Long cited as one of the leading authors in his field, Ramsey Campbell is the internationally acclaimed horror writer hailed as an inspiration to fellow fantasist Stephen King.

Ramsey, who was himself was influenced by the work of science fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft in his early years, at one point rewrote many of his America-based stories, relocating them to the fictional Gloucestershire city of Brichester. In contrast, much of his later work is set in Merseyside, a stand-out example being his 2005 novel Secret Stories, which exemplifies and satirises Liverpudlian speech, characters, humour and culture.

The author's opinion of his early inspiration appears to have evolved over the course of the years however, as is suggested by his condemnation of his fellow writer in his 1969 essay 'Lovecraft in Retrospect', while his collection Demons by Daylight represented a complete departure from his idol's style in 1973 . But he embraced his role as Lovecraft's protege again in 1985, stating in his book Cold Print that "the first book of Lovecraft's I read made me into a writer".

Ramsey has written many supernatural novels, including Incarnate, Midnight Sun, The Overnight, and most recently Creatures of the Pool. He is a life-long film fanatic and has written several novelisations of horror films, which he published under the pseudonym Carl Dreadstone, as well as contributing various articles on horror cinema to the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural.

The Lifetime President of the British Fantasy Society, he has also penned a series of fantasy stories and works of science fiction and edited a number of anthologies

Ramsey, who still lives on Merseyside. is married to Jenny, whose father was the Australian sci fi writer A Bertram Chandler, and has two grown-up children, Tamsin and Matthew.

He reviewed films and DVDs weekly for  BBC Radio Merseyside until 2007 and continues to write a monthly film clumn for Video Watchdog magazine.

A LiveRead video of Ramsey Campbell reading an excerpt from his short story Laid Down will be broadcast on Monday 15th March. Ramsey will also be taking part in a live web chat with our readers on Tuesday 16th March.