WELLMAN, Manly Wade

(1903-1986)

   US writer, born in Angola (though his family returned to the USA when he was 6), prolific in both FANTASY and sf, though far more significant for works in the former; he also wrote Westerns - though less frequently than his brother, Paul I. Wellman (1898-1966) - and crime fiction. MWW began publishing with a fantasy, "Back to the Beast" for Weird Tales in 1927; his first sf story proper, "When Planets Clashed",appeared (in Wonder Stories Quarterly) as late as 1931. Both were under his own name, though much of his early work appeared under pseudonyms, including Levi Crow, Gans T. Field and the house name Gabriel BARCLAY. Much of his early work appeared in THRILLING WONDER STORIES and STARTLINGSTORIES, and was suitably vigorous and high-coloured. His first book was a short SPACE OPERA, The Invading Asteroid (1932 chap). Giants from Eternity (1939 Startling Stories; 1959) featured the rebirth of medical geniusesfrom Earth's past to confront a future menace; Sojarr of Titan (1941 Startling Stories; 1949) was a Tarzan-derived tale set in space; and theHok series, stories published 1939-41 in AMZ and 1942 in Fantastic Adventures, were sf adventures set in various early mythic civilizations.Of greatest sf interest were novels like Twice in Time (1940 Startling Stories; cut 1957; with text restored and 1 story added, rev ascoll 1988), an effective TIME-TRAVEL tale featuring a vivid portrayal of Leonardo da Vinci's Florence, and Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds(fixup 1975), with his son Wade Wellman, which intricately involves the detective with the Martian INVASION featured in H.G. WELLS's novel. But in general MWW's sf almost completely lacks the folkloric tone and cunning quietude of his best work.MWW's fantasy ranged from early weird stories derivative of H.P. LOVECRAFT through tales of the occult, tales that evoked Native American legend, and on to the sequences noted below. Much of his miscellaneous work was assembled in Worse Things Waiting (coll 1973), a large volume which helped inspire the growth of interest in hiswork over the last years of his life. More centrally, the Judge Pursuivant series (in Weird Tales 1938-41), as by Gans T. Field, and the John Thunstone series - some of the original stories, published in Weird Talesfrom 1938, being originally published as by Gans T. Field - were assembled in Lonely Vigils (coll 1981). What Dreams May Come (1983) and The School of Darkness (1985) continued to feature Thunstone. Both Thunstone and Pursuivant are occult detectives, and the range of their investigations iscompendious, encompassing most of MWW's general periods and venues of interest, from the US Civil War to the rural USA of the 20th century. From 1951 - with stories appearing frequently in The MAGAZINE OF FANTASY ANDSCIENCE FICTION , which had taken over from Weird Tales as his main journal - much of MWW's energy was devoted to his most famous sequence, the stories and novels set in the Appalachian regions of North Carolina and following the career of witchcraft-fighter and minstrel Silver John or John the Balladeer: Who Fears the Devil? (coll of linked stories 1963; expvt John the Balladeer 1988), The Old Gods Waken (1979), After Dark (1980), The Lost and the Lurking (1981), The Hanging Stones (1982) and The Voiceof the Mountain (1985). Along with the stories assembled in The Valley so Low: Southern Mountain Tales (coll 1987), the series remains his mostsignificant achievement.

   JC

   Other works: Romance in Black (1938 Weird Tales as "The Black Drama"; 1946 chap UK) as by Gans T. Field; The Beasts from Beyond (1944 Startling Stories as "Strangers on the Heights"; 1950 UK); The Devil's Planet (1942 Startling Stories; 1951 UK); The DarkDestroyers (1938 ASF as "Nuisance Value"; 1959; cut 1960 dos); Island in the Sky (1941 TWS; 1961); a CAPTAIN FUTURE novel, The Solar Invasion * (1946 Startling Stories; 1968); The Beyonders (1977); Cahena: A Dream ofthe Past (1986).

   About the author: Manly Wade Wellman, the Gentleman from Chapel Hill: A Memorial Working Bibliography (1986 chap) by Gordon BENSON Jr.

   See also: ARTS; COMICS; CRIME AND PUNISHMENT; The MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION ; MYTHOLOGY; PASTORAL; REINCARNATION; SUPERMAN character; SUPERNATURAL CREATURES.