The Third Cry to Legba, and Other Invocations

The Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman #Vol. 1

by Manly Wade Wellman, John Pelan (Introduction), Kenneth Waters (Illustrations)

Volume 1 of The Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman, Third Cry to Legba and Other Invocations collects Wellman's John Thunstone and Lee Cobbett stories. These stories (written between 1943 and 1979) combine the mystical and horrific with traditional southern folk tales and legends. At the same time, these stories reveal a post World War 2 modernism that make them much more then pulp romanticism. The paranoia and cynicism of modern weird icons such as the X-Files may well have had their genesis in the pulp musings of Manly Wade Wellman. Indeed the intensely driven, idealistic occult investigator John Thunstone could be a pulp/noir stand in for Fox Mulder.

With 24 illustrations. Edited by John Pelan, illustrated by Kenneth Waters.

Contents:
• Introduction
• The Third Cry to Legba
• The Golden Goblins
• Hoofs
• The Letters of Cold Fire
• John Thunstone's Inheritance
• Sorcery from Thule
• The Dead Man's Hand
• Thorne of the Threshold
• The Shonokins
• Blood from a Stone
• The Dai Sword
• Twice Cursed
• Shonokin Town
• The Leonard Rondache
• The Last Grave of Lill Warren
• Rouse Him Not
• The Dakwa
• The Beasts that Perish
• Willow He Walk
• A Witch for All Seasons
• Chastel

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Audiobook, Pulp, Collections

305 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[Lizz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

“It’s dark now,” he said. “Time for strange things to stir.”

This volume includes all the John Thunstone and Lee Corbet stories. Wellman describes Thunstone as large and rectangular and Corbet as large and square, but both of them have a single-minded desire to destroy evil. These men have total faith and strength of will. It’s honestly pretty refreshing.

What I love about Wellman is the thoroughness of his imagination based on the thoroughness of his research. The man was a folklorist, a historian, an unsung cultural icon of American letters.

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent horror stories that stand out from similar collections by the infusion of folk magic and legend. I have to admit, though, I much prefer Lovecraft's darker, more hopeless tone to Wellman's lighter approach.

Also, some of Wellman's research is kind of funny. Legba and the Barons are the same deity? I don't think so, Wade. When werewolves die they become vampires? Double threat!

[Stewart Tame · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manly Wade Wellman isn't as well known as he should be. Suffice to say that, in reading a certain number of SF, Fantasy, and/or Horror themed anthologies–particularly older ones–one will inevitably encounter his work. Most likely it will be one of the stories featuring a man named John wandering the Appalachians with a silver-stringed guitar. Certainly that was how I first learned to recognize his work. Our local library had some novels that he wrote, which I devoured eagerly, and I began to seek out his work in used bookstores. I gazed wistfully at the two volumes of his short stories that Carcosa House published, but they were (and still are) well outside my window of affordability.

So when Night Shade Books began publishing their collections of his work, you'd better believe I snapped them up as they were released. This first volume focuses on two of his series characters: John Thunstone and Lee Cobbett. Wellman liked to write occult detectives of various sorts, and wrote multiple series of short stories featuring them, sometimes even having them cross paths. There are casual references in some of the stories, for instance, to Judge Pursuivant, another of his series characters. The final story in the book, "Chastel," is more of a Lee Cobbett/Judge Pursuivant team up than a Cobbett solo adventure.

Wellman, who was something of an authority on Southern and Appalachian history and folklore, wrote what, to my hazy understanding, would be considered "folk horror." Although he started out writing for Weird Tales in the 30's and 40's, he never fell under the sway of Lovecraft and his followers. His stories frequently feature rustic settings, and evil is often dispatched with silver, crosses, and natural herbs and materials. Folkways, sincerity, and an honest heart will prevail in the end.

The earliest copyright here is 1943 ("The Third Cry to Legba") and the most recent is 1982 ("Rouse Him Not"). Most of the stories feature Thunstone. Cobbett wasn't created until the 70's, and Wellman didn't have as much time to write stories for him before passing away.

It's difficult to articulate why I enjoy Wellman's work so much. There's just something about it that I find deeply satisfying. Highly recommended!

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today, after reading this old favourite a second time, I was thrilled afresh about the simplicity & power of words written by this old master. His stories involving the adventures of John Thunstone and Lee Cobbett may be called formulaic & predictable, the antagonists might be the familiar villains (vampires, witches, sorcerors, demons, etc.), but every story had that solid weight of authenticity (lent by the southern folklore & mythology, undoubtedly) which is missed by so many of the modern practitioners. If you still have not read this book, at least try to get hold of the stories in some other versions (since this Hard Cover printed by Night Shade Books seem to have gone out-of-print), and enjoy them over dark evenings and darker nights.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Manly Wade Wellman, though, prior to this, I'd only read a bare handful of his stuff. Reading The Crooked Man recently put me in the mood to finally track down some of these excellent Nightshade editions of Wellman's stuff, and I am very glad I did.

While I didn't like the stories in this volume quite as much as some of the other Wellman I've read, they were still great pulp stories. These are all John Thunston and Lee Cobbett stories, and I found myself not terribly taken with Thunstone, which probably impaired my enjoyment somewhat. That said, like many of the other great Weird Tales authors, Wellman is always inspiring.

Of personal interest to me were some of the subtler parallels between Wellman's work and Mike Mignola's. Mignola has always cited Wellman as an influence, and obviously The Crooked Man is directly inspired by his Silver John stories, but there are other notes that ring familiar when reading through the stories in this volume. The ways the stories start out with the protagonists responding to some call or letter to solve a supernatural problem, for example, are very reminiscent of Hellboy short stories (or, I guess, the other way around).

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite collection of Wellman's stories; John Thunstone is likewise my favorite Wellman character, and I only wish we had more of his tales. Wellman is a must read for those who love supernatural thrillers and southern Appalachian literature.

[Mickey Schulz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The majority of this volume from Nightshade Press are John Thunstone stories. Ok, so his attitudes towards women are more than a little indicative of the times in which they were written, they're still gripping stories.

[Shawn]

PLACEHOLDER REVIEW: - I don't own this, but as I'm reading a number of Wellman stories from their original magazine appearances, I needed a place to put the review.

"A Witch For All Seasons" - A man confronts a witch who wants to tempt him over to the dark side, but her plans are fatally "mistimed." The first appearance of Wellman's 70s era series character Lee Cobbett (Judge Pursuivant gets a passing mention), this is honestly a slight little thing, with the expected solid writing (the good/evil banter is well handled) but the flaw that the story turns on one of those "supernatural rules did not take human error into account" (ie, something like "but the vampire had not accounted for daylight savings time!") twists that always seem kind of cheap. Eh.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is pulp classic Wellman for his two-fisted, sword swinging John Thunstone going up against supernatural thingies, sinistral Shonokins, and his implacable nemesis, Rowley Thorne. Next was Lee Cobbett, just an average everyman who goes up against things ethereal, funereal, happenings as if sleepwalking through it. However, he’s no foolhardy, hard headed muscle man. As much as he wanted to go out swinging two fisted, he wouldn’t last five minutes against things stronger than him. Still, bad things do get vanquished. There are plenty of Thunstone tales, and only a handful of Cobbett. A lot of fun to read. Triply recommended.

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of the entire collection, Shonokin Town was by far my favorite story. The descriptions and pace were spot on, and John Thunstone, Wellman's most establish character, really comes to life in this fantastically weird tale. I would suggest those of you who are new to Wellman's tales to start with his other stories about the Shonokin and end with Shonokin Town.

While I don't think Manly Wade Wellman stands quite out of the crowd of horror writers during his time, he certainly revitalized my love for pre-contemporary horror stories.

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read this for the half dozen Lee Cobbett stories included, having read Haffner Press's superlative The Complete John Thunstone a few years back., which comprise the majority of this volume. They were good stories, though Cobbett seems a largely superlative invention, along with Judge Pursuivant, Thunstone, and John the Balladeer, another of Wellman's generally interchangeable occult detective characters.

[Frank McGirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

While certainly not "great" this were largely entertaining to listen to, though some of the later stories seemed longer...not entirely sure if that was from word count or that I had simply had my fill.

I will check out a later volume the has the "John the Balladeer" stories, which are supposed to be his best at some point.

[Carl Palmateer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting set of stories to lead into Halloween

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 1 of the Manly Wade Wellman collection from Nightshade Books published in 2000 includes all of his John Thunstone and Lee Cobbett stories written between 1943 and 1979. Both characters are experts in the occult and come to the aid of friends and strangers alike in their lifelong battles against the forces of evil. Wellman’s writing is straight forward and easy to read. His real strength for me, was the amount of imaginative and unsettling concepts concerning cosmic and trans-dimensional horror that he packed into each story. One of my favorite creations was the Deep School, a secret school for the black arts located “in a cellar beneath a cellar” (and actually on a different plane of existence) where students study for years in absolute darkness. Those who survive and graduate, receive a book bound in hairy skin whose text only appears in the dark and allows the reader to bend the laws of time and space. Another fun creation of his were the Shonokins, an ancient race of sorcerers plotting to conquer the modern world.

[Chas · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are the tales of John Thunstone, a kind of playboy occult detective who, unlike many of his ilk, often gets his hands dirty in dealing with the supernatural. Originally published in "Weird Tales" in the '40s, it's hard to say if they're really all that groundbreaking, especially compared to Wellman's later creation, Silver John. Still, they're all good yarns, and intriguing in the way they loosely tie into the fictional worlds of Lovecraft and Seabury Quinn (Thunstone often speaks of having drinks with Quinn's Jules de Gassin character, and seems to speak of him more often than he does Wellman's other creation, Judge Pursivant). Also found here are the complete stories of Lee Cobbett, a character from the '70s and '80s. He's not terribly different from Thunstone, though his adventures often seem to take him to Silver John's rustic locales, leaving the reader to wonder if he's not a little extraneous compared to some of Wellman's more famous creations. (

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The weakest of Wellman's collected short story volumes, but still very good. The John Thunstone stories here, published in the 1940's in Weird Tales, seem dated compared to the rest of Wellman's's work.

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read:

O Ugly Bird! - 3/5.
One Other - 4/5
The Desrick on Lando. Feb 23. 3/5.