THE DEEP ONES: "The Correspondence of Cameron Thaddeus Nash" by Ramsey Campbell

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THE DEEP ONES: "The Correspondence of Cameron Thaddeus Nash" by Ramsey Campbell

2elenchus
Dic 29, 2021, 9:40 pm

In which our hero receives letters praising his writing. AT FIRST.

Pod for me, as there are no online editions.

3paradoxosalpha
Editado: Dic 29, 2021, 11:16 pm

Read in Black Wings. I thought this was a fun romp. I sort of wished Campbell (or Joshi?) had omitted the footnotes, because I was finding it pretty easy to catch all of the allusions. But I suppose not all readers can be Deep Ones. The ending still managed to be a little chilling, even with all of the cleverness that had been heaped on earlier.

4elenchus
Dic 30, 2021, 3:57 pm

Unexpectedly, I agree the ending managed to be chilling.

Listening on the podcast, Nash's correspondence quickly became farce (all his permutations on HPL's name, or the names of other Weird Tradition authors), so for much of the tale I wasn't the least bit creeped out. It was fun to try to place the allusions, and I wasn't bothered by the footnotes as I seldom recall specific titles. The tone struck was more buffoonery than Weird, though.

That changed when Nash began narrating the sensations in his skull, as unsound as any such sensations could be for humans. These eventually evolved into a synaesthetic account of sound and image, a fitting change as the narrative itself dissolved.

5RandyStafford
Dic 31, 2021, 9:42 am

Quite enjoyed this one even on a second reading. Nash has all the psychological characteristics of a stalker, but he really seems to have found something, including useful human remains, in those ancient sites he haunted.

And Campbell puts into Nash's mouth various uncharitable opinions regarding Lovecraft's work although they, are of course, seen through the eyes of a deranged man and his obsession with dreams.

6housefulofpaper
Ene 8, 2022, 7:05 pm

I nominated this story because I had read it quite recently and enjoyed it, and thought it was a little bit out of the ordinary for a Deep Ones selection. I listened to the podcast reading to refresh my memory.

What did this story have to recommend it? I suppose we're all aware of the huge volume of correspondence Lovecraft kept up during his life (I read the HPL/CAS Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill soon after it came out, and listened to some of the HPLHS' "Voluminous" podcast during lockdown). That gave some idea - or a more detailed idea than I already had - of the overlapping fan and professional worlds early years of Science Fiction and Fantasy emerging as separate and marketable genres. The story also gave Campbell scope to play with the ideas of the toxicity of fandom: stalking possessiveness, misogyny, love turning to hate, etc. I can think of real life examples in modern Fandoms, but all conducted publicly on social media (obviously there are parallels with the state of online communications and I'm sure that was one of the germs of this story).

To make it more than a disposable bit of fun, Nash of course has to turn from the initial impression of, in essence a typical British sitcom character (for the snobbish aspirations and distain for everyone around them of a Basil Fawlty, read Nash's secret knowledge derived from Dream and - grave robbing?), to a credible Cosmic Horror.

7paradoxosalpha
Ene 8, 2022, 9:50 pm

Imagining Basil Fawlty as Nash really takes this story to a new level.

:)