If you have yet to read any of the Silver John stories then here is the place to start, since the short stories collected in this volume are perhaps the finest writings Wellman did about this wonderful character. "John The Balladeer" is really an expanded and updated version of "Who Fears The Devil?" but does suffer slightly from having the small vignettes from that collection grouped together, which rather lessens their impact. Although the tales of John are out of print they can easily be found on the second-hand market, with the exception of the final volume "The Voice of the Mountain" which is harder to locate. All are well worth the effort of looking.

...is that it will whet your appetite for other stories about Silver John and they're all out of print. Wellman, who lived in the Appalachians and knew their people, uses these stories to illustrate the kind of people who lived up in the 'hollers', their lore (told correctly, I suspect) and their music (correct, I know). There are some hints of something transcendent, that John may be more than just a man who 'bears some of the goodness of others of that name', and there is history woven into these accounts, but both only add depth to some well-told stories worth the reading.

Wellman's weird short fiction can be found in an amazing number of horror anthologies, but most of his books are out of print. This is a shame, because Wellman's fiction deserves a much wider audiance. After I became interested in Wellman through his Silver John stories, I looked around for more of his work, but it was hard to find. Thankfully, Night Shade Books has remedied that. This first volume collects Wellman's John Thunstone and Lee Cobbett stories, which read like supernatural film noir--all of which I completely enjoyed. Wellman really knew how to tell a story; his writing flows with beautiful simplicity. If any of these stories seem a bit familiar, it's because they've influenced a lot of other writers over the last half century. As the publisher's description accurately states, these stories could easily be seen as a template for "The X-Files." A striking, full-page illustration accompanies each of the 21 tales in this volume. A genuine treat for horror enthusiasts.

This book does not need a review. What a quality piece of work, distinguished especially by the deft editorial work of one John Pelan. Bravo!

Dead and Gone is another fine example of Manly Wade Wellman's ability to breathe life into stories from the Appalachian Mountains and surrounding communities. This collection of 10 famous murders from 1808 to 1914 reveals a time when women were idealized and men of the community mobilized rapidly to hunt down a suspected murderer or escaped prisoner. The collection covers a variety of crimes from murder for revenge to poisoning for profit. Mr. Wellman's gift for clear and finely crafted language help the reader envision the times and places he writes about. Included is the story of the murder committed by Frances Silver; Sharon McCrumb expanded on this tale in her novel The Ballad of Frankie Silver. I wish more of Mr. Wellman's books were available; so many are out of print and difficult to find. Wouldn't it be wonderful to help a new generation of readers discover the fine writing of his genius through reissues!

Wellman was one of the great American fantasists, and this series is pretty much the definitive Wellman collection. John Pelan has done a great job selecting the stories, and the book itself is of high quality. It will look good on your shelf, it will last through many readings - and you really aren't going to be able to find the original stories in paperbacks and pulps. You just want to read, and the price is quite reasonable when you think about how much time and money you'd spend on the first editions. Even reprints of this stuff are hard to track down.

It's kind of like the horror equivalent of the NESFA Press collections, like the three-volume Hal Clement omnibus - great stories that aren't easy to find, collected and presented.

Kudos to Pelan and Nightshade for giving us a great edition of hard-to-find, high quality horror. Let's hope they keep it up with other authors, I'll keep buying them.

This is the first of Wellman's Silver John books. These books capture southern folklore in rich detail. Wellman's love of history , geography , and lore are woven into a chilling tale of a neighborly dispute gone chillingly wry.

An extraordinary collection of stories that is well worth reading. If you can find the long out of print paperback collection titled John the Balladeer, you'll find the same tales.

Each one is a tale where right and justice prevail or perhaps, more accurately, where evil rebounds upon the practioner thereof. "O Ugly Bird!" is perhaps the most famous and is certainly a wonderful introduction to Silver John. "Vandy,Vandy" is among my favorites (yes, children, US quarters were made of silver at one time). "On the Hills and Everywhere" is a grand and too long ignored Christmas story.

While somewhat dated, the hero of one story is a young college student just back from the Korean war, they're are all entertaining "backwoods yarns".

Manly Wade Wellman did an immense amount of research to fit this book together so well. It's based on the stories of 5 men: George Wills, Cary Whitaker, Sim Whitaker, Johnny Beavens, and Billy Beavens; kinsman, who enlisted in the Confederate Army to fight for what they believed. Where did they go? How did they feel? What did they do day to day? What did they see? How did they live and die? It's all in there. My original interest in the book was because these men are my kinsman. A good deal of information was taken from letters that my Great-great-great Uncle George wrote to his sister, my great-great grandmother, Lucy Wills Hunter. (She's listed in the index along with bookoodles of other people who were sources of information.) I'm not a history fan but Wellman helped me to get to know these men, my kinsman. Pulling from his vast resources, he was able to fill in the gaps that are often left in history books. If this book peaked my interest in history, it's got to be good! Hey, it was nominated for a Pulitzer in 1956!

Wade Hampton was a remarkable individual. Wellman does a fairly good job of chronicalling his life, but only scratches the surface in connection with his early life, wealth (he was one of the richest men in America when war broke out) and business career. He was J.E B. Stuart's senior commander during the Civil War, and was wounded 3 times. When Stuart was killed, he took Stuart's place as Lee's calvary commander. Wellman is to be credited for a good overall look at the man, although he could have gone deeper.

Judging from the hometowns of all the other reviewers it is apparent that Wade Hampton is not a household name in any other place than South Carolina. That is a shame. His role in the southern army was crucial, especially in battles such as First Manassas, the Peninsula campaign and the last gasp ones around Petersburg (although he was never senior to JEB Stuart in command as you read above). This book is a very quick summary of a very interesting man. It makes for a great addition to your library and is definitely worth the search for this out of print book. If you fail here any Big bookstore can order you a copy.

This one of the few bios of Hampton surprised me as much as the man Hampton. Not too long, though could have been a little more in depth, and not too short--it was a fun AND illuminating read. I highly recommend it. Hampton was much more a facinating figuer than I had expected.

Disappointing in its brevity, this book is little more than a pamphlet. Despite purporting to address issues of birth order, this book provides only a few pages on the entire topic, and covers the entire realm of possible "middle" children in less than two pages, without even bothering to address the issue of gender, which are at least mentioned for other birth positions. Furthermore, it claims middle children are likely to be "confused about their identity", "less likely to take the initiative or think independently", "the lowest achievers academically and the least likely in a family to go to college", "often feel that life is unfair", "become self destructive by becoming a gang member or a petty criminal (but rarely a big-time crook). Often they will just develop annoying habits".

But don't worry, "middle" children out there, according to Dr Richardson, there is a wonderful career waiting for you as a secretary or a waiter!!! I'm not sure how this is supposed to be helpful to someone hoping to understand the impact of their family of origin.

I have been recommending this book to friends and colleagues who are struggling with family issues. It is easy to read, and yet raises very relevant and practical questions. This is the perfect bridge between the most powerful academic ideas, and practical steps for anyone to take to understand themselves, and create better relationships with their family.

There are many cases presented in the book that can help you see that what you're experiencing is common, and can be worked through. The underlying structure of the book is very solid--based on Friedman's emotional systems stuff. There is a part at the end on how to research and learn from your family history, going back several generations.

Finally, there is a fun chapter on family position. I think it is meant to be general, and taken with a grain of salt. Having said that, I've found the research on the link between family position and couple compatibility to be very interesting.

If you like this book and want more depth, read "Generation to Generation" by Edwin Friedman.

I read this book on the advice of a wonderful counselor. What I found most remarkable was that the Family Systems approach confirms the crucial importance of fathers in our lives, both as men and women. It seems that in our desire to correct the injustices commited against women by selfish and angry men, we have gone too far and ignored the fact that a father's love is vitally important for both men and women to find wholeness. This book doesn't give all the answers, but it is a step towards finding healing for our brokenness and the freedom to freely give of ourselves to loved ones, friends, and all those in need around us. A good follow up read to this book is Leanne Payne's "Crisis in Masculinity".

As a Holmes fan of long standing who enjoys a good pastiche I had high hopes for this hard to find book (and BTW what's with this USEW thing Amazon have going on? The book is called 'Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds'). And while there is certainly a flavour of H.G. Wells here there's very little of Sherlock Holmes.

Drawing from Wells' novel 'War of the Worlds' and the short story 'The Crystal Egg' the Wellmans have reworked five of their previously published short stories into a loosely constructed novel. The premise is intriguing - what if Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle's other great adventurer Professor Challenger were in London during the Martian invasion? But the fact is that do a lot of theorising, much speculating, a bit of running back and forth avoiding capture...and that's all. They spend almost the whole book away from the main action. For instance the heroes visit the scene of the first cylinder landing and the first deaths from the heat ray, then they move on without actually doing anything constructive. And this was my problem with the whole book. The heroes don't really DO anything that significantly alters events.

It's a tricky proposition given that the invaders were eventually destroyed by bacteria, not human intervention. It means that Holmes and Challenger can only suggest what might happen (eg the Martians are coming, they might be susceptible to bacteria) then congratulate themselves for being correct. Heroes, and certainly Holmes and Challenger, should being active and propel events along. Certainly the Holmes of Conan Doyle does. The versions in this story, however, do nothing but think and talk. It was frustrating to be constantly reading, willing them to DO something constructive.

Holmes' affair with Mrs Hudson is of course ludicrous to any Sherlockian and adds only a pointless romance and a reason for Holmes to see her safely out of London thus AGAIN taking him away from the action to a place where he merely receives reports of what the Martians are doing back in London. It's poor plotting and a waste of a great characters and a great idea.

For some genuinely fun and exciting Holmes pastiches in a similar vein read Loren Estleman's wonderful 'Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula' and 'Doctor Jekyll and Mr Holmes'. Particularly in the Dracula novel Estleman (a terrific writer across several genres) really solves the problem of having Holmes offstage from the main Stroker narrative yet furiously working behind the scenes to solve the case. I only wish the Wellmans had been equally creative.

Manly W. Wellman, author of the wonderful Silver John Novels and his son Wade Wellmann have written a really fun book. Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes comes across a mysterious crystal egg from the H. G. Wells short story "The Crystal Egg". He takes it to Doyle's other famous character, Professor George Challenger, best known in the novel "the lost world". The two discover that earth is about to be visited by the Martians from Wells's War of the World. The Novel follows both Holmes and Challenger as they fight to survive and even captured a Martian. There are lot of guests from the Sherlock Holmes stories including Victor Trevor,from "The Gloria Scott", and the book even continue a plot from " The Adventure of the Empty House." Parts of the Book are written by Watson and parts by Edward Malone. The only thing I did not like was the authors have Holmes having a relationship with Mrs Hudson, his Housekeeper. Over all the book is great fun and a must read for fan of both Doyle and Wells' books.

This is the best Sherlock Holmes after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle book I've ever read.It explains everything that H.G.Wells had left behind in his "War Of The Worlds" novel. Anyone who is frustrated over the latter author's loose ends must read this book!