Today, May 21, marks the birth of Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986). Much Wellman’s work incorporated the folklore of the Southern Mountains. Wellman is best remembered for his stories of John the Balladeer, but he wrote a number of stories in mountain settings that weren’t part of that series.

Worse Things Waiting was Wellman’s first non-John the Balladeer collection. It was published by the legendary Carcosa. It’s the only Carcosa title I don’t have in the original edition. Fortunately it has been reprinted in trade paper at a reasonable price, as has Lonely Vigils. The new publisher is Shadowridge Press. For today’s post, I’m going to look at three stories from Worse Things Waiting.

“The Undead Soldier” is a short tale of a man who takes shelter in an abandoned cabin in a blizzard. While pulling up floorboards to make a fire, he finds a cache consisting of a dime novel and two newspaper clippings. They appear to describe a soldier who has a taste for human flesh and blood that can’t be killed. This story was first published as “The Horror Undying” in the May 1936 issue of Weird Tales. Wellman revised the story for this publication; Farnsworth Wright made him give the story a happy ending. Even though the ending was a little predictable, Wellman kept me reading all the way to the original unhappy ending.

“The Pineys” was my favorite of the three stories I’m looking at. It was originally published in the September 1950 issue of Weird Tales. It’s narrated by a young man who was hitchhiking along a back country road. He’s picked up a scientist who, accompanied by his lovely young assistant, are looking for a grove of pines. The scientist is researching ways to grow a certain variety of pine in order to produce more yields for the logging industry.

Much of the story concerns creatures known as the Pineys. They are said to inhabit the grove where the trio are camping. Twice before getting there, they ask directions and get a decidedly frosty response. This one was a mature writer writing at the top of his game.

“The Kelpie” (WT July 36) is probably the shortest piece of the three considered here. It concerns jealousy, mainly the jealousy a kelpie feels for her rival. Wellman revised this story as well. I found it darkly satisfying.

I have to wonder how different the versions published by WT are from Wellman’s preferred. Of courses, I’ve got electronic copies of the original run of WT, so I may check out the differences later this evening.

These stories were all quite enjoyable. Night Shade Books  published a five volume set of Wellman’s short fiction from 2000-2003. Sadly, those books are long out of print. I’m thankful to Shadowridge Press for bring Worse Things Waiting back into print. Wellman was one of the best writers of the strange and macabre of the 20th Century. He was also, in my opinion, one of the most important. He had a unique voice that deserves to be kept in print and his works remembered.