One of the Christmas presents I received (and have only just watched)  was the DVD release of the BBC filmed versions of M.R James Whistle and I’ll Come to You.  The  DVD is great and I enjoyed both the original and the new  interpretation, though I felt the pacing of the Miller versions better  suited the story (though I did enjoy the scrabbling fingers under the  door in the new version, a distinctly j-horror element that worked  rather well.)  

One of the extras was Ramsey Campbell reading  his story ‘The Guide’, and also a very interesting (if badly shot)  introduction by Campbell, where he talks about James, as well as his  successors, during which he reads a little of Smoke Ghost, as well as  talking about FritzLeiber and his ghost stories.   I am sure most of the readers of this site have read Ramsey  Campbell’s excellent work, if you haven’t, then rush out and buy some  now! I first discovered Ramsey Campbell in the late eighties when I purchased Dark Feasts,  which has a glorious cover.  I can think of no other author who is so  efficient at creating an unsettling mood, whose stories are both  dreamlike and pin sharp at the same time.  Dark Feasts is rammed full of fine stories and I cannot  recommend it highly enough.  He has has produced a fine array of novels  as well, from The Doll who Ate his Mother, right through to The Creatures of the Pool, which I have only just finished, and thoroughly enjoyed.

I also purchased one of Dark Regions Press beautiful editions of his new collection Holes for Faces,  which is as good as anything I have read by him, and copies are still  available. My favourite?  Probably his wonderful chap book, Needing Ghosts, a story that has stayed with me since first reading it in the early nineties. Currently working through The Three Births of Daoloth trilogy, and I highly recommend it!