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Blackwater #4-6
Blackwater, Vol. 2: The War / The Fortune / Rain
An omnibus of the second three books in the series: The War, The Fortune, and Rain.
Book club edition.
Book club edition.
- GenresHorrorCollections
402 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
2 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Michael McDowell
73 books2,094 followersMichael McDowell is a prolific horror writer who has distinguished himself with a varied body of work within the genre. He was born in Enterprise, Alabama, in 1950 and died of AIDS-related illness in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1999.
His first horror novel, The Amulet, relates the tragedies that befall various individuals who come in possession of a supernatural pendant in a small town.
In McDowell's second novel, Cold Moon Over Babylon, a murdered woman's corpse is dispatched into a river, but her spirit roams the land, and in the evening hours it seeks revenge on her killer even as he plots the demise of her surviving relatives.
Don D'Ammassa, writing in the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers, noted that McDowell's ability to maintain a sense of mundane normalcy against supernatural activity provides the novel with "a fine balance between reality and unreality," and he called Cold Moon Over Babylon "one of the best ghost stories ever written at novel length."
A similarly disturbing tension between dull reality and the supernatural is produced in The Elementals, wherein a host of visitors come to stay at a secluded house occupied by embodiments of elemental forces.
McDowell's Katie, meanwhile, concerns a clairvoyant serial killer whose powers of perception enable her to evade her trackers. The attractive but deranged heroine of this novel manages to conduct her murderous activities despite the awareness of her parents, who are content to derive financial gain from their daughter's crimes.
Madness is central to McDowell's Toplin, which details the vile imaginings of a man who suffers from mental illness but nonetheless determines to conduct himself within society. D'Ammassa praised Toplin as "perhaps the best novel ever written from the point of view of a schizophrenic."
Among McDowell's other writings is the six-part serial novel Blackwater, a chronicle of a southern family drawn to the supernatural. In addition, McDowell has also supplied the screenplays for various films, including director Tim Burton's horror comedy Beetlejuice and his animated production The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Stephen King called McDowell one of the "finest writers of paperback originals in America today." Tabitha King was asked to complete McDowell's unfinished novel Candles Burning, which was published in 2006 to good reviews. Concerning his career, McDowell never tried to be something he wasn't. "I am a commercial writer and I'm proud of that", he said in the book Faces of Fear in 1985. "I am writing things to be put in the bookstore next month. I think it is a mistake to try to write for the ages."
His first horror novel, The Amulet, relates the tragedies that befall various individuals who come in possession of a supernatural pendant in a small town.
In McDowell's second novel, Cold Moon Over Babylon, a murdered woman's corpse is dispatched into a river, but her spirit roams the land, and in the evening hours it seeks revenge on her killer even as he plots the demise of her surviving relatives.
Don D'Ammassa, writing in the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers, noted that McDowell's ability to maintain a sense of mundane normalcy against supernatural activity provides the novel with "a fine balance between reality and unreality," and he called Cold Moon Over Babylon "one of the best ghost stories ever written at novel length."
A similarly disturbing tension between dull reality and the supernatural is produced in The Elementals, wherein a host of visitors come to stay at a secluded house occupied by embodiments of elemental forces.
McDowell's Katie, meanwhile, concerns a clairvoyant serial killer whose powers of perception enable her to evade her trackers. The attractive but deranged heroine of this novel manages to conduct her murderous activities despite the awareness of her parents, who are content to derive financial gain from their daughter's crimes.
Madness is central to McDowell's Toplin, which details the vile imaginings of a man who suffers from mental illness but nonetheless determines to conduct himself within society. D'Ammassa praised Toplin as "perhaps the best novel ever written from the point of view of a schizophrenic."
Among McDowell's other writings is the six-part serial novel Blackwater, a chronicle of a southern family drawn to the supernatural. In addition, McDowell has also supplied the screenplays for various films, including director Tim Burton's horror comedy Beetlejuice and his animated production The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Stephen King called McDowell one of the "finest writers of paperback originals in America today." Tabitha King was asked to complete McDowell's unfinished novel Candles Burning, which was published in 2006 to good reviews. Concerning his career, McDowell never tried to be something he wasn't. "I am a commercial writer and I'm proud of that", he said in the book Faces of Fear in 1985. "I am writing things to be put in the bookstore next month. I think it is a mistake to try to write for the ages."
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 15, 2017
"Miss Elinore say to me, long time ago, 'Zaddie, that levee gone hold up till I die, and then that water gone wash this town away.'"
Blackwater has forever carved a place for Southern Gothic in my heart. The second half of the Saga was less subtle, the family war is over and dynasty begins. The river calls and new Casky's answer.
It's over, and that hurts, but it ended pitch perfect.
"... but his own gaze never moved from the open window through which they climbed. And what he saw there through that window made him weep as he paddled away."
Oh Perdido! I already miss you and promise to one day return.
November 11, 2014
I read each title of the Michael McDowell's Southern Gothic Blackwater series individually.
There was not a weak point in the entire series. From the opening scene of Elinor's rescue in "The Flood" to the final dark scene in "Rain", McDowell stayed true to his theme.
I think it says a lot of a series when, finishing six books, you wish there was more. That is where I am with the Blackwater series.
5 STARS
There was not a weak point in the entire series. From the opening scene of Elinor's rescue in "The Flood" to the final dark scene in "Rain", McDowell stayed true to his theme.
I think it says a lot of a series when, finishing six books, you wish there was more. That is where I am with the Blackwater series.
5 STARS
September 28, 2020
This is the back half of the saga and goes from WW2 and to the oil rig Dynasty 70s. As promised in the first five books, everything gets washed out in grand style.
January 24, 2018
Truly a Southern Gothic epic, replete with generations of likable characters, vengeful ghosts and an amphibian femme fatale. This wonderful novel, first published in serial format, has received new interest thanks to Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction. And now Valancourt rewards us all with a lovely new collected edition! My reviews for each of the latter three installments can be found below:
The War
The Fortune
Rain
The War
The Fortune
Rain
May 24, 2020
I enjoyed this book more than Volume 1. That’s probably because Mary-Love died in the first book. The description really pushes this as a horror book. It’s just a book about a family with a little horror on the side.
October 20, 2024
Incredible. Didn't want it to end
February 24, 2025
Falta el 6 de la saga moderna y he puesto este
May 3, 2017
I liked the series
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews