paizo.com - Who Fears the Devil? -- The Complete Silver John (Trade Paperback)

Jeremiah T., Thu, Nov 13, 2008, 04:07 PM

Howdy! It's me again!

I'm really delighted to see this back in print. I have the 1988 Baen collection JOHN THE BALLADEER, but I'm looking forward to acquiring the Paizo edition just for the hitherto uncollected pieces.

I know that the original edition of WHO FEARS THE DEVIL? includes a series of linking vignettes---which sort of serve to turn the whole into a picaresque "fix-up" novel. My Baen edition, however, takes these out of order and lumps them all together somewhere toward the back of the collection. Will the Paizo edition restore these linking vignettes to their original order?

Also, any chance we might one day see a Paizo reprint of the classic Wellman collection WORSE THINGS WAITING (Carcosa, 1973)? I know . . . I could just buy Night Shade's collected works of Wellman---but, dang, that runs into some dough, and especially so now that volume one is out of print and selling high!

Many thanks!

Erik Mona (Publisher), Fri, Nov 14, 2008, 05:24 PM

Jeremiah,

I'm not sure yet about the order, but we will be putting the vignettes in between the stories as they appeared in the earlier Gnome Press edition, not lumped together as in the Baen version.

I am not aware of the collection you mention, but I have already signed one other* collection, and am tentatively putting together another. In the last case, this is material that has _never_ been collected, so I'm particularly excited about it.

--Erik

* LOL. "One Other" is the title of a Silver John story!

Kata. the ..... (Paizo Charter Superscriber), Fri, Dec 12, 2008, 08:23 PM

I am fairly excited about this book. I had not heard of Manly Wade Wellman and Clark Ashton Smith and a number of other great horror, fantasy, scifi, etc authors until I started buying the 100 (two alliterative words) Stories that were available in the bargain racks at Barnes & Noble about a decade ago.

Evil Midnight Lurker, Fri, Dec 12, 2008, 11:21 PM

...Holy CRAP. Gentlemen, you've just guaranteed yourselves another chunk of my paycheck. :)

I want American folklore monsters in Golarion! Especially the gardinel.

J. Harper, Mon, Dec 29, 2008, 10:45 PM

Mr. Mona,

Out of curiosity, which versions of the older John stories are you going to reprint: the magazine/Baen/Nightshade Press versions, or the Arkham House versions? If I remember correctly, August Derleth asked Wellman to rewrite the stories a little, in order to link them together and make the collection feel more like a novel. Wellman complied, but didn't care too much for the results, preferring the more episodic feel of their original versions.

Interesting that you'll be collecting 'Frogfather' and 'Sin's Doorway' along with the core John stories. I think you'll be the first publisher of Wellman to do so. Personally, I can buy 'Frogfather' being a prequel, but the narrator in 'Sin's Doorway' doesn't really feel like John to me, put that's just my opinion.

Despite all ready owning a copy of Baen's John the Balladeer, I'll be picking up a copy of _Who Fears The Devil_. My personal opinion is that these are some of the most beautiful fantasies ever written, and Wellman deserves to be supported, and be granted a wider audience than what the small press can provide (this is not a knock on Nighshade - their Wellman Library is a truly beautiful thing, but the price point keeps it out of reach of the casual fan).

You've also mentioned that you're considering publishing more Wellman. Can you talk about it a bit? From your comments, I get the feeling that the Thunstone stories (with maybe the Pursuivant stories thrown in for good measure) are up next, and maybe after that Hok or Kardios (the latter series being one I've never read, but really would like to), since you said the third book would be something never collected before.

Hope you're having a good year.

Cheers,

Jeremy Harper