The Devil is Not Mocked, and Other Warnings

The Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman #Vol. 2

by Manly Wade Wellman

Wellman's work will be remembered, and should be preserved because it combines the dark gothic tradition of the American pulps with a detailed snapshot of regional history and culture. This mixture is shown through the lens of the American modernist tradition, revealing something that is larger than the sum of its parts.

Volume two of a five volume set collecting all of Wellman's Appalachian fantasy stories.

Contents:
• The Devil is Not Mocked
• The Pineys
• Hundred Years Gone
• Where the Woodbine Twineth
• Keep Me Away
• Come into My Parlor
• Yare
• Chorazin
• The Petey Car
• Along About Sundown
• What of the Night
• Rock, Rock
• Lamia
• Caretaker
• The Ghastly Priest Doth Reign
• Goodman's Place
• Frogfather
• Dhoh
• Warrior in Darkness
• Young-Man-With-Skull-At-His-Ear
• Vigil
• The Kelpie
• Parthenope
• The Theater Upstairs
• Ever the Faith Endures
• Dead Dog
• The Cavern
• At the Bend of the Trail

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Collections, Folklore

343 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[Shawn]

Placeholder review - I don't own a copy of this, but I'm reading a number of stories contained in it from scans of their original magazine appearances, and I needed to put the review somewhere.

"Come Into My Parlor" - Wellman reuses the concept of the "gardinel" he introduced in "Sin's Doorway" (see review in The Selected Stories, Vol. 4: Sin's Doorway and Other Ominous Entrances but in a slightly different way. A botanist who specializes in carnivorous plants goes out into the swamp to gather some pitcher plants and runs across a strange house that, when entered, proves difficult to leave... I liked this, it's a solid (if easy) monster story. Unlike in "Sin's Doorway" where "gardinels" seemed more a creation of black magic, here they seem like biological entities that lurk in swamps. Fun!

[Finn Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of really good here but in a collection it kind of gets repetitive

[Stewart Tame · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume two of Night Shade Books' five volume collection of Wellman's short stories. Unlike volume one, there are no continuing characters linking any of them together. A fellow by the name of Hal Stryker shows up on a few, but that's about it. These are all otherwise standalone tales. Original publication dates range from 1934 ("At the Bend of the Trail") to 1983 ("Along About Sundown.") They're not arranged chronologically, though. Usually my first clue that a story was from the 40's or earlier was if I encountered a character who was either female or non-white and the portrayal prompted me to think, "Wow! That wouldn't fly by today's standards." It's fascinating to see societal shifts over time like that.

Paying closer attention to the publication dates also allows us to see Wellman's writing skills improve over the years. His settings for his earlier stories seem to be all over the world, gradually shifting more exclusively to the American backwoods settings he became known for. We see the shared lore of his stories developing and deepening–"Come Into My Parlor" seems to be the first appearance of a gardinel, for instance.

The first story in the book, "The Devil Is Not Mocked," made me smile. A squadron of German soldiers in Transylvania during WWII are directed to a nearby castle by the locals to use as a base of operations. I don't think it's revealing too much to say that it doesn't work out for them as well as they expect. I saw the ending coming from a mile away, as, likely, will you. But it's a very satisfying journey getting there, and just a fun story in general.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic weird tales of Manly Wade Wellman at his best. And there’s plenty of warnings to go around. If you ever read John Thunstone and John the Balladeer stories, you’d certainly meet those weird horrors again like the Gardinals, or certain people whose third finger is longer than the middle finger. Some stories have sequels of sorts like certain characters appeared in one tale then appeared in another. Several of them have very scary moments, as well as weird ones. Strongly recommended.

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasing collection of Wellman's largely unrelated stories, much stronger in his later works of Appalachian devils, superstitions and folk tales than in the early, fledging work of the 1930s, which are quite rote and often predictable. Interesting to see recurring characters, undeveloped, in stories bearing some resemblance to those of John the Balladeer.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not as purely enjoyable as the Wellman Silver John collection 'Owls Hoot in the Daytime', these short stories are full of interesting ideas, creepy folklore, and the author's firm grasp on regional authenticity. I tended to like the tales published from the 30's - 50's more than the later work, but there were no outright duds. Once again, Brian Troxell's narration was spot on.

[Robert Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strong collection of great American Folk Horror. Some stories, like the title one, have unusual settings for Wellman, but his writing is as strong and suspenseful as ever.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

During my first reading in 2004 (?!) I had rushed through these stories, but this time I had savoured them slowly, so that the heady mix of fast pace and the exquisite southern flavour can be better appreciated. Hidden, between the hard covers of this book, lie several jewels of weird fiction, most famous of them being the titular story where a Nazi General meets his comeuppance at the hand of a certain Count inhabiting the "Devil's Castle" in Transylvania. Apart from him, we come across witches, familiars, demons, evil spirits, aliens (?!), evil creepers (one of them unparalleled in fiction in its villainy), devil-worshipers (deliberate or unintended), and everything in the unique voice of Manly Wade Wellman, which is gentle, grave, powerful and yet piercingly effective.

I solemnly wish that the Night Shade Press would be persuaded to reprint this volume, or to issue it in Paperback format, so that a far larger readership gets the opportunity to appreciate the genius of Manly Wade Wellman.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd actually read many of these stories elsewhere, several of them in Worse Things Waiting, but I took the opportunity to read a few of Wellman's stories that were new to me, such as "The Ghastly Priest Doth Reign" and "The Theater Upstairs."

[Chas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of horror stories from one of the best pulp writers of all time. Many of these stories are from the '70s and '80s and quite late in Wellman's career, when he experienced a kind of second wind. Some of them, too, are from the '30s through the '50s, when Wellman was still discovering his voice and just about all of them are set in appalachia and the country -- the locale for which Wellman is most of famous, and rightfully so.