By turns bizarre, unsettling, spooky, and sublime, Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories showcases nine incomparable stories from master conjuror Algernon Blackwood. Evoking the uncanny spiritual forces of Nature, Blackwood's writings all tread the nebulous borderland between fantasy, awe, wonder, and horror. Here Blackwood displays his best and most disturbing work-including The Willows, which Lovecraft singled out as the single finest weird tale in literature; The Wendigo; The Insanity of Jones; and Sand.

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'See!...The woods are alive! Already the Great Ones are there, and the dance will soon begin! The salve is here! Anoint yourself and come!'

One of the greatest writers of the strange and weird, Algernon Blackwood evolved from a teller of ghost stories to a pioneering master of such emergent fictional modes as cosmic horror and nature Gothic. In tales whose settings range from the eerie North Woods of Canada to the mysterious sands of the Egyptian desert, Blackwood blurs the boundaries between human and nonhuman, living and dead, beckoning the reader into strange borderlands where alien forces lurk, waiting for the chance to break through into our world.

This new selection of Blackwood's shorter fiction constitutes the most comprehensive critical edition of his work to date. Included here are such undisputed classics as 'The Wendigo', 'The Willows', and 'Ancient Sorceries', as well as two superbly unsettling novellas, 'The Man Whom the Trees Loved' and 'A Descent into Egypt', and ten other stories short and long, drawn from collections spanning Blackwood's long writing career. Aaron Worth's introduction and notes situate these tales in the context of Blackwood's own upbringing in an evangelical Victorian household, as well as in relation to such topics as late-imperial British history and the emergence of modern ecological thought.

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East of Vienna, a canoe trip down the length of the Danube River turns strange and horrifying. The two men traveling find it bad enough when they are forced to camp on an isolated island in the middle of nowhere while gale-force winds howl and waters rise. But soon, the threats take on a supernatural tinge. Wild sounds and visions in the night convince the men that they're being hunted by beings from another dimension, who are not so much malicious as vastly, cosmically indifferent to their welfare-and hungry.

Algernon Blackwood has influenced weird fiction and horror writers down to the present day, with H.P. Lovecraft naming him among the modern masters of the genre. The Willows, which first appeared in The Listener and Other Stories (1907), is one of his best-known tales. Noted weird fiction writer Ruthanna Emrys enlivens the text with sprightly commentary and traces the streams of story to their headwaters in a poetic and penetrating introduction.

The Willows is one of Blackwood's best known works and has been influential on a number of later writers. Horror author H.P. Lovecraft considered it to be the finest supernatural tale in English literature. Throughout the story Blackwood personifies the surrounding environment-river, sun, wind-and imbues them with a powerful and ultimately threatening character. Most ominous are the masses of dense, desultory, menacing willows, which moved of their own will as though alive, and they touched, by some incalculable method, my own keen sense of the horrible. - Two friends are midway on a canoe trip down the Danube River. After managing to land their canoe for the evening, during the night and into the next day and night, the mysterious, hostile forces emerge in force, including large, dark shapes that seem to trace the consciousness of the two men... Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre.

Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was England's greatest writer of weird fiction in the early twentieth century. He escaped a repressive religious education by absorbing Hindu and Buddhist texts. Venturing to Canada to look for work, he established a deep connection with the natural world on frequent camping trips. But his subsequent years in New York (1892-99) thrust him in a filthy, overcrowded megalopolis that affected Blackwood profoundly. Returning to England, he began a literary career in earnest in the early years of the new century.

This is the first complete edition of Blackwood's short fiction, planned for six volumes. This volume contains stories he wrote from 1889 to 1907. Included are numerous stories uncollected in Blackwood's lifetime, including several interesting tales of romance, adventure, and childhood. A Haunted Island initiates his weird work; it and other stories in this volume were gathered in Blackwood's first book, The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories (1906).

Blackwood's work is profoundly autobiographical, and in this volume we find stories reflecting his experiences in Canada (Skeleton Lake: An Episode in Camp), New York (the striking psychological horror tale Max Hensig), England (The Listener), and elsewhere. It culminates with The Willows, which H. P. Lovecraft believed to be the greatest weird tale in literature. It is a fictionalization of a trip made by Blackwood and a friend in 1900 down the Danube. In an appendix, his long essay Down the Danube in a Canadian Canoe is printed.

The volume has been edited by S. T. Joshi, a leading authority on weird fiction who has established the most accurate text of Blackwood's tales.

A beautifully produced new edition of Blackwood's weirdest supernatural stories, including The Willows, highlighted by H.P. Lovecraft as the single finest weird tale in literature

Lauded as one of our greatest storytellers, and inspiring generations of writers from H.P. Lovecraft to Tolkien to Stephen King, Algernon Blackwood left a legacy as one of Britain's greatest conjurors of weird and supernatural stories. Blackwood's inimitable style puts readers right in the middle of the story, with visceral and nature-inspired fear that lies just beyond the real, often in the form of a nameless dread.

This beautifully produced edition, with a stunning cover and thoughtful design and layout to ensure the most enjoyable reading experience, features four of his most unnervingly curious tales:

Ancient Sorceries--a traveller stops in a remote French hill town and soon finds himself unable to leave; there is something strangely feline about the inhabitants, he notices, and they all seem to be watching him very closely...

The Listener--a lodging house guest feels himself observed by a malevolent presence. Soon it transpires his room's previous occupant is watching him from beyond the grave, and is envious of the very flesh on his bones.

The Sea Fit--an old retired ship's captain's ravings build to a terrifying climax, as he offers himself up as a sacrifice to the cruel gods of the sea.

The Willows--two friends on a canoeing trip spend a terrifying night on a lonely willow-covered island, haunted by the strange trees and sinister shapes in the water.

This thrilling story is based on Blackwood's experience's hunting in the backwoods of Canada. A group of men deep in the Northern wilderness are visited by a terrifying creature from Native American legend... Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre.

This second volume of Algernon Blackwood's complete short stories includes the six stories he wrote about the psychic detective John Silence. Only five of them were collected in John Silence-Physician Extraordinary (1908), which became a bestseller and allowed Blackwood to spend the next six years in financial security. The John Silence stories set the pattern for the psychic detective, and dozens of authors have imitated the detective's pursuit of the strange and supernatural.

For Blackwood, the John Silence stories allowed him to express some of his most deeply held beliefs as well as to adapt elements from his own life. Secret Worship is based on Blackwood's time with the Moravian Brotherhood in Germany. Ancient Sorceries is a haunting tale of metempsychosis, where the inhabitants of a French town turn into cats at night. The Camp of the Dog is a powerful werewolf story.

Other stories are innovative ghost stories or tales of peculiar happenings in ordinary settings. Many of these appeared in leading British periodicals of the day, but not all of them were gathered into Blackwood's several collections of this period: The Lost Valley and Other Stories (1910), Ten Minute Stories (1914), and others. The book concludes with Blackwood's provocative introduction to a 1942 edition of John Silence.

The volume has been edited by S. T. Joshi, a leading authority on weird fiction who has established the most accurate text of Blackwood's tales.

'Back from the shouting floor and ceiling came the chorus of images that stormed and clamoured for expression. Jones lay still and listened; he let them come. There was nothing else to do.'

Algernon Blackwood was one of the most influential writers of twentieth-century weird and supernatural fiction. He once told a correspondent that every story he wrote was based on either a personal experience or that of someone he knew, and thus the vast collection of short stories and novels published in his lifetime can be seen to form a kind of autobiography.

In this collection of his most atmospheric and uneasy tales, Mike Ashley provides the facts of Blackwood's life which inspired each story - including experiences as an intelligence agent in the First World War and adventures in New York - to tell the parallel tale of the author's lifetime of the supernatural.

Four of the best novellas from one of the most underrated names in horror and weird fiction. Writers such as H. P. Lovecraft rated Blackwood as one of the very best writers of the genre. This title features an introduction and notes contextualizing this characterful author. It is my firm opinion that...The Willows is the greatest weird tale ever written. - H.P. Lovecraft

From one of the greatest and most prolific authors of 20th century weird fiction come four of the very best strange stories ever told.

In The Willows, two men become stranded on an island in the Danube delta, only to find that they might be in the domain of some greater power from beyond the limits of human experience.

The Wendigo features a hunting party in Ontario who begin to fear that they are being stalked by an entity thought to be confined to legend.

In The Man Whom the Trees Loved, a couple is driven apart as the husband is enthralled by the possessive and jealous spirits dwelling in the nearby forest.

And lastly, in conversation with the occult detective and physician Dr. John Silence, a traveler relates his nightmarish visit to a strange town in Northern France, and the maddening secret from his past revealed by its inhabitants, in Ancient Stories.

One of the former British writers of supernatural tales in the twentieth century, Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) wrote stories in which the slow accumulation of telling details produced a foreboding atmosphere of almost unendurable tension. Blackwood's literary renown began in 1908 with the publication of a highly successful collection of stories, John Silence -- Physician Extraordinary, featuring a psychic doctor.
This volume contains all five of the John Silence stories from the 1908 edition plus one additional tale. Edited and with an informative introduction by S. T. Joshi, noted occult fiction authority, the stories include A Psychical Invasion, in which Silence is summoned to a house apparently haunted by former tenants. In Ancient Sorceries, he encounters a man who tells of strange experiences in a small French town; and in Secret Worship, an ill-starred character is rescued from spiritual and perhaps physical death. The Nemesis of Fire, The Camp of the God, and A Victim of Higher Space conclude this collection of spellbinding tales, which will delight any devotee of weird literature.

Ten gripping tales span one-hundred years' worth of werewolf legends in this new anthology.

Witness the traditional lore of lycanthropy, werewolfery and shape-shifting evolve over the years, from the Victorian gothic fantasy of Erckmann-Chatrian's The Man-Wolf, to Algernon Blackwood's two tales of atmospheric occultism, to the widely popular full moon and silver bullets of Clifford Ball's The Werewolf's Cry, published in 1941.

A chilling new collection of supernatural tales from the Victorian master of horror, and the subtle manipulation of dread.

Algernon Blackwood, a founding father of modern ghost and horror stories, is one of the great horror writers of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. With M.R. James, William Hope Hodgson and Arthur Machen, he inspired generations of writers from H.P. Lovecraft to Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch to Ramsey Campbell. Although The Willows and The Wendigo are his most well-known, this new collection brings together many of his other finely crafted tales, including 'The Empty House', 'A Haunted Island', 'The Transfer' and 'The Kit-Bag'.

The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

A woman of snow . . . a midnight caller keeping his promise . . . forests where Nature is deliberate and malefic . . . enchanted houses . . . these are the beings and ideas that flood through this collection of ghost stories by Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951). Altogether thirteen stories, gathered from the entire corpus of Blackwood's work, are included: stories of such sheer power and imagination that it is easy to see why he has been considered the foremost British supernaturalist of the twentieth century.
Blackwood's ability to create an atmosphere of unrelieved horror and sustain it to the end of the story is almost unsurpassed. The Willows -- which has been called by H. P. Lovecraft the finest supernatural story -- is a typical example of Blackwood's art: slowly and surely Blackwood draws the reader into a world of shadows, nuances, and unearthly terror.
Blackwood was also a master at evoking feelings of mysticism and cosmic experience; dealing with such ideas as interpenetrating levels of existence and pantheistic elemental powers, he expanded the content of supernatural literature enormously. But even the more traditional elements of horror stories such as ghosts and haunted houses are handled with such energy and feeling that they rise far above their predecessors.
Drawing on serious Oriental thought, modern psychology, and philosophy, Algernon Blackwood introduced a sophistication to the horror story that -- with few exceptions -- it was devoid of before. The results are stories that are not only guaranteed to chill, but stories that have something to say to the intelligent reader.

In this Edition, Larvae put together two of the best most intriguing stories of Blackwood's Weird Tales. American horror author H.P. Lovecraft considered The Willows to be the finest supernatural tale in English literature. It is an example of early modern horror and is connected within the literary tradition of weird fiction. As well, The Wendigo is a short novel that describes the terror of irrational forces and sensations of abssolutely wild nature, trough a mythical creature known as the Wendigo.

Algernon Blackwood's The Wendigo tells the story of a camping trip in the Canadian wilderness that goes horribly wrong when the hunters become the hunted. Drawing on the mythical creature known as the Wendigo, this story is regarded by many critics to be one of the best horror tales of all time.

THE HUMAN CHORD

When Robert Spinrobin answers an ad in the paper from a retired clergyman looking for someone with courage and imagination, he enters into an adventure that is beyond all imagining. For Philip Skale is looking for the perfect tenor that will complete his quartet in an experiment that could unlock the very heart of Creation. Using the power of sound, Skale has spent his life trying to unlock the secrets of life and death. One voice cannot do it. He needs four. His housekeeper, Mrs. Mawle, is the alto; Skale's niece, Miriam, the soprano, and Skale the bass. Spinrobin completes the chord with his tenor. Collectively, they can utter the word, and become as gods. But there is also the possibility that something could go wrong, that instead of summoning God, they fail--and unleash total chaos instead

THE CENTAUR

Terrence O'Malley, an Irish poet with a yearning in his soul for something more than the commonplace, takes a trip to Greece. While on the boat, he encounters a Russian father and son who seem ... out of place ... almost elemental. His companion, Dr. Stahl, warns him about getting too close to the couple, very aware that O'Malley is very likely to get swept away by the feelings of rapture they can generate. For the father and son are much more than they seem...much more than merely human ... and quite possibly a pure manifestation of the Earth itself. But once O'Malley's Celtic soul is aroused, there is no turning back--he is on a journey that will lead him to the very heart and soul of Mother Earth.

Algernon Henry Blackwood (1869-1951) in his rich and varied lifetime was an English broadcasting narrator, Canadian farmer, New York newspaper reporter, hotel operator, journalist, bartender, secretary, mystic, teacher, adventurer, novelist, and short-story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The son of a preacher, Blackwood rebelled against his strong Catholic upbringing and had a life-long interest in the supernatural, spiritualism, and the occult, later joining several occult societies. He was an avid lover of nature and the outdoors, which many of his stories reflect, especially two of his best-known works The Willows, in which two friends on a canoe trip become temporarily marooned on a river island only to discover the willow trees are not what they seem, and The Wendigo, where a Canadian hunting party encounters the mythical beast of legend - stories that led H.P. Lovecraft to praise Blackwood as the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere.

The ninth Leonaur volume of Blackwood's many tales of the uncanny

Algernon Henry Blackwood was one of the most prolific authors of supernatural and horror fiction in the history of the genre. In fact, his output was so great and rapidly produced that it is possible his entire canon remains unknown. Born in Shooter's Hill (which now part of south-east London) in 1869, his father was a civil servant and his mother was the widow of the 6th Duke of Manchester. As an adventurous young Englishman, Blackwood travelled to Canada and the USA where he worked at a number of jobs including as a journalist for the New York Times. At the turn of the 20th century Blackwood returned to Britain and embarked upon his career as a writer of supernatural and horror stories. His output was astonishing, resulting in at least ten collections of short stories together with 14 novels and plays. He regularly broadcast his work on radio and later on television. His two best known stories are probably, 'The Willows' and 'The Wendigo'. Blackwood died from a stroke in 1951. The Leonaur collection of Blackwood's strange fiction seeks to gather together the majority of his known shorter supernatural fiction into a comprehensive set.

Among the contents of volume nine of this comprehensive Leonaur collection of Blackwood's shorter fiction, the reader will discover, 'The Tryst', 'Tongues of Fire', 'The Stranger' and many others.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

They first became properly visible, these huge figures, just within the tops of the bushes -- immense, bronze-colored, moving, and wholly independent of the swaying of the branches. I saw them plainly and noted, now I came to examine them more calmly, that they were very much larger than human, and indeed that something in their appearance proclaimed them to be not human at all. Certainly they were not merely the moving tracery of the branches against the moonlight. They shifted independently. They rose upwards in a continuous stream from earth to sky, vanishing utterly as soon as they reached the dark of the sky. They were interlaced one with another, making a great column, and I saw their limbs and huge bodies melting in and out of each other, forming this serpentine line that bent and swayed and twisted spirally with the contortions of the wind-tossed trees. They were nude, fluid shapes, passing up the bushes, within the leaves almost - rising up in a living column into the heavens. Their faces I never could see. Unceasingly they poured upwards, swaying in great bending curves, with a hue of dull bronze upon their skins. . . . For the longer I looked the more certain I became that these figures were real and living, though perhaps not according to the standards that the camera and the biologist would insist upon.

The Willows is an example of early modern horror and is connected within the literary tradition of weird fiction.