Far Away & Never


Far Away & Never is a collection of fantasy stories by English author Ramsey Campbell. It was first published in trade paperback by Necronomicon Press in July 1996, and later reprinted. A new edition was issued in trade paperback and ebook by DMR Books in October 2021.

Summary

The original edition contains seven short works of fiction by the author, one originally published under a pseudonym, together with an introduction. The first six are set in his mythical world of Tond, and the first four feature his sword and sorcery hero Ryre. The second edition includes an extra story.

Contents

  • "Introduction"
  • "The Sustenance of Hoak"
  • "The Changer of Names"
  • "The Pit of Wings"
  • "The Mouths of Light"
  • "The Stages of the God"
  • "The Song at the Hub of the Garden"
  • "The Ways of Chaos"
  • "A Madness From the Vaults"

Reception

Fletcher Vredenburgh on blackgate.com finds the Ryre stories the highlights of the book, "pit a fierce wandering soldier against a variety of human villains and disturbing, original monsters," with "ach story... remarkably dark and creepy, and serv as a potent reminder that the line between S&S and horror can be very thin. In each case the central idea is one that he deemed too outrageous for the real-world horror he was writing at the time." Vredenburgh regards the other two Tond tales as "somewhat dreamy stories... redolent of Clark Ashton Smith's stories... but neither is particularly memorable." He considers the collection a "gem of a book."
Matt Cowan, noting that Campbell "has gained his fame primarily as a horror writer," regards the collection as "a rare treat to see how he handled," and "lov every minute of it." He calls the first four stories, featuring Ryre, "by far my favorites in the book," and "was sad to be done with ."

Awards

"The Changer of Names" was nominated for the 1979 British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.