#BlogTour-‘The Influence’ by Ramsey Campbell

About the book…

“This is a chilling work and the fullest treatment of one of Campbell’s recurring themes – the psychic violence family members wreak upon one another.” Publishers Weekly

Queenie is the ageing matriarch of the Faraday family, and even death can’t break her hold over her eleven-year-old granddaughter Rowan. She’s buried with a locket that contains a lock of Rowan’s hair, and soon afterwards Rowan is befriended by a mysterious uncannily intelligent girl of her own age. Only her aunt Hermione suspects how sinister this is, but will retrieving the locket save her niece? By the time anyone sees what effect the ghostly influence on Rowan is having, it may be too late for her. if the child who takes her place in the family isn’t Rowan, Rowan may be somewhere else not quite like our world…

Thanks to publishers Flametree Press and Anne Cater of Random Things for the blogtour invite and gifted paperback copy of ‘The Influnce’ which is re-released, with a lush new cover, in time for the Netflix movie of the same name!

The trailer to the film is at the foot of this review if you feel bold enough to watch it…

First published in 1988,’The Influence’ shows the lasting power of a good story, well told , and how it can be enjoyed and resonante decades later.

One of the joys of the Flametree reissues is discovering books that you had forgotten you had read, but unlike other relabelled writers where a reader might feel that they have been cheated into buying a new old book, this had the air of nostalgia, an ‘Ah yes! I remember reading this!’ moment ,that has grown up you recall the shivers of delight younger you felt.

This story of a family matriarch who refuses to relinquish her hold on her family is a dark , supernatural tale which neatly compares the reluctance of the elderly to leave the world when they have amassed a stranglehold of power. The older generation has always said that youth is wasted on the young, so what better way to express that than through a self styled ‘queen’ who has set her sights on her favourite niece?

And are Rowan’s family just so relieved to be out the clutches of the person who made their lives a living hell, that they do not even release Queenie is trying to sneak in through an alternative route and reclaim it?

Chilling and full of nuance about how we regard, dismiss and occasionally devour our young in an effort to maintain control and power over them, this is a story which I enjoyed even more second time around. Queenie is a true grotesque,and I defy readers not to be screaming at the book for Rowan’s family to wake up and see what is going on.

‘The Influence’ has been adapted into a Spanish language movie which simultaneously manages to update the story and show the universality of the themes Ramsey Campbell uses to such good effect. I recommend it highly!

About the author…

Ramsey Campbell was born in Liverpool in 1946 and still
lives on Merseyside. The Oxford Companion to English
Literature describes him as “Britain’s most respected living
horror writer”. He has been given more awards than any
other writer in the field, including-

The Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention,

The Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association,

The Living Legend Award of the International Horror
Guild

and

The World FantasyLifetime Achievement Award.

In 2015 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores
University for outstanding services to literature.

His novels ‘‘The Nameless’’ and ‘‘The Influence’’ have been filmed in Spain, where a film of ‘The Influence’ has been produced. He is the President of the Society of Fantastic Films.

AWARDS:
The Hungry Moon, British Fantasy Award, Best Novel,1988
Grand Master Award, World Horror Convention, Atlanta, Georgia,1999
Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association,1999
Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild,2007
A Life Achievement Award, World Fantasy Awards,2015

Links-http://randomthingsthroughmyletterbox.blogspot.com/p/services-to-publishers-authors-blog.html

Twitter @ramseycampbell1

@flametreepress

@annecater

https://youtu.be/XjhOScZ-lNc