The Render of the Veils is a short story written by British horror fiction author Ramsey Campbell.
Plot[]
When Kevin Gillman allows stranger Henry Fisher to share his taxi for convenience, Fisher begins to talk about occult practices, and a fascinated Gillman agrees to accompany him home to perform an unspecified ritual.
Upon reaching Fisher's home, the man explains to Gillman that he had joined a witchcraft society while at university and, while the others had been expelled once the group was discovered, he had managed to keep his membership secret, and continued with the practices he had learned there. He further explains that he had used his copy of The Revelations of Glaaki to travel to other dimensions, and in one discovered a cult of priests who told him of their god, Daoloth. Looking in to the legends of Daoloth, Fisher decided that he wished to summon the deity and have it grant him the ability to perceive things as they truly are in all dimensions, including the past and the future.
Gillman agrees to participate in the ritual, but neither man is prepared for the outcome. Despite their preparations and safeguards, the ability to see in all dimensions drives the two completely insane, and Fisher kills Gillman before taking his own life.
Characters[]
- Kevin Gillman, an average man with an interest in witchcraft.
- Henry Fisher, an occultist.
- The Priests of Daoloth, a group of religious beings.
Publication History[]
The Render of the Veils was first printed in Ramsey Campbell's short story collection The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants, and was subsequently reprinted in his collection Cold Print.
Trivia[]
- Amongst the places Fisher claims to have visited on his interdimensional travels are Yuggoth and Tond.
- The story takes place in the town of Brichester in Campbell's fictional Severn Valley, the setting for many of his Mythos contributions.
- The name of Kevin Gillman is possibly a nod to the character Walter Gilman from H. P. Lovecraft's short story The Dreams in the Witch House, in which Gilman was a researcher in non-Euclidean calculus and quantum physics.