The old gods waken [Hardcover]

Manly Wade Wellman (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 186 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385148070
• ISBN-13: 978-0385148078
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #868,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a supurb beginning to a bewitching series., December 31, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chattanooga, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The old gods waken (Hardcover)

This is the first of Wellman's Silver John books. These books capture southern folklore in rich detail. Wellman's love of history , geography , and lore are woven into a chilling tale of a neighborly dispute gone chillingly wry.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Occult Adventure in Appalachia, October 15, 2008

By 

rampageous_cuss (Under Billy Penn's Hat) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This is the first novel-length adventure of Manly Wade Wellman's Appalachian bard/hero, John (no last name), sometimes called "Silver John" or "John the Balladeer." Wellman, a writer from the early days of the pulp period, favored heroic adventurers whose understanding of the power of goodness ultimately triumphs over the inferiority of evil.

John is a footloose musician who wanders Appalachia, playing and collecting the "old-timey" songs he plays on his silver-stringed guitar. Hosted by good men with an ear for music, John stops at a farm whose neighbors have begun a strange blood feud. Stubborn courage alone cannot save the farmer and his family from an evil rooted in Appalachian folklore; they need the true spirit and hard-won wisdom of John.

Wellman had an amazing ability to convey local dialect effectively in print, and a real feel for the landscape in which he sets the action. If you like this story, check out short-story collections of the same character, "Who Fears the Devil" or "Owls Hoot in the Daytime."

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful regional horror/fantasy, October 9, 2005

By 

John Oconnor "Wrong Reverend Pope John the Me... (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The old gods waken (Hardcover)

Anything by Manly Wade Wellman is worth reading, but his Silver John series is by far his best writing. It's funny, sad, scary, exciting and philosophical at the same time. It's obvious that Wellman spent time in the mountains of Appalachia, and knows the people there. This is well worth reading over and over.