THE OLD GODS WAKEN.
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979. Octavo, boards. First edition. The first Silver John (John the Balladeer) novel. "John (whose last name is never given) is one of the few truly original series characters in contemporary dark fantasy: a quiet temperate man who has had a taste of the modern world and rejected it in favor of the homely pleasures and superstitions of the rural South ... For the most part ... the stories are successful attempts to work folklore and legends from the Civil War and the American Revolution into dark fantasy narratives ... [In this novel] John thwarts a cult attempting to resuscitate supernatural forces that predate the settling of the country by Native Americans ... [The John stories and novels] crystalize ideas for supernatural fiction that Wellman had been tackling as far back as the 1930s in WEIRD TALES and thus serve as an important bridge between the early modern horror tradition and contemporary dark fantasy." - Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror (1999) 6-384 [Reference: Barron (ed), Horror Literature 4-317. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature IV, pp. 1744-48. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 4-221]. A fine copy in a very good to nearly fine dust jacket with "File Copy" label affixed to base of spine panel, closed tear at lower front flap fold with some creasing and a tiny edge tear. (From the collection of a long time book editor who worked with Wellman). (33981). Item #33981
Price: $75.00