Manly Wade Wellman

I recently ran across a copy of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: War of the Worlds, written by Manly Wade Wellman and his son, Wade Wellman. Have any of you read this? I first heard about it when I was proofing an advance manuscript of Win Eckert's upcoming Crossovers and it seemed intriguing. Anyone know if the book is any good? Who Fears the Devil? is probably one of my most favorite Planet Stories books yet.

I haven't heard of the book in question, but I am intrigued by the Crossovers books you linked to. I'll have to check that out. Any ETA on it?

I stumbled around a part of this when searching for an Edmond Hamilton reprint in the office Amazing Stories archive, though a casual check on the Internet Speculative Fiction Database doesn't turn it up. I wonder if the stories are any good.

I haven't heard of the book in question, but I am intrigued by the Crossovers books you linked to. I'll have to check that out. Any ETA on it?

Last I heard, Crossovers was due out sometime in March. A truly impressive reference with plenty of pulp.

I recently ran across a copy of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: War of the Worlds, written by Manly Wade Wellman and his son, Wade Wellman. Have any of you read this?

Yeah. It is pretty reasonable.

I just read Wellman's first Kardios of Atlantis story (one of five short stories), which was a pretty solid sword and sorcery tale. The backstory is that Kardios kissed the queen of Atlantis, which kicked in a prophecy and caused Atlantis to sink, leaving Kardios as the last survivor of his homeland. I'm about to launch into the second story and am looking forward to tracking down the rest.

I've read both the Sherlock Holmes book mentioned (which also brings in Professor Challenger) and a few of the Kardios stories. They're both great but then I'm a BIG Wellman fan. AS for the Kardios stories, the last I heard was that they'd been published in the Swords against Darkness anthologies by Andy Offutt, so you should find them there (as well as Poul Anderson's masterful essay 'On Thud And Blunder', which is a great work for anyone who wants to write heroic fantasy).

I've read both the Sherlock Holmes book mentioned (which also brings in Professor Challenger) and a few of the Kardios stories. They're both great but then I'm a BIG Wellman fan. AS for the Kardios stories, the last I heard was that they'd been published in the Swords against Darkness anthologies by Andy Offutt, so you should find them there (as well as Poul Anderson's masterful essay 'On Thud And Blunder', which is a great work for anyone who wants to write heroic fantasy).

Thanks, Eric, I just read the second Kardios story in Swords against Darkness II and have placed the next two volumes on order, along with Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy #1: Wizards, which includes the final Kardios tale. I also recently picked up the two John Thunstone novels--What Dreams May Come and The School of Darkness--and am looking forward to Haffner Press's The Complete John Thunstone, which I have on preorder.

I haven't had much free time to read until recently, so digging into Wellman's catalog has been a real treat. Here's his bibliography on ISFDB for anyone who's interested.

I'm curious, what's your favorite Wellman, Eric?

The few links I found state that it was written by Manly Wade Wellman and his son Wade and published in 1975 (decades after the juicy stuff we got from Planet Stories). Wikipedia has Wellman's War of the Worlds. Additionally, it is available from Amazon on Kindle and paper.

Additionally, Amazon shows a number of other authors including Fred Saberhagen and a lot of guys I personally have never heard of.

I finally received my copy of The Complete John Thunstone, and WOW, is it a beautifully produced book. If you dig Wellman, you should definitely check it out. The stories are amazing, too.

I finally received my copy of The Complete John Thunstone, and WOW, is it a beautifully produced book. If you dig Wellman, you should definitely check it out. The stories are amazing, too.

I got mine the other week. Fantastic stuff! :D

Thanks, Eric, I just read the second Kardios story in Swords against Darkness II and have placed the next two volumes on order, along with Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy #1: Wizards, which includes the final Kardios tale. I also recently picked up the two John Thunstone novels--What Dreams May Come and The School of Darkness--and am looking forward to Haffner Press's The Complete John Thunstone, which I have on preorder.

I haven't had much free time to read until recently, so digging into Wellman's catalog has been a real treat. Here's his bibliography on ISFDB for anyone who's interested.

I'm curious, what's your favorite Wellman, Eric?

Wow. Man but did this ever take long on my part. Sorry to make you wait like this.

Anyway, my favorite Wellman, if I had to choose would either be the novel The Old Gods Waken, with John the Balladeer facing off with evil druids on Wolter Mountain, or the short story/novella "The Black Drama" which has Judge Pursuivant and an actor facing off against an evil and immortal Lord Byron. But that's only at this moment; tomorrow I might be enraptured with something else of his entirely.

Thanks for letting me know where the last Kardios story can be found. And seeing as how I have all the Thunstone stories aside from What Dreams May Come, is it worth getting The Complete John Thunstone?

One last thing, though I probably shouldn't admit to this: I love Wellman's work so much that I actually sat down and wrote a fanfic about John meeting and fighting Rowley Thorne.

In Equestria. Yes, I crossed Wellman's occult horror/adventure stories over with My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. If anyone actually wants to chance reading it I'll provide the link.

I feel sort of weird answering a question posted 2 1/2 years ago, but what the heck. I just cruised by these forums to see what the deal was on PLANET STORIES and why there haven't been any new ones published in the last year and and half (yeah, I found out it's on hiatus -- bummmer).

Anyway, I really enjoyed Wellman's Holmes/WotW pastiche. It's the only thing I've read by Wellman, and I'm not even that huge of a Holmes fan, but I'm a bit of a WotW nut, and have read just about every pastiche and sequel I could get my hands on. I have to say, if this book wasn't the best WotW pastiche I've ever read, then it's pretty darned close. I actually liked Professor Challenger being in the book more than Holmes, since he's not a character that gets much play among latter-day writers; also, the grafting of Wells' short story "The Crystal Egg" into the WotW continuity (I always wondered if there might be a connection there). I wonder if Wellman and son were inspired at all by Farmer's ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER? Anyway, as the Titan Books series proves, there's no shortage of Holmes pastiches. Haven't read many myself, but then my tastes run more towards science fiction/fantasy than mystery-detective fiction.

Fantastic writer! I am so glad that Eric was able to pursue this particular passion in Planet Stories. Turned me on to writers I was not aware of, and that is just plain awesome. Hopefully one day PS will rise again :)