Books by Algernon Blackwood

Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

by Algernon Blackwood

By turns bizarre, unsettling, spooky, and sublime, Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories showcases nine incomparable stories from master conjuror Algernon Blackwood. Evoking the uncanny spiritual forces of Nature, Blackwood's writings all tread the nebulous borderland between fantasy, awe, wonder, and horror. Here Blackwood displays his best and most disturbing work-including "The Willows," which Lovecraft singled out as "the single finest weird tale in literature"; "The Wendigo"; "The Insanity of Jones"; and "Sand."

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Whisperers and Other Stories: A Lifetime of the Supernatural (British Library Hardback Classics)

by Algernon Blackwood

'Back from the shouting floor and ceiling came the chorus of images that stormed and clamoured for expression. Jones lay still and listened; he let them come. There was nothing else to do.'

Algernon Blackwood was one of the most influential writers of twentieth-century weird and supernatural fiction. He once told a correspondent that every story he wrote was based on either a personal experience or that of someone he knew, and thus the vast collection of short stories and novels published in his lifetime can be seen to form a kind of autobiography.

In this collection of his most atmospheric and uneasy tales, Mike Ashley provides the facts of Blackwood’s life which inspired each story – including experiences as an intelligence agent in the First World War and adventures in New York – to tell the parallel tale of the author’s lifetime of the supernatural.

Vampire Stories: Blood-Curdling Tales of Horror (Arcturus Gilded Classics)

by Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood

This thrilling anthology of vampire stories features works from some of literature's greatest writers, presented in a stunning hardback edition with sprayed page edges

From Edgar Allan Poe and Algernon Blackwood to F. G. Loring and M. R. James, the tales within celebrate the earie and supernatural Including mysterious shadows, haunted rooms and bloodthirsty creatures, this is the ultimate companion for any lover of creepy characters and frightful foes

Includes:
• Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker
• Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe
• Count Magnus by M R James
• The Transfer by Algernon Blackwood
• The Tomb of Sarah by F G Loring
• Negotium Perambulans by E F Benson

Part of the Arcturus Gilded Classics series, this beautiful anthology features silver gilded page edges, foil cover embossing, ivory pages and patterned page edges, making a delightful gift.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Gilded Classics series presents luxury gift editions of classics works, printed on opulent ivory paper, featuring hardcover Wibilin binding, foil-embossed cover designs, beautifully designed end-papers and gilded page edges These make perfect collectibles for lovers of classic literature

Ancient Sorceries, Deluxe Edition: The most eerie and unnerving tales from one of the greatest proponents of supernatural fiction

by Algernon Blackwood

A beautifully produced new edition of Blackwood’s weirdest supernatural stories, including “The Willows,” highlighted by H.P. Lovecraft as "the single finest weird tale in literature”

Lauded as one of our greatest storytellers, and inspiring generations of writers from H.P. Lovecraft to Tolkien to Stephen King, Algernon Blackwood left a legacy as one of Britain's greatest conjurors of weird and supernatural stories. Blackwood’s inimitable style puts readers right in the middle of the story, with visceral and nature-inspired fear that lies just beyond the real, often in the form of a nameless dread.

This beautifully produced edition, with a stunning cover and thoughtful design and layout to ensure the most enjoyable reading experience, features four of his most unnervingly curious tales:
Ancient Sorceries--a traveller stops in a remote French hill town and soon finds himself unable to leave; there is something strangely feline about the inhabitants, he notices, and they all seem to be watching him very closely… The Listener--a lodging house guest feels himself observed by a malevolent presence. Soon it transpires his room’s previous occupant is watching him from beyond the grave, and is envious of the very flesh on his bones. The Sea Fit--an old retired ship’s captain’s ravings build to a terrifying climax, as he offers himself up as a sacrifice to the cruel gods of the sea. The Willows--two friends on a canoeing trip spend a terrifying night on a lonely willow-covered island, haunted by the strange trees and sinister shapes in the water.

The Empty House: A Ghost Story for Christmas (Seth's Christmas Ghost Stories)

by Algernon Blackwood

Aunt Julia, an elderly spinster with a mania for psychical research, has the keys to the haunted house on the square. She invites her nephew to accompany her on a midnight investigation into what really happened a hundred years ago when a servant girl fell to her death. But the house may not be as empty as it seems . . .
Algernon Henry Blackwood was a prolific English writer, most famous for his ghost stories.

The Human Chord

by Algernon Blackwood

When Robert Spinrobin, drifting through life in a daydream, answers a newspaper ad asking for an imaginative tenor with a grasp of ancient languages, he soon finds himself travelling to rural Wales and the home of ex-clergyman, Philip Skale. Here Skale, the housekeeper Mrs. Mawle and her niece, Miriam, have been pursuing a new science, harnessing sound to discover the true names of people - and recording the uncanny phenomena and transformations that this naming ritual brings in the subject. With possibilities of mind-melding and sublime spiritual awakenings already documented, it is not long before Skale pivots towards a grander master plan to intone a forbidden name beyond the preserve of humanity - while a gathering storm of disastrous cosmic consequences threatens to break. First published in 1910 but lost for most of the 20th century, Blackwood's tour-de-force novel is long overdue rediscovery. Featuring a new, incisive introduction from one of the foremost experts on Blackwood, Mike Ashley.

The Willows

by Algernon Blackwood

Algernon Blackwood has influenced weird fiction and horror writers down to the present day, with H.P. Lovecraft naming him among the modern masters of the genre.

East of Vienna, a canoe trip down the length of the Danube River turns strange and horrifying.

The two men traveling find it bad enough when they are forced to camp on an isolated island in the middle of nowhere while gale-force winds howl and waters rise. But soon, the threats take on a supernatural tinge. Wild sounds and visions in the night convince the men that they're being hunted by beings from another dimension, who are not so much malicious as vastly, cosmically indifferent to their welfare-and hungry.

The Willows, which first appeared in The Listener and Other Stories (1907), is one of his best-known tales. Noted weird fiction writer Ruthanna Emrys enlivens the text with sprightly commentary and traces the streams of story to their headwaters in a poetic and penetrating introduction.