Short Fiction
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Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, writing extensively for the pulp magazines of the day. He became known for his "Occult Detective" fiction, featuring recurring characters like Judge Pursuivant and John Thunstone, and for the stories of John the Balladeer, set in Appalachia and based on its folklore.
This collection is largely taken from stories written for Weird Tales, Comet, and Planet Stories between 1932 and 1958, and covers Wellman's horror and science fiction work. In it we have stories in which a civil war patrol stumbles onto a rural family cult; the first explorers of Venus discover that descendants of humans have been living there for centuries; a strange, charismatic man produces the manuscript for a Byron play long thought lost; and an L.A. ventriloquist gives up his partner, only to find the decision brings unintended consequences.
A collection of horror and science fiction stories by Manly Wade Wellman.
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Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer of fantasy, horror, mystery, science fiction, folklore, and regional fiction. Born in Portuguese West Africa in 1903 and raised partly in the American South, Wellman developed a lifelong interest in folk traditions, legends, supernatural belief, music, and the hidden strangeness of rural places. His work appeared in many major pulp and genre magazines, including Weird Tales, where his stories helped make him one of the memorable voices of twentieth-century weird fiction.Wellman wrote across a remarkable range. He produced science fiction, detective stories, historical fiction, comic-book scripts, juvenile books, and supernatural tales, but he is especially admired for fiction rooted in Appalachian folklore and American backwoods legend. His characters include the occult investigator Judge Pursuivant, the wandering silver-stringed guitarist John, and other figures who confront ghosts, curses, monsters, and old powers lingering in the mountains and small towns of America.Wellman's best work is distinctive because it treats folklore not as decoration, but as living material. He understood the music, speech, fears, and inherited stories of regional culture, and he brought them into weird fiction with warmth, conviction, and craft. He won major genre recognition during his career and remains a key writer for readers interested in supernatural fiction that feels deeply tied to place, oral tradition, and the older shadows beneath American life.
More by Manly Wade Wellman
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