Manly Wade Wellman was born on this day in 1903. He’s best known for his stories of John the Balladeer, a minstrel who wandered the southern mountains with his silver stringed guitar. Other series characters include the occult detective John Thunstone and Hok,
I don’t recall when I first became aware of Wellman, but it had to be in junior high or early high school. Quite possibly a John The Balladeer story in an anthology. We moved in the middle of my sophomore year, and the small town we moved to had a little second hand book shop. Among the treasures I found there (Green Lantern #1) was an almost complete run of F&SF from the mid 70s to the early 80s. Of course I bought them all.
These issues had a number of short stories by Wellman, many of them stand-alones. I devoured them over that summer between my sophomore and junior years. Wellman’s incorporation of Southern and mountain folklore was unlike anything I’d read. I’ve kept my eye out for his work ever since. Later, when Nightshade published its five volume collection of Wellman’s work, I bought those.
So tonight, after everyone goes to bed, I’ll raise a glass in Wellman’s memory and read some of his work.
Sadly, I’ve never heard of him before, but his tales seem wholly original. I’ll check them out. Thanks!
Just read the first half dozen John stories to my wife – she loved them. They really cry out to be read aloud. Such a damned fine writer.
Now I’m even more curious. Thanks.
He’s was an outstanding writer. The five Nightshade collections from the early 00’s are available from Amazon in electronic editions, but they’re priced between $10 and $20, which is a bit steep. Fortunately a number of his short stories are available in anthologies. I’ll be reviewing on e of his short stories in the next post.
Correction: The Nightshade Books are audio, which explains the price. That’s actually not a bad price for an audiobook.
Awesome! I look forward to reading it.
You romantic devil. 🙂 Wellman is one of those writers whose voice is unique enough that reading his work aloud really adds a new dimension to it.