Algernon Blackwood
(1869 - 1951)


English writer of ghost stories and supernatural fiction, of whom Lovecraft wrote: "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. (Unfortunately, Blackwood, who was familiar with Lovecraft's work, failed to return the compliment. As he told Peter Penzoldt, he found "spiritual terror" missing in his young admirer's writing, while it was all-important in his own.)


Among his many works, Blackwood wrote a series of stories and short novels featuring John Silence, a "physician extraordinary" or psychic detective. He also wrote light fantasy and children's books, but best remembered for his ghost stories.


The son of a preacher, Blackwood was always interested in the supernatural, the occult and spiritualism and was a firm believer in the higher powers of humanity. Episodes Before Thirty (1923) tells of his lean years as a journalist in New York. In the late 1940s, Blackwood had a television program on the BBC on which he read . . . ghost stories!