Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood, by Algernon Blackwood (ed. by E. F. Bleiler) ***1/4

Let's face it - since I knew before I started it that this collection included the renowned masterpieces, "The Wendigo" and "The Willows", there wasn't much chance that the rating would be too low. "The Wendigo" is pretty much perfect, and "The Willows" isn't far behind. Both of these stories are classics in the genre, for good reason. They also resonate particularly with me because of the subject material - "The Wendigo" features several guys who go camping in the woods, while "The Willows" has a couple of guys who go canoeing/camping. These settings made it particularly easy for me to get a sense of the respective environments, especially since I've experienced the odd solitude of the woods first-hand. More than a simple connection, though, Blackwood's descriptive writing is excellent - vivid, atmospheric, and stately - and would frighten the most city-bound of readers equally. I really, really loved the "Wendigo" in particular, the way the setting was established, sitting around the fire, canoeing, the woods, etc. (there's some canoeing in "Wendigo" as "Willows"). It's such vivid imagery, conveyed through excellent writing, that even with mediocre characters the story would work. But there's a strong emotional pull as well, which is probably the main distinction between "Wendigo" and "Willows", as there are more interesting characters in the former than in the latter. Not to knock "Willows", because the atmosphere is amazing there too. Blackwood masterfully suggests unknown and terrifying forces of nature in both of these stories, and I'm only sad that he didn't do it more often.

The other stories in the collection are a bit mixed, but almost all are good or very good. I particularly liked "Max Hensig", the closing piece in the collection, as well as "The Glamour of the Snow" and the two John Silence tales, "Ancient Sorceries" and "Secret Worship." Most of these stories are more about occult or odd circumstance, containing less of a sense of terror ("Max Hensig" being the exception) than "Wendigo" and "Willows", but the writing and sensibility make all of them worthwhile. Overall, this is a very solid collection of stories by a master storyteller.

One thing became very clear to me while reading Blackwood that I wasn't expecting - it's essential to read this while fully awake. Whenever I was the least bit tired, I found his writing slow-going, but if I read in the morning, or on a plane, or at any time when my mind was alive, I loved it.
(Summer 2005-Summer 2006)

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