Glen Talking Manly

Here's some of what writer Glen Hirshberg has to say about the Silver John stories of Manly Wade Wellman:

Though Wellman dedicates the book [Who Fears the Devil?] to the backcountry people from whom he collected the inspiration for these stories, calling them "High on top of the mountain / Away from the sins of the world," the culture he portrays is every bit as sin-soaked and hunger-driven and unforgiving as the one in the teeming American cities below.

And yet, through it all strides Silver John, comfort-ably solitary but capable of love, using music like campfire light to chase back loneliness.  I love his sense of justice, which is site-specific, derived partially from Native American traditions and partially from Judeo-Christian theology but mostly from intuition.  Told that witches can't prevail against a pure heart, John says, "I can't claim that," and he can't.  But he listens, and he learns, and he sorts for himself, and his judgments aren't global, and his fights are his own even when they benefit others.

Hirshberg's full essay--plus 99 others--can be found in Horror: Another 100 Best Books.  This volume (not to mention its predecessor, the unsurprisingly titled Horror: The 100 Best Books) belongs on the bookshelf of every fan of the genre.  It's a testament to what a rich and varied field horror fiction is, and a reminder that even the most constant of readers still has a slew of masterful works left to enjoy.