Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
On a cruise through the Greek islands, a man encounters a handsome father and his son. He is strangely drawn to his fellow travellers, and discovers with some elation that they will all share a cabin aboard ship.Tricks of the light seem to join the pair into a single being when they walk ashore, and at times a third, much largerbeing appears to join them.Is the protagonist hallucinating, or is he experiencing repressed homosexual desires? Or is something darker and more ancient at work? Blackwood weaves a poetic, erotically charged tale against the exotic backdrop of the Greek islands. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

What kind of Blackwood fan are you?
Whether you enjoy this work may depend on which Blackwood genre you prefer: ghost story or nature fiction. If you prefer the latter, you may find this book a gem. If not, you may find it lugubrious, as I do.

By Far The Biggest Influence In My Life...Was Nature
Algernon Blackwood, the great British master of the short horror story and member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, published The Centaur to great acclaim in 1911.Unlike the American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, who championed Blackwood's work throughout his lifetime, Blackwood loved, admired, and respected nature: Blackwood was a romantic who enjoyed a mystical faith and philosophy concerning the natural world, a faith which is reflected in almost all of his stories.In his tales, trees and men fall in love with one another, fairies happily guide, misguide, or torment intrusive travelers, and other - dimensional creatures storm earth through gaps in reality or plunge down on hunters from the heavens. Even Blackwood's ghost stories typically suggest some mysterious law connecting the return of the dead with natural but little understood processes.Few writers other than Arthur Machen could portray 'daimonic reality' as well and as believably as Blackwood. But while The Centaur broadly addresses the supernatural, it is in no way a horror tale.

When traveler O'Malley encounters an unusually robust, handsome, and virile man and his equally attractive young son while on a cruise, he becomes strangely enraptured, and is thrilled to learn that the two will be sharing his cabin for the duration of the voyage. O'Malley also notices that when observing the two men from a distance, they seem to oddly amalgamate into one larger being, or, at other times, an immense third presence seems to accompany them. Is it a trick of the light? Is O'Malley a lunatic, hallucinating, or experiencing repressed homosexual desire without realization?Since both father and son rarely speak and communicate largely with their charismatic smiles, pie - eyed O'Malley makes of them what he can and takes them in with his eyes a little more than seems respectable for a presumably heterosexual male: at night, O'Malley goes so far as to pull back the curtains and stare at their undressed bodies while they sleep.In one loaded episode, the father awakens to find O'Malley bending over him and devouring him with his eyes; unperturbed, the father sits up, points to the son, and together they stare at the son's naked chest beautifully rising and falling as the morning light comes up. Since everything suggests that O'Malley is erotically attracted to both men, and the father in some way enamored with his son, their cabin seems more like a blissful, somewhat humid den of unthwarted pedophilia and incest than the place of revelation and miracles Blackwood would like to have the reader believe it is.

Also along for the voyage is the learned Dr. Stahl, who inexplicably has a great understanding of the two strangers and what they threaten.Blackwood allows himself almost a hundred labored and repetitive pages attempting to convey to the reader the secret Dr. Stahl attempts to put into words for O'Malley. The father and the son, as it happens, are not men in the sense that Stahl and O'Malley are men, but are earth spirits, emanations of mother nature, and, as such, two of the last beings of their kind in existence.Blackwood never finds the words to define and describe the two men's metaphysical nature clearly, so Dr. Stahl and O'Malley repeat the same precious discussion over and over, merely approaching it from a slightly different angle each time.

As a struggling, often starving writer, Blackwood was frequently paid by the word, a fact that hasn't been forgotten by his critics. Many of his stories were indeed overwritten, though overwriting was something Blackwood raised almost to an art in many of his short pieces. Unfortunately, his novels, from A Prisoner In Fairyland to The Centaur, were another matter. Had The Centaur been a short story of twenty pages, Blackwood could have conveyed exactly the same information, if, as written, to an equally unconvincing effect.In trying to outline his beliefs about the spiritual aspects of nature, Blackwood abandoned structure entirely and seemed to forget that he was attempting a dramatic narrative. Readers can obtain a much better outline of Blackwood's pantheistic philosophy by reading his short stories than can ever be obtained by reading The Centaur, which is ultimately nothing but a vague, under confident, and winded New Age tract.

Blackwood's short masterpiece, "May Day Eve," concerns a hardheaded traveler's uncomfortable but apparently necessary encounter with the fairies, beautifully expressing everything that The Centaur attempts and fails to say.When the narrator, having suffered his illuminating but disorienting punishment in the wild, finally arrives at the friendly professor's door, the knowing professor shelters him briefly before tempting him with the knowledge that they have several hours of darkness yet to experience the miracles of the fairy world.Armed with the security his companion provides and a sudden new and courageous attitude about the possibilities inherent in reality, the narrator accepts the professor's invitation, and they disappear together into the night.He says, "And as we began to climb the hill together in silence I saw that the stars were clear overhead and that there was no mist, that the trees stood motionless without wind, and that beyond us on the summit of the hills there were lights dancing to and for, appearing and disappearing like the reflections of stars in water." ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was one of the all-time great supernatural writers, and "The Willows" is his masterpiece, praised as one of the greatest horror stories ever written. This edition adds a new introduction by John Gregory Betancourt. H. P. Lovecraft, in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," wrote: "Less intense than Machen in delineating the extremes of stark fear, yet infinitely more closely wedded to the idea of an unreal world constantly pressing upon ours is the inspired and prolific Algernon Blackwood, amidst whose voluminous and uneven work may be found some of the finest spectral literature of this or any age. Of the quality of Mr. Blackwood's genius there can be no dispute; for no one has even approached the skill, seriousness, and minute fidelity with which he records the overtones of strangeness in ordinary things and experiences, or the preternatural insight with which he builds up detail by detail the complete sensations and perceptions leading from reality into supernormal life or vision. Without notable command of the poetic witchery of mere words, he is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere; and can evoke what amounts almost to a story from a simple fragment of humourless psychological description. Above all others he understands how fully some sensitive minds dwell forever on the borderland of dream, and how relatively slight is the distinction betwixt those images formed from actual objects and those excited by the play of the imagination." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

who will read this edition?
This is only the only story in a very slim edition, accompanied with outrageously gargantuan chapter numbers and first-letter-of-sentence characters at the beginning of every chapter. The typesetting is quite ugly, but the story is classic and holds the attention. One can find the story elsewhere: in the Penguin Classics and Dover editions with other fine Algernon oddities. This book is overpriced, as is the The Wendigo, by the same publisher. For its price, you should have more to read, in a better layout. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Robert Spinrobin Needed work when he came across the ad for a secretarial assistant for a clergyman. Little did he know this opportunity was something he would live to regret.Please Note:This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher.The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
And instinctively, once alone, I made for the places where she had painted her extraordinary pictures; I tried to see what she had seen. Perhaps, now that she had opened my mind to another view, I should be sensitive to some similar interpretation--and possibly by way of literary expression. If I were to write about the place, I asked myself, how should I treat it? I deliberately invited an interpretation in the way that came easiest to me--writing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

why not horror?
again AB creates the greatest setting. a house where strange things happen. giving strange impressions. great descriptions. great descriptions of feelings. but in the end it turns out not to be horror at all. good plot. awful ending. AB seem never to have realized that a horror story should have a horror ending ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Most connoisseurs of modern horror fiction rate Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) as the finest horror writer of all time. Blackwood was unsurpassed in originality, atmosphere, and characterization. His finest works still surprise and shock today's readers.THE EMPTY HOUSE AND OTHER GHOST STORIES, originally published in 1906, was Blackwood's first collection. It includes such classics as the title story, "A Haunted Island," "A Suspicious Gift," and many more. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
A PRISONER IN FAIRYLAND is a book that is fantasy and magic. It is very similar to "Peter Pan" and was adapted to a musical play called "The Starlight Express". If you liked "The Lord of the Rings", you will enjoy this book. Please Note:This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher.The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Do not read before camping
Precisely the story not to sit around the campfire and read aloud, which is what makes it so perfect for just that.This is one of the greatest creepy, lost in the scary woods stories ever written.If there is one drawback, it is that it is too short.It would have been much better served at two to three times its length.It ends, and you just wish there was more.

cheap-looking typeset
A wonderful tale, yet I purchased this hoping it included other Algernon stories as well. Be forwarned: this is only "The Wendigo," and it is typeset as if for the sight-impaired. An esthetically awful choice to accompany the opening of each section with an enormous roman numeral and capital letter ruins the otherwise brilliant story. A modest, well thought "intro" to the nine sections would have made this bearable to look at. The publisher was obviously trying to fill up space.

Best Scary Stories Ever Written
"The Wendigo" is widely regarded as one of Blackwoods best stories and is among the best and scariest stories ever written."A Psychical Invasion", also by Blackwood, comes a close second.Anyone who has ever been out in the woods alone, particularly at night, will instantly be transported to that time and place by "The Wendigo".This one is not to be read before bedtime.All of Blackwood's stories, including the less scary or supernatural ones, are the best in English literature.The writing is exquisitely beautiful yet easy to read, evoking images and moods like nothing else I have ever read.If you've never read Algernon Blackwood, you have missed out on a profound and intense experience.
I can also recommend the recently published biography by Mike Ashley(not sure if I remembered his name right).It is interesting and well-researched. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Algernon (Henry) Blackwood, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 2659 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
"Judy, Tim, and Maria were just little children. It was impossible to say exactly what their ages were, except that they were just the usual age, that Judy was the eldest, Maria the youngest, and that Tim, accordingly, came in between the two. " ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

love of nature
this is a story about a man with a special form of contact with the woods. that's it, actually. supernatural, not horror. good descriptions. B. is always great at decribing nature and it's lure, and how man is drawn to it. but nothing much happens, and some of the dialogue is unnecessary. (the story is actually a short story) ... Read more

Book Description
This reference represents the most complete and detailed examination of Blackwood to date. Preceding the bibliography is a foreword by Ramsey Campbell, an introduction, a user's guide, and a short but detailed biography revealing much new material about Blackwood's life, and a chronology of dates. The bibliography is divided into four parts: works by Blackwood, adaptations of his work by others, works about Blackwood, and source indices. The listing of Blackwood's works begins with books, and then goes on to short and serial fiction, nonfiction (essays and sketches, and book reviews), poetry and songs, plays and dramas, radio manuscripts, and untraced items. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Indispensable guide to the greatest horror writer of all
Connoisseurs of horror fiction, including H. P. Lovecraft,rate Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) as the finest such writer of all.What Arthur Conan Doyle was to mysteries, what Jane Austen was to comedies of manners, Blackwood was to supernatural horror literature -- he set the standard, was unsurpassed in originality, and reads as freshly while surprising and shocking the reader as much now as the day he wrote his remarkable work, leaving the likes of Stephen King, Clive Barker and Anne Rice in the dust.

Sadly, most of Blackwood's large output -- about 10 book-length novels, over 200 short stories and novelettes, and numerous essays, reviews, plays etc. -- are long out of print and can often only be found in large libraries and through used and antiquarian book suppliers.This volume, prepared by preeminent Blackwood scholar Mike Ashley, is an exhaustive listing and description of everything Blackwood ever had published or exists in known manuscript, plus the fullest biography of Blackwood ever written.(Ashley is currently researching for a much longer, book-length biography of Blackwood, but it won't include this extensive bibliographic material.)

Blackwood fans will find this fat volume indispensable for locating and organizing their reading of Blackwood, and newcomers will find this a priceless introduction and guide to the man who defined cosmic fiction.In either case, you'll find yourself turning to this book again and again. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

An Extraordinary Man
In his day, Algernon Blackwood was among the best known writers in the horror field. Today he's less known except to devotees of that genre.

But Blackwood didn't consider himself a horror writer. He said all his stories were based on personal experiences or those of close friends and, though he found the strange in the most ordinary of those experiences, he was most concerned with expanding consciousness for a greater understanding of life and nature.

Blackwood remains a mysterious figure and Mike Ashley has done a marvelous job of finding sources to interpret his life and career, all the more marvelous because the writer left only fragmentary details of his activities and Ashley had to play detective to find his material.

What Ashley unveils is a creative person who was not only an untiring writer (he was still penning stories in his late eighties) but also a world traveler, an undercover agent in World War 1 and a storyteller on radio and TV.

His attitude toward life was that one is never to old to try new things. An admirable attitude.

Ashley's writing is at times pedestrian but his subject makes it worth plugging on.

THE biography of Blackwood
Blackwood's life was indeed extraordinary, and so was the man. When you write about such an incredible character, you can hardly go wrong. This book is, to date, THE standard biography of Algernon Blackwood, one of the greatest supernatural tale writers of all times (trust not me, but the sound judgement of HP Lovecraft!). As one can sense from his writings, Blackwood had a copious first-hand experience of the weird.
" An extraordinary Life" follows AB through his pilgrimages around the world, tries its best to peep into the life of a quite mysterious fellow, and traces some of the sources of his wondrous tales. The last part is perhaps a bit boring, but hei, if you are a Blackwood's aficionado, this is a must.

PS Nobody knows yet the true identity of Dr. Silence: the case is open for further investigations.

Still alive
It was about time. Blackwood, who died just over fifty years ago, was one of the great twentieth-century masters of the weird tale; H P Lovecraft, no less, called his long story "The Willows" possibly the greatest weird tale ever written, and S T Joshi has said that his book Incredible Adventures may be the greatest weird collection. The more one reads of Blackwood, the more one is amazed at his present obscurity - an obscurity which may at last be starting to lift. The product of twenty years' research, including interviews with several people who knew Blackwood personally, this first ever full-length biography is an amazing achievement, particularly in view of Blackwood's cavalier attitude towards personal possessions, including documents. Ashley's extraordinary life of this extraordinary man details eighty-two years encompassing two world wars (during the first of which Blackwood served as a secret agent in Switzerland), innumerable travels round the world, near-starvation and vagrancy in New York, the high society of the 1920s and salvation by burning sausage during the London Blitz. Though clumsily written, the book's narrative is commendably clear; Blackwood was an immensely pleasant and sociable individual who met and befriended a great many people in the course of a long and eventful life, but although I raced through his biography I never once had to check back to find out who was who. Ashley perhaps harps a little too much on the fact that Blackwood originated the term "Starlight Express", but he does so for a better reason than mere topicality - he's trying to emphasise Blackwood's continuing (perhaps growing) relevance to the present. As S T Joshi remarked at the end of his chapter on Blackwood in The Weird Tale, Blackwood is a writer waiting to be discovered. Ashley's book should shorten the wait considerably. ... Read more