The Complete John Thunstone Hardcover – December 22, 2012

This is a gem of a book! I’d often heard of Manly Wade Wellman and his connection to Weird Tales but this is the first time I’ve sat down and read some of his stuff. And how lucky I was to pick this book as my first choice. It contains all of his John Thunstone short stories which appeared in Weird Tales plus his two novels featuring the same character ‘What Dreams May Come’ and ‘The School of Darkness’. John Thunstone is an occult detective battling the forces of darkness. Imagine a sort of low key Doctor Strange with more muscles and a less flamboyant dress sense. One of his most persistent adversaries is Rowley Thorne based on real life mystic Aleister Crowley. (Apparently when quizzed about the possibility of being suited for libel by Crowley over this Wellman made a remark to effect that he could hardly damage Crowley's reputation more than it already was.) And indeed I think Crowley would probably have appreciated this not entirely unflattering caricature. Especially considering how well researched the occult jargon Thorne comes out with is, and the authentic sounding background to his various plots and schemes. (One amusingly telling dig at Crowley is that Thorne appears to be perennially short of cash... and one of his prime motivations seems to be trying to gull the necessary luca for his extravagant lifestyle out of his unfortunate marks.) Perhaps that, more than anything else Wellman may have written, might have provoked Crowley to sue. Thunstone himself is a refreshingly old fashioned hero. There seems to have been none of the childhood traumas, slain relatives or other personal baggage that are deemed to be so necessary nowadays to provide a plausible motivation for the hero’s behaviour. John Thunstone seems to have decided take up his sword and battle evil simply because that was the right thing to do. Perhaps from the reasoning that all that is necessary for (eldritch) evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing. The stories themselves are master classes in concise prose. Each seeming somehow longer than their actual page count would indicate. Some, like ‘The Leonardo Rondache’ and ‘The Last Grave of Lill Warran’, leave you gobsmacked at their deceptive simplicity. Everyone knows the story of the childhood Leonardo da Vinci painting a fearsome gargoyle upon a peasant’s wooden shield. Or that, according the legend, dead werewolves return from the grave as vampires. But nobody has spun such fascinating and incredible tales from these bare facts... Nobody except Manly Wade Wellman that is. The book is wrapped in a beautifully painted dust jacket by Raymond Swanland and contains many evocative and accurate internal pen and ink illustrations by George Evans. Buy this book, you won’t regret it.

L. Sprague de Camp, way back in his invaluable SCIENCE FICTION HANDBOOK,first brought Manly Wade Wellman's JOHN THUNSTONE series to my attention.At the time I'd devoured the Winston science-fiction series, venturedwith Tarzan and John Carter through Africa the Untamed and Barsoom,and was dipping my toe into Lord Dunsany, Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, andClark Ashton Smith. What wonders, what sleepless nights!My friend Claude Held - the erudite Buffalo book dealer who sold meTHE OUTSIDER AND OTHERS - sent a number of pulps, among which wereflaking issues of WEIRD TALES containing most of Wellman's occultist'sadventures.Several years later, Karl Edward Wagner - sadly short-lived - brought outLONELY VIGILS, a then complete edition of Thunstone. Years later John Pelan collectedall of the Thunstone tales. Now Haffner Press has produced THE COMPLETEJOHN THUNSTONE, a massive doorstop of a book, containing not only all of theoccultist' short adventures, but also his two later novels: WHAT DREAMSMAY COME and SCHOOL OF DARKNESS (wherein we witness evil Rowley Thorne'sunpleasant departure from this plane of existence).It's a beautiful piece of book-making; more to the point, it's a final640-page chance for us to get to know this urbane "spook-fighter". Thunstonedoes battle with both Thorne and that mysterious race who occupied America before the first humans arrived. The Shonokinsappear to have no women, and exhibit a mindless horror of theirown dead. (I wish Manly had written more of them.)Some tales are unforgettable: "The Lettersof Cold Fire", "Blood From a Stone" (wherein I first learned ofSpence's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM), "Shonokin Town" (Thunstone tears it up),and "Twice Cursed" (a dark world in a New York bookseller's cellar).Throughout, Thunstone remains cool, calm and collected before horrorsout of time and space. The two novels, writ mid-80's just before his death,sum up and pay tribute to Mr. Thunstone after a thirty year publishing gap.Haffner uses the George Evans plates from the Wagner Thunstone edition, LONELYVIGILS. Ramsey Campbell provides a fine introduction.I knew Wellman, even included a "Thunstoneism" in one of my own Arkham Housestories. Corresponding with him, I found him every bit as welcoming, boomingand enthusiastic as I'd expected. (Did you know he also scriptedfor Fawcett Comics' CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES; wrote THE SPIRIT forWill Eisner; did a bit of BLACKHAWK?) He was a pal; and I still miss him.Thank God Thunstone's still around in a new/same old incarnation - bluff andfearless - someone to knock back a drink with on a dark and stormy night!This one's a keeper.