Demons by Daylight is a collection of stories by author Ramsey Campbell

Ramsey Campbell

John Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...

. Released in 1973

1973 in literature

The year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...

, it was the author's second short-story collection, after The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants

The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants

The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by British author J. Ramsey Campbell, who dropped the initial from his name in subsequent publications. It was released in 1964 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,009 copies and was the author's...

. Like the earlier book, it was published by Arkham House

Arkham House

Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...

. It was published in an edition totaling 3,472 copies and with dust jacket art commissioned by Campbell.

It has since appeared in a number of reprint editions, including a 1990 Carroll & Graf paperback.

Critical response

The book's first appearance induced T. E. D. Klein

T. E. D. Klein

Theodore "Eibon" Donald Klein is an American horror writer and editor.Klein has published very few works, but they have all achieved positive notice for their meticulous construction and subtle use of horror: critic S. T...

 to write a highly positive review, "Ramsey Campbell: An Appreciation", and critic S. T. Joshi

S. T. Joshi

Sunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, novelist, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction...

 has stated that:

its ... allusiveness of narration; careful, at times even obsessive focusing on the fleeting sensations and psychological processes of characters; an aggressively modern setting that allows commentary on social, cultural and political issues - all conjoin to make Demons by Daylight perhaps the most important book of horror fiction since Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

's The Outsider and Others

The Outsider and Others

The Outsider and Others is a collection of stories by author H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in 1939 and was the first book published by Arkham House. 1,268 copies were printed. The volume is named for the Lovecraft short story "The Outsider"....

.

Contents

Demons by Daylight contains the following stories, grouped into three sections:

1. Nightmares
   • "Potential"
   • "The End of a Summer's Day"
   • "At First Sight"
2. Errol Undercliffe: a tribute
   • "The Franklyn Paragraphs"
   • "The Interloper" (as by Errol Undercliffe)
3. Relationships
   • "The Sentinels"
   • "The Guy"
   • "The Old Horns"
   • "The Lost"
   • "The Stocking"
   • "The Second Staircase"
   • "Concussion"
   • "The Enchanted Fruit"
   • "Made in Goatswood"

Reprints

• London: Star, 1975.
• New York: Jove/HBJ, 1979 (slightly different contents).
• New York: Carroll & Graf, 1990.