admire of those who carried his legacy after his death. One of those was a teenager named Ramsey Campbell, who did his first Lovecraft inspired tales in the 60s. He submitted his stories to August Derleth (Who ran Arkham House), who in return told Ramsey to change his settings to the English countryside (Instead of Lovecraft´s Massachusetts setting). He then went around and invented the place named Severn Valley, a setting of several fictional towns and other locations. Some of the hot spots described here.

"Brichester is the main town of Campbell's Severn Valley, the setting of several tales and often a background element of stories that take place elsewhere. (It plays the same role in Campbell's stories that Arkham does in Lovecraft's.)"

"Goatswood, first described in the short story "The Moon-Lens," is an isolated town surrounded by woods to the east of Brichester. The narrator of that story is struck by the town's atmosphere: "The close-set dull-red roofs, the narrow streets, the encircling forests—all seemed somehow furtive." As in Lovecraft's Innsmouth, the residents of Goatswood have a distinctive, offputting appearance; a typical resident is described as "revoltingly goatlike," resembling "a medieval woodcut of a satyr," and clad in "grotesquely voluminous" garments. Instead of worshiping a race of monsters from the sea (the Deep Ones), however, they worship Shub-Niggurath."

"Clotton, the scene of Campbell's "Dunwich Horror" pastiche, "The Horror From the Bridge", is a small town set where the river Ton flows into the Severn. Only a "few leaning red-brick houses... remain of the uptown section of the once-prosperous town;" the rest of the town was deliberately destroyed in 1931, for reasons explained in the story. In "The Horror Under Warrendown," Clotton is mentioned as "a small settlement which appeared to be largely abandoned, its few occupied houses huddling together on each side of a river." The story notes the town's "stagnant almost reptilian smell and chilly haze."

There are other interesting spots like Temphill, Camside, Mercy Hill. And let it be told, the area is crawling and haunted by several Great Old Ones (Glaaki, Byatis, Y´golonac, Eihort), evil aliens like the Fungi From Yuggoth and the Insects of Shaggai and off course various mentally twisted personalities, who deals in evil magical arts and archaic tombs.

Glaaki

In Cthulhu Mythos fiction, Glaaki is a Great Old One and dwells within a lake in the Severn Valley near Brichester, in England (though he has been reported in other lakes around the world). Glaaki has the appearance of an enormous slug covered with metallic spines which, despite their appearance, are actually organic growths. Glaaki can also extrude tentacles with eyes at the tips, allowing him to peer from underneath the water. It is believed that he came to the Earth imprisoned inside a meteor. When the meteor landed, Glaaki was freed, and the impact created the lake where he now resides.

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Byatis

Byatis, the serpent-bearded, the god of forgetfulness, came with the Great Old Ones from the stars, called by obeisances made to his image, which was brought by the Deep Ones to Earth. He may be called by the touching of his image by a living being. His gaze brings darkness on the mind; and it is said that those who look upon his eye will be forced to walk into his clutches. He feasts upon those who stray to him, and from those upon whom he feasts he draws a part of their vitality.

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Y´Gonolac

Beyond a gulf in the subterranean night a passage leads to a wall of massive bricks, and beyond the wall rises Y'golonac to be served by the tattered eyeless figures of the dark. Long has he slept beyond the wall, and those which crawl over the bricks scuttle across his body never knowing it to be Y'golonac; but when his name is spoken or read he comes forth to be worshipped or to feed and take on the shape and soul of those he feeds upon. For those who read of evil and search for its form within their minds call forth evil, and so may Y'golonac return to walk among men . . .

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Eihort

Eihort lives within a network of tunnels deep beneath the Severn Valley, in England. It appears as a "bloated blanched oval, supported on a myriad of fleshless legs" with eyes continuously forming in its gelatinous body. When it captures a human, it offers the captive a "bargain". If the captive refuses, Eihort rams the victim violently to death. If the captive accepts the offer, the horror implants its immature "brood" inside the victim's body. The brood will eventually mature, and kill their host. According to the Revelations of Glaaki, after the fall of humanity, Eihort's brood will be born into light.[1

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I would at anytime, recommend any Lovecraft fan to get into the early works of Ramsey Campbell. Best place for you to start, would be The Inhabitant of the Lake & Other Unwelcome Tenants. This contains the whole of his first published book, but also the previously unpublished first drafts of several stories, and it also restores the book's original title, which was changed by mistake.

I would also recommend having The Cthulhy Mythos Encyclopdia by your side (Everything in Severn Valley can be looked up in this great book!).

If you wanna go all the way you should check up on Visions from Brichester, it collects ALL his mythos tales in a beautiful hardcover edition. You can even get a signed copy in a slipcase, right here :

http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/visions-from-brichester-hardcover-by-ramsey-campbell-3452-p.asp

IF that´s not enough then there is off course the tribute book Made In Goatswood, with new and old writers doing their part to further expand the horrific tales of Severn Valley.

As with Lovecraft, there have been TONS of musicians who have given their tribute to the great master (Fields of the Nephlim, Metallica, Endvra exc). No one has done a track about Campbell´s mythos yet. All that I can find, is that in the Campbell´s tribute book Made In Goatswood there is a interesting sort of tribute (in the sense of music that is). Scott David Aniolowski (Who is a well known writer and leading editor of Lovecraftian literature) does a strange story called I Dream Of Wires. Which is interesting, unique and .. Weird? .. Well, he more or less takes the nightmarish cyberpunk universe of Tubeway Arny and puts it in a futuristic Brichester. I love the lyrics of the Tubeway Army, sadly Numan is writing poor lyrics for small angst ridden goth teenagers these days. Those Tubeway Army lyrics, has a Lovecraftian-Burroughs and Kafka taste to it!.. Well to wrap it up, i´ll end this with a lovely extended early version of Tubeway Army´s haunting piece Down In The Park .. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!