Algernon Blackwood’s Followers (1,086)

Algernon Blackwood

Born

in Shooter's Hill, Kent, England, The United Kingdom

March 14, 1869

Died

December 10, 1951

Genre

Horror, Short Stories, Weird Fiction

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Algernon Henry Blackwood (1869–1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".

Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religiou Algernon Henry Blackwood (1869–1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".

Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religious ideas." Blackwood had a varied career, farming in Canada, operating a hotel, as a newspaper reporter in New York City, and, throughout his adult life, an occasional essayist for various periodicals. In his late thirties, he moved back to England and started to write stories of the supernatural. He was very successful, writing at least ten original collections of short stories and eventually appearing on both radio and television to tell them. He also wrote fourteen novels, several children's books, and a number of plays, most of which were produced but not published. He was an avid lover of nature and the outdoors, and many of his stories reflect this.

H.P. Lovecraft wrote of Blackwood: "He is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere." His powerful story "The Willows," which effectively describes another dimension impinging upon our own, was reckoned by Lovecraft to be not only "foremost of all" Blackwood's tales but the best "weird tale" of all time.

Among his thirty-odd books, Blackwood wrote a series of stories and short novels published as John Silence, Physician Extraordinary (1908), which featured a "psychic detective" who combined the skills of a Sherlock Holmes and a psychic medium. Blackwood also wrote light fantasy and juvenile books. ...more

Combine Editions
Algernon Blackwood’s books

Average rating: 3.9 · 58,896 ratings · 6,854 reviews · 1,121 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Willows 4.06 avg rating — 15,048 ratings — published 1907 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wendigo 3.81 avg rating — 7,248 ratings — published 1910 — 464 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood by Algernon Blackwood, E.F. Bleiler (Introduction) 4.15 avg rating — 3,130 ratings — published 1973 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories by Algernon Blackwood, S.T. Joshi (Introduction) 4.09 avg rating — 2,236 ratings — published 2001 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories 3.75 avg rating — 1,794 ratings — published 1906 — 697 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Man Whom the Trees Loved 3.65 avg rating — 908 ratings — published 1912 — 125 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Complete John Silence Stories (John Silence #1-2) by Algernon Blackwood, S.T. Joshi (Editor) 3.97 avg rating — 763 ratings — published 1908 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Empty House 3.45 avg rating — 652 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Damned 3.51 avg rating — 442 ratings — published 1914 — 337 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Four Weird Tales by Algernon Blackwood, 1stworld Library (Editor) 3.48 avg rating — 442 ratings — published 1907 — 113 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Algernon Blackwood…

Series by Algernon Blackwood

John Silence (2 books)
by

Algernon Blackwood

3.93 avg rating — 1,078 ratings

Biblioteca de Lovecraft (4 books)
by

Algernon Blackwood

3.50 avg rating — 10 ratings

Quotes by Algernon Blackwood (?)

“The Wise are silent, the Foolish speak, and children are thus led astray.”
― Algernon Blackwood

61 likes

“When common objects in this way be come charged with the suggestion of horror, they stimulate the imagination far more than things of unusual appearance; and these bushes, crowding huddled about us, assumed for me in the darkness a bizarre grotesquerie of appearance that lent to them somehow the aspect of purposeful and living creatures. Their very ordinariness, I felt, masked what was malignant and hostile to us.”
― Algernon Blackwood, The Willows

tags: horror, imagination

45 likes

“No place worth knowing yields itself at sight, and those the least
inviting on first view may leave the most haunting pictures upon the
walls of memory.”
― Algernon Blackwood, A Prisoner in Fairyland

43 likes

See all Algernon Blackwood's quotes »

Polls

October 2022 Short Story/Novella Poll

Berenice by Edgar Allan Poe, 24 pages, 1825

68 votes, 29.3%

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin, 32 pages, 1973

55 votes, 23.7%

The Color Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft, 25 pages, 1927

40 votes, 17.2%

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood, 55+- pages, 1907

27 votes, 11.6%

Fräulein Else by Arthur Schnitzler, 112 pages, 1924

22 votes, 9.5%

The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson, 14 pages, 1907

20 votes, 8.6%

232 total votes

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