Who Fears the Devil? Not Paizo!

Who Fears the Devil?—The Complete Silver John (Trade Paperback)

Our Price: $15.99

Unavailable

Publisher Erik Mona is our guest writer for today's store blog!

In addition to teaching me almost everything I know about gaming, Gary Gygax's AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide outlined a lifetime of fantasy enjoyment in the form of the justly famous Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading. The list contains almost all of the mega-authors you'd expect to see as inspirations for fantasy gaming (Burroughs, Howard, Leiber, Lovecraft, Tolkien, Vance, etc.), but over the years I've become even more interested by some of the less well-known names in Appendix N. Especially those that sound like a story in and of themselves.

Which brings us to Manly Wade Wellman, author of this month's Planet Stories release, Who Fears the Devil? You don't hear about many folks named "Manly" anymore, so right up front I wanted to learn more about this man with the mysterious name. Although Gygax listed no specific stories or novels by Wellman, recommending instead his entire body of work, I soon discovered that Wellman's most famous character, Silver John (or sometimes John the Balladeer), is thought to be a large part of the inspiration behind the game's bard class. After all, John's a wandering minstrel and storyteller who uses music to defeat nasty monsters and keep his world safe from evil. As Wellman writes:

"Where I've been is places and what I've seen is things, and there've been times I've run off from seeing them, off to other places and things. I keep moving, me and this guitar with the silver strings to it, slung behind my shoulder. Sometimes I've got food with me and an extra shirt maybe, but most times just the guitar, and trust to God for what I need else… Now I go here and there, up and down, from place to place and from thing to thing, here in among the mountains.

"Up these heights and down these hollows you'd best go expecting anything. What's long time ago left off happening outside still goes on here, and the tales the mountain folks tell sound truer here than outside. About what I tell, if you believe it you might could get something good out of it. If you don't believe it, well, I don't have a gun out to you to make you stop and hark at it."

As you can tell from Wellman's use of language, the Silver John stories are far more than just run-of-the-mill fantasy. Set in the wilds of the Appalachian Mountains (where Wellman himself lived) in the years following the Korean War, these wholly fantastical tales filled with monsters, dark legends, and unquiet ghosts transcend pure fantasy to become a genuine slice of Americana. The songs John sings are culled from the mountain songbooks heard by Wellman as he lived in the region, and many of the legends and tales come from actual stories told in the region. Just listen to the way Wellman describes a villain called Mr. Onselm:

"He was what country folks call a low man, more than calling him short or small; a low man is low otherwise than by inches. Mr. Onselm's shoulders didn't wide out as far as his big ears, and they sank and sagged. His thin legs bowed in at the knee and out at the shank, like two sickles point to point. On his carrot-thin neck, his head looked like a swollen pale gourd. Thin, moss-gray hair. Loose mouth, a bit open to show long, even teeth. Not much chin. The right eye squinted, mean and dark, while the hike of his brow twitched the left one wide. His good clothes fitted his mean body like they were cut to it. Those good clothes were almost as much out of match to the rest of him as his long, soft, pink hands, the hands of a man who had never had to work a tap.

"You see what I mean, I can't say how he looked, only he was hateful."

That bit comes from one of my favorite Silver John stories (and the first to be published), "O, Ugly Bird!" The Planet Stories edition of Who Fears the Devil? contains every single Silver John short story Manly Wade Wellman ever wrote, from John's battle with Mr. Onselm all the way to the last Silver John tale, "Where Did She Wander?" Who Fears the Devil? also includes two of John's youthful adventures from before he got his silver-strung guitar that have never been collected in any previous Silver John collection.

Our edition also includes a brand-new introduction from Hugo Award-winning author Mike Resnick (Stalking the Dragon) and a foreword from legendary fantasy author—and Wellman's personal friend—Karl Edward Wagner, creator of the sword & sorcery antihero Kane. Several beautiful interior illustrations from Sara Otterstatter and a chilling cover from Kieran Yanner complete the package.

We're beyond proud to present to you the original bard, Silver John, in this all-new Planet Stories collection. We'd love it if you picked up a copy of your own but, well, we don't have a gun out to make you stop and purchase it.

More Blog.

Just finished the prolegomena and first full story last night. It's like molasses in prose form. Spooky molasses, but molasses. The book looks great, too. This is a must-have volume, people.

Silver Crusade

Grabbing one for my dad. This is more and more turning out to be right up his alley.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

My high school library had a copy of the Arkham House edition of this one. I'd never heard of Wellman before, but I was already reading Lovecraft et al, so when I spotted the AH logo on the spine I had to pick it up. That first story was amazing. The style just pulled me right into the world, in a way that only the best authors can do. And Wellman made it look easy. I'll be getting this edition, too, though I trust the publisher will forgive me if I buy it from a bookstore.

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

You are forgiven, my son.


Just finished the book this morning. Any chance of Paizo publishing the Silver John novels?

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

If this volume sells well, anything is possible.

Help us evangelize WHO FEARS THE DEVIL? and, provided the sales are there, I will move heaven and earth to try to republish the novels.

If not..... might I draw your attention to some of our lovely Pathfinder novels? ;)

The Exchange Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6

If you bring stock to PaizoCon, I'll pick up a half-dozen for gifts.


It's finally out! Yay!

I have to get a copy for myself and at least 2 more for friends who love Wellman's work since I introduced them to it (and to Paizo, too).

Thank you, Paizo, for bringing Mister Wellman's work back out in an affordable paperback edition. BTW I love the cover art -- it's an illustration from Can These Bones Live, right?


Still waiting for mine. I ordered it last November & Amazon.ca (Canada) says it's going to ship before April 8... after all the people in this blog are finished it, sounds like.


Mr. Sleazoid wrote:
Still waiting for mine. I ordered it last November & Amazon.ca (Canada) says it's going to ship before April 8... after all the people in this blog are finished it, sounds like.

They must be personally delivering it on foot.


Finally arrived last Thursday (April 8), and yes... it looks really good. Just started the intro. (PS Went to Ad Astra in Toronto on the weekend. The cover of "Who Fears" became exhibit A in a debate about the way covers are used to sell books. The last collection out used a close-up on a guitar. It could be about anything - even a music book. Clearly, a mass-market audience was intended. This one from Pazio is narrow-market = mock 1930-s Pulp cover with a screaming skeleton front & center.


Mr. Sleazoid wrote:
Finally arrived last Thursday (April 8), and yes... it looks really good. Just started the intro. (PS Went to Ad Astra in Toronto on the weekend. The cover of "Who Fears" became exhibit A in a debate about the way covers are used to sell books. The last collection out used a close-up on a guitar. It could be about anything - even a music book. Clearly, a mass-market audience was intended. This one from Pazio is narrow-market = mock 1930-s Pulp cover with a screaming skeleton front & center.

Hi,

I think you missed a collection.
Who Fears the Devil had the guitar cover.

UK(?)Star edition...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0440197767/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&a mp;n=283155&s=books

Early 80s Dell cover...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0440197767/ref=cm_c iu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

The late 1980s Baen edition was called "John the Balladeer"
and had this cover.....

http://randall120.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/wellman-2.jpg

Take care.
Doug


You get the general idea - mass market vs. specialized. (Another debate involved re-publishing old short stories, especially by a single author. One panellist said flatly that no-one reads them. I pointed out the umpteen Wellman reprints, including the deluxe leather-bound editions. He said those were for the collector market - and collectors were crazy people in a world of their own. So I pointed out all the mass-market titles. He threw up his hands...)


Don't confuse me with the facts!

Community / Forums / Archive / Paizo / Books & Magazines / Planet Stories® / Blog: Who Fears the Devil? Not Paizo! All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Planet Stories®