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Rating: 
Summary: "Willows," will unease you!
Review: -
I was recently directed to an outstanding author, famous for haunting, scary, engrossing stories, whose work I hadn't read before. Algernon Blackwood, is his name, and he was called to my attention by the editor of a White Nationalist web page, who posted "Willows" on his web site as example of excellent White art.After reading the story, I couldn't get it out of my mind, so I searched the web for information, and ultimately bought this book from Amazon. "Willows," is among the stories collected here, and it is better than most; but, as a whole, the entire book is great entertainment. Blackwood, has been compared to Edgar Allen Poe, in his ability to create psychological tension, and palpable unease that creeps up on the reader, and remains awhile. There is great subtlety in the author's presentation of Nature and its relationship to Mankind. There are nine Blackwood stories in this 374 page book, including about twenty five pages of Explanatory Notes, which shed light on the author and the stories. A number of other Blackwood stories are collected in other books, also available at amazon. A good choice for a rainy night of reading, alone, in an isolated location.
Rating:
Summary: master of the setting
Review: ab is the master of setting. his stories has the most powerful settings. in addition he is the best at describing the conflict between the primal and the modern man. alas, he was never good at endings. some of his stories end will enough, but many a time there is something destroying. the guy decides just to walk away, for example. oh, well
Rating: 
Summary: The scariest of ghost story writers
Review: Algernon Blackwood really is the most frightening to me of all horror story writers: he has a way of capturing mood and setting that outdoes any of his many followers (among whom H. P. Lovecraft was proudly one of the most preeminent). The three most famous stories in this book--the title story, "The Wendigo," and above all "The Willows"--emblematize his skill. The title story is set in an ancient French townn where the townspeople seem to have a peculair habit of transforming into something else, and authentically captures the creepiness of medieval towns at night. Even more frightening is "The Wendigo": set in the North Woods, it realizes whatever fears you've ever had walking alone in the snowy woods. "The Willows" was Lovecraft's nomination for the finest horror stopry ever written, and it clearly may have inspired THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: two canoers traversing through the Middle European forests find themselves stranded on an island by unknown forces that won't let them leave. Part of the pleasure of Blackwood is that he never overdoes it: he has a marvelous light touch, and reads quite crisply at the level of the sentence.
Rating:
Summary: The scariest of ghost story writers
Review: Algernon Blackwood really is the most frightening to me of all horror story writers: he has a way of capturing mood and setting that outdoes any of his many followers (among whom H. P. Lovecraft was proudly one of the most preeminent). The three most famous stories in this book--the title story, "The Wendigo," and above all "The Willows"--emblematize his skill. The title story is set in an ancient French townn where the townspeople seem to have a peculair habit of transforming into something else, and authentically captures the creepiness of medieval towns at night. Even more frightening is "The Wendigo": set in the North Woods, it realizes whatever fears you've ever had walking alone in the snowy woods. "The Willows" was Lovecraft's nomination for the finest horror stopry ever written, and it clearly may have inspired THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: two canoers traversing through the Middle European forests find themselves stranded on an island by unknown forces that won't let them leave. Part of the pleasure of Blackwood is that he never overdoes it: he has a marvelous light touch, and reads quite crisply at the level of the sentence.
Rating:
Summary: Cumulative and Subtle Supernatural Terror
Review: Algernon Blackwood's stories are beautifully crafted, allusive, understated and often rather quiet in tone: their subtle and lasting impact upon the imagination resides in the eerie ability Blackwood possessed to evoke certain rare interactions with remote spheres of primaeval power long anteceding modern man and his circumscribed world of reassuring rationalism: AB's narratives reveal the domain of vast elemental beings and ancient presences haunting the outer spaces of woods and the wilderness of untamed nature and lurking behind the veil of appearances, emerging betimes from behind the facades of seeming normality, often to ensorcel and lure certain susceptible humans from this world into an unknown existence in secret realms of immense mystery. AB's tales, truly connoisseur-fare for the lover of supernatural terror, almost all concern the contact, whether intentional or inadvertent, with that which lies beyond the liminal borders of the mundane, pressing invisibly in upon us but unsuspected by the greater mass of humanity. 'The Willows' is unsurpassed in the genre, a genuinely unsettling story involving unseen alien potencies which threaten two men camping on a remote river island in Middle Europe. Likewise 'The Wendigo' reveals the fearful reality which underlies Indian folklore and dwells far beyond the familiar places of humankind, in the virgin forests of Canada. 'The Man Who The Trees Loved' is an exceedingly strange account of the secret arboreal world and its claim over a human soul and 'Ancient Sorceries' is possibly the best tale of Witchcraft i have ever read, capturing the furtive and oblique feline atmosphere of the hidden life which a sleepy French town conceals beneath it's deceptive surface. I should have liked to have seen some other old favourites included such as that wondrous story 'The Trod', the quiet and fog-bound lycanthropic horror of 'The Empty Sleeve', 'The Glamour of the Snow', 'The Doll', 'The Touch of Pan' and 'The Man Who Was Milligan' and the mysterious poetic conjurations of 'The House of the Past' and 'The South Wind'. I fell under the spell of these wonderful tales when i read AB's 'Tales of the Uncanny & Supernatural' in childhood around 1973. Their appeal has not diminished with the passing of the years but only grown stronger. AB's tales of spiritual terror will lead one into a truly disquieting ambience of the supernatural which will endure in your imagination for long years afterwards.
Rating: 
Summary: Some Good, some not
Review: I can't say that Algernon Blackwood is my favorite eerie writer. I prefer Lovecraft's neo-gnosticism to Blackwood's pagan naturalism. To each his own, I guess. Clearly, I am biased in favor of the former type of story over the latter, although there were many good stories.
So, with the standard disclaimers out of the way: "An Episode in a Lodging House" - very Lovecraftian feel, including mystic text for doing Terrible Things (publication date 1906 predates HPL) "The Willows" - can't say that I got into the spirit of this one. It reminded me of pleasant camping trips and hikes, not anything awe- or terror- inspiring. Other people seem to like it though. "The Insanity of Jones" - an interesting story about karma and supposed justice. I was curious to see whether the central character would choose vengeance or mercy. "Ancient Sorceries" - this lengthy story about witchcraft and a town's dark history was a good read. I found the love interest to be creepy and added to the atmosphere. "The Wendigo" - this was my favorite. The Wendigo was what I thought The Willows should have been. The isolation, the dark, unexplored corners of the North, the terrifying abduction, all came together to be really eerie. "The Man whom the Trees Loved" - if pagans wrote evangelistic tracts, they would be this. I felt that the writer was trying to proselytize more than write a good story. It took up a large portion of the book as well. Caveat emptor... "Sand" - good use of suspense, realms beyond knowing. This story and the Lodging House really show the source of many of Lovecraft's ideas (who was the inspiration for many other writers such as Robert Bloch and Stephen King, who influence us today).
Rating:
Summary: Some Good, some not
Review: I can't say that Algernon Blackwood is my favorite eerie writer. I prefer Lovecraft's neo-gnosticism to Blackwood's pagan naturalism. To each his own, I guess. Clearly, I am biased in favor of the former type of story over the latter, although there were many good stories.
So, with the standard disclaimers out of the way: "An Episode in a Lodging House" - very Lovecraftian feel, including mystic text for doing Terrible Things (publication date 1906 predates HPL) "The Willows" - can't say that I got into the spirit of this one. It reminded me of pleasant camping trips and hikes, not anything awe- or terror- inspiring. Other people seem to like it though. "The Insanity of Jones" - an interesting story about karma and supposed justice. I was curious to see whether the central character would choose vengeance or mercy. "Ancient Sorceries" - this lengthy story about witchcraft and a town's dark history was a good read. I found the love interest to be creepy and added to the atmosphere. "The Wendigo" - this was my favorite. The Wendigo was what I thought The Willows should have been. The isolation, the dark, unexplored corners of the North, the terrifying abduction, all came together to be really eerie. "The Man whom the Trees Loved" - if pagans wrote evangelistic tracts, they would be this. I felt that the writer was trying to proselytize more than write a good story. It took up a large portion of the book as well. Caveat emptor... "Sand" - good use of suspense, realms beyond knowing. This story and the Lodging House really show the source of many of Lovecraft's ideas (who was the inspiration for many other writers such as Robert Bloch and Stephen King, who influence us today).
Rating:
Summary: Superb Collection of Weird Tales
Review: These are profoundly unsettling stories that reveal the darker forces that co-exist in the world alongside mankind. These are literate and thoughtfully chilling tales, whereby Blackwood buildings a sense of unease and gradual terror through his careful and atmosphericly descriptive prose. Although this anthology features a couple of obvious choices ("The Willows" and "The Wendigo"), the editor has also added a few of Blackwood's lesser known stories, which is the reason that this collection is requisite. As usual, S.T. Joshi has done a splendid job of offering thorough and insightful notes about each tale at the end of the collection. Highly-recommended.
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