Back Story to Ramsey Campbell's Book

In Ramsey Campbell, Probably, in order to lend him some authority on his subject, its author claims to have met Seán Manchester twice. In fact, they have barely met at all. The first occasion was accidentally being in the same studio where they appeared separately on a television programme, but, according to Manchester, did not speak. The second was when Campbell sat in an audience along with others to watch Seán Manchester speak for an hour on television. They did not meet.

Ramsey Campbell harbours considerable hostility; so much so that he libelled Seán Manchester's wife in Stefan Jaworzyn's Shock Xpress, 1 (Titan, 1991) to which Campbell made a contribution. Not only were Seán Manchester's books in print attacked and misrepresented, but the most outrageous allegations imaginable were levelled against his wife whom Campbell does not know and has never met. Seán Manchester threatened to take legal action. Titan promised to make it right, and extracted a written apology from Ramsey Campbell whose anti-Seán Manchester articles in Shock Xpress comprise some of the essays in the recently enlarged collection Ramsey Campbell, Probably (2015).

On 3 November 2015, Seán Manchester wrote to the founder of PS Publishing, Peter Crowther:

"Mr Campbell has not once consulted me to iron out anything he might require clarification on, but, according to those in touch with him on the internet, has consulted and used material provided by people with an axe to grind. Those who have apparently been most influential in my denigration all have a connection, directly or indirectly, with a man who was found guilty and sentenced to a term of imprisonment for satanic crimes at Highgate Cemetery in the 1970s. He is the source of the majority of antipathetic material where I am concerned. My being a Christian traditionalist has made me a target. All the aforementioned share a sympathy for the dark occult. Therein lies the agenda.

"I have only met Ramsey Campbell once, which was on 26 April 1990 when I featured throughout the morning on BBC’s 'Open Air' and did a concentrated interview with Eamonn Holmes around 10.00am. Mr Campbell appeared in a slot on the same morning to talk about his books that I witnessed him carefully assemble out of a case and display in readiness. However, I cannot remember any conversation taking place between us. He was totally preoccupied with arranging his paperbacks and didn’t want to be distracted, or, at least, so it seemed. The second and only other time to my knowledge that I have been in the same space as Mr Campbell was on the occasion of my Central Weekend Television appearance before a studio audience on 14 September 1990, which audience included Ramsey Campbell among its number. I did not meet Mr Campbell on that occasion, as I was the featured guest with scant opportunity to talk to any audience members. I was afterwards whisked away via the stage on which I entered

"I am puzzled, therefore, in view of this total lack of communication between us, why Mr Campbell harbours such exceptional resentment toward me."

Peter Crowther ignored a request from Seán Manchester to see the publication in question, and indeed did not respond to emails to the publisher's office or the private message from which a section appears above courtesy of its author. On November 5th, however, Seán Manchester managed to reach Crowther via the publisher's office telephone and calmly raised his concerns. He was brusquely told to speak directly to Ramsey Campbell. The publisher did not regard the matter his responsibility and, after telling Seán Manchester to buy the book, abruptly put the telephone down.

Ramsey Campbell had confirmed his conspiracy to further denigrate Seán Manchester by publishing the following comment on one of Anthony Hogg's anti-Seán Manchester Facebook hate groups:

"If I may indulge in self-promotion, this considerably expanded and revised reprint includes a longer Highgate Vampire piece, thanks to both Anthony Hogg and Carl Ford, who supplied me with rare material I'd previously overlooked."