Manly Wade Wellman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Manly Wade Wellman
Etching of Wellman in Wonder Stories (1931).
Born	(1903-05-21)May 21, 1903 Kamundongo, Portuguese West Africa
Died	April 5, 1986(1986-04-05) (aged 82) Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US
Pen name	Gabriel Barclay Levi Crow Gans T. Field Hampton Wells Wade Wells
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Wichita Municipal University (B.A) Columbia Law School (LL.B.
Genres	Detective Fantasy Historical Juvenile Science fiction Weird Western Non-fiction
Subjects	Folklore History
Years active	1927-1986
Notable works	Dead and Gone Rebel Boast Worse Things Waiting
Notable awards	Edgar Award (1956) Pulitzer Prize (nom, 1956) World Fantasy Award (1975, 1980) Phoenix Award (1976) First Fandom Hall of Fame (1983) British Fantasy Award (1985) North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame (1996)
Spouse	Frances Obrist (d.2000)
Children	Wade Wellman (d.2018)
Relatives	Frederick Creighton Wellman (father) Paul I. Wellman (brother)

Manly Wade Wellman (born May 21, 1903 – died April 5, 1986) was an American writer. He wrote many kinds of stories, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His stories often appeared in popular magazines called "pulps," like Astounding Stories and Weird Tales.

Wellman is especially known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains. These tales often used local folklore and traditions. He was called "the dean of fantasy writers" by Karl Edward Wagner. Wellman also wrote historical fiction, detective fiction, western fiction, and books for young people.

He lived in North Carolina for a long time and won many awards. These include the World Fantasy Award and the Edgar Allan Poe Award. In 2013, an award was even named after him to honor other North Carolina authors who write science fiction and fantasy.

Some of Wellman's most famous characters include John, also known as "Silver John", a traveling musician with a silver-stringed guitar. He also created Judge Pursuivant, an older detective who solves strange mysteries, and John Thunstone, another investigator of the unusual. Wellman used several pen names, such as Gabriel Barclay and Wade Wells.

About Manly Wade Wellman

Early Life and Education

Manly Wade Wellman was born in a village called Kamundongo in Portuguese Angola (now Angola). His father was a doctor working there. When he was very young, Manly learned the local language before he learned English. He even became an adopted son of a powerful chief after his father helped restore the chief's eyesight.

Later, his family moved to the United States. He went to school in Washington, D.C., and then college at Wichita Municipal University (now Wichita State University) in Kansas. He earned a degree in English in 1926. He also studied law at Columbia Law School.

Even though he was a good football player, his family and teachers didn't think he should become a writer. But his first story, "Back to the Beast," was bought by an editor and published in Weird Tales in 1927. Wellman also had some Native American ancestry. His brother, Paul Wellman, was also a well-known author.

Starting His Writing Career

Wellman's very first published story, "The Lion Roared" (1927), was based on tales he heard during his childhood in Africa. His first science fiction novel, The Invading Asteroid, came out in 1929.

Around this time, he became friends with Vance Randolph, an expert on the folklore of the Ozark mountains. Randolph took Wellman on trips to learn about the folk traditions and meet people living in the American countryside. Through Randolph, Wellman met folk musician Obray Ramsey, whose music greatly influenced Wellman's writing.

In the late 1920s, Wellman worked as a movie reviewer and a crime reporter for newspapers in Kansas. He sold many stories to magazines like Ozark Stories. He married Frances Obrist, who was also a horror writer. When newspaper work became scarce during the Great Depression, Wellman moved to New York City in 1934. There, he helped with a project that collected American folklore.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Wellman started selling stories to bigger magazines like Weird Tales and Astounding Stories. He also began writing for comic books, which he called "squinkies." He wrote the first issue of Captain Marvel Adventures. Later, he even had to testify in a lawsuit about whether Captain Marvel copied Superman. Wellman said his editors told writers to use Superman as a guide for Captain Marvel.

Life in North Carolina

After serving as a lieutenant in World War II, Wellman moved his family to Pinebluff, North Carolina, in 1951. He became very interested in the history and folklore of the American South, especially the American Civil War. Later that year, he moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he lived for the rest of his life. He even built a vacation cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains next to his friend Obray Ramsey's home.

To support his family, Wellman worked many different jobs, like on farms and as a bouncer, while still writing. He wrote several books about Southern history, which are now considered classics. One famous book, Giant in Gray (1949), was about Confederate General Wade Hampton III. He also wrote many books for young adults and science fiction novels during the 1950s.

Later Years and Legacy

The 1970s and 1980s saw a new wave of interest in Wellman's work. Many of his best short stories were collected in Worse Things Waiting (1973), which won him a World Fantasy Award. He also wrote five new novels featuring his popular character Silver John between 1979 and 1984. A movie based on the Silver John stories, The Legend of Hillbilly John, was released in 1973.

In 1980, Wellman received the World Fantasy Award for his lifetime achievements in writing. He was also a special guest at the World Fantasy Convention in 1983.

Manly Wade Wellman passed away on April 5, 1986, at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Before he died, he finished a historical novel called Cahena and a final short story for his John the Balladeer series. His friend and fellow writer, Karl Edward Wagner, helped manage his literary works after his death.

Wellman's stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by readers. The Manly Wade Wellman Award, created in his honor, celebrates new science fiction and fantasy writers from North Carolina every year.

Works

Wellman estimated he wrote about 500 stories and articles. About 80 of these were in the fantasy and science fiction genres.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

• The Invading Asteroid (1929)
• Sojarr of Titan (1941)
• The Devil's Asteroid (1941)
• The Solar Invasion (1946)
• Devil's Planet (1951)
• The Beasts from Beyond (1950)
• Twice in Time (1957)
• The Dark Destroyers (1959)
• Giants from Eternity (1959)
• Island in the Sky (1961)
• Worse Things Waiting (1973) (short story collection)
• Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds (with Wade Wellman) (1975)
• The Beyonders (1977)
• The Valley So Low: Southern Mountain Stories (1987) (collection)

Silver John Stories

• Who Fears the Devil? (1963) (short stories)
• The Old Gods Waken (1979)
• After Dark (1980)
• The Lost and the Lurking (1981)
• The Hanging Stones (1982)
• The Voice of the Mountain (1984)

John Thunstone Stories

• Lonely Vigils (1981) (short stories)
• What Dreams May Come (1983)
• The School of Darkness (1985)

Young Adult Books

• The Sleuth Patrol (1947)
• The Mystery of Lost Valley (1948)
• The Raiders of Beaver Lake (1950)
• The Haunts of Drowning Creek (1951)
• Wild Dogs of Drowning Creek (1952)
• The Last Mammoth (1953)
• Gray Riders: Jeb Stuart and His Men (1954)
• Rebel Mail Runner (1954)
• Flag on the Levee (1955)
• To Lands Unknown (1956)
• Young Squire Morgan (1956)
• Lights over Skelton Ridge (1957)
• The Master of Scare Hollow (1957)
• The Ghost Battalion: A Story of the Iron Scouts (1958)
• Ride, Rebels!: Adventures of the Iron Scouts (1959)
• Appomattox Road: Final Adventures of the Iron Scouts (1960)
• Third String Center (1960)
• Rifles at Ramsour's Mill: A Tale of the Revolutionary War (1961)
• Battle for King's Mountain (1962)
• Clash on the Catawba (1962)
• The South Fork Rangers (1963)
• The River Pirates (1963)
• Settlement on Shocco: Adventures in Colonial Carolina (1963)
• Mystery at Bear Paw Gap (1964)
• The Specter of Bear Paw Creek (1966)
• Battle at Bear Paw Gap (1966)
• Jamestown Adventure (1967)
• Brave Horse: The Story of Janus (1968)
• Carolina Pirate (1968)
• Frontier Reporter (1969)
• Mountain Feud (1969)
• Fast Break Five (1971)

Other Novels

• Cahena (1986) (historical novel)
• Candle of the Wicked (1960)
• Fort Sun Dance (1955) (western)
• Not At These Hands (1962) (mystery)

Non-Fiction Books

• Giant in Gray: A Biography of Wade Hampton III of South Carolina (1949)
• Dead and Gone: Classic Crimes of North Carolina (1954)
• Rebel Boast: First at Bethel, Last at Apppomattox (1956)
• Fastest on the River: The Great Race Between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee (1957)
• The Life and Times of Sir Archie (with Elizabeth A. C. Blanchard) (1958)
• The County of Warren, 1586–1917 (1959)
• They Took Their Stand: The Founders of the Confederacy (1959)
• The Rebel Songster: Songs the Confederates Sang (1959)
• Harpers Ferry, Prize of War (1960)
• The County of Gaston (with Robert F. Cope) (1961)
• The County of Moore, 1947-1947 (1962)
• The Kingdom of Madison: A Southern Mountain Fastness And Its People (1971)

Awards and Honors

Manly Wade Wellman won or was nominated for many awards during his career.

Adaptations of His Work

Many of Wellman's stories have been adapted into other forms, like TV shows and movies.

• The Silver John stories inspired a 1994 music recording by Joe Bethancourt. It featured traditional Appalachian folk songs and Wellman's original lyrics.
• The band The Dixie Bee-Liners recorded a song called "Yellow-Haired Girl" in 2008, inspired by the Silver John stories.

Some of his stories adapted for television include:

• "Larroes Catch Meddlers" became "The Meddlers" on Lights Out (1951).
• "School for the Unspeakable" also became an episode of Lights Out (1952).
• "The Valley Was Still" was adapted for The Twilight Zone as "Still Valley" (1961).
• "The Devil is Not Mocked" was featured on Night Gallery (1971).
• "Rouse Him Not" was adapted for the TV series Monsters (1988).

A feature film based on the Silver John character, Who Fears The Devil?, was released in 1972. It was later re-released in 1973 as The Legend of Hillbilly John. Parts of the film were based on Wellman's stories "O Ugly Bird" and "The Desrick on Yandro."

In 2010, a short film called Up Under the Roof was made, based on Wellman's short story of the same name.

Images for kids

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  Wellman's story "Coven" was featured on the cover of Weird Tales in July 1942.

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  Wellman's story "Venus Enslaved" was featured on the cover of Planet Stories in Summer 1942.

Legacy

Karl Edward Wagner called Manly Wade Wellman "the dean of fantasy writers."

Manly Wade Wellman Award

The Manly Wade Wellman Award is given out every year since 2013. It honors great science fiction and fantasy novels written by authors from North Carolina.

• 2014 - The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty
• 2015 - Ghost Train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty
• 2016 - Raising Hell by John G. Hartness
• 2017 - Steeplejack by A. J. Hartley
• 2018 - Scourge by Gail Z. Martin
• 2019 - Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
• 2020 - A Fall in Autumn by Michael G. Williams
• 2021 - Queen of None by Natania Barron