Ramsey Campbell's work is notable for both its focus and its breadth. His novels, short fiction, and even nonfiction always concern, in one way or another, the emotions of fear and horror. Characteristic themes weave throughout Campbell's works: the uncertain nature of reality, the dangers of repressed fears and desires, and the reactions of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Campbell has developed a strong, distinctive voice in a field where too many authors are too easily classifiable as "in the tradition of" someone else. In his Faces of Fear: Encounters with the Creators of Modern Horror (1985) Douglas E. Winter praises Campbell's "stylish sophistication and intensely suggestive vision"; Gary William Crawford writes in Ramsey Campbell (1988) that Campbell's prose "is like no other in supernatural horror fiction."

Campbell is always refining his craft. "As far as I'm concerned," Campbell stated in a 1990 interview by Stanley Wiater, "the whole business of...