Worse Things Waiting

Originally published in 1973, Worse Things Waiting collects 28 of Manly Wade Wellman's colorful stories which first appeared in the early pulp magazines Strange Stories, Unknown, and Weird Tales. Wellman seems most comfortable spinning convincing yarns of local myths and legends with a certain

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backwoods Southern charm, with “Come Into My Parlor”, “Sin’s Doorway”, “The Pineys”, and “The Witch’s Cat” among the best of these. This anthology offers wonderfully creepy fantasy and horror tales of strange creatures and anthropomorphic or otherwise living abodes, werewolves and the undead, sinners and spells, and the supernatural plight of soldiers, warriors, and slaves. Much as Rudyard Kipling used the exotic setting of India to infuse some of his strange stories with an added layer of mystery, Wellman similarly uses the lost worlds of Native American myths and legends as the underpinning of some stories; "For Fear of Little Men", "Young-Man-With-a-Skull-at His Ear", and "Dhoh" are the most effective of these. The collection ends with a quartet of excellent Civil War stories infused with witchcraft: (1) A witch promises Rebel soldier Clay Harned safe passage through the bloody war in return for his hand in marriage in “His Name on a Bullet”; (2) Confederate scout Joseph Paradine encounters the effects of a mysterious spell placed on Union soldiers in “The Valley Was Still”; (3) Dueling spells of Good and Evil clash in “Fearful Rock”; and (4) The purity of young Confederate prisoner Cole Wickett propels him into the service of Union Army Sergeant Jaeger against vampires and the forces of Evil in “Coven”. Lee Brown Coye's playfully macabre illustrations add a nice ghoulish touch. Kudos to Shadowridge Press for bringing back this impressive anthology.

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