John the Balladeer (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Manly Wade Wellman
- First Published: 1988
- Type of Work: Stories
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—Magical Realism
- Time of Work: The twentieth century
- Setting: The American South
- Genres: Short fiction, Magical Realism, Fantasy
- Subjects: South or Southerners, Twentieth century, Music or musicians, Singing or singers, Good and evil, Devils or demons, Minstrels
- Locales: United States
The Plot
The first eleven stories included in John the Balladeer were published originally in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction between 1951 and 1958, then collected in Who Fears the Devil? (1963). Other stories in the collection were first published between 1979 and 1987.
In these stories, John describes encounters with some sort of supernatural evil and how he defeated it, or at least survived when human evildoers were killed, because of his pure heart, his Christian faith, and the songs he plays on his silver-stringed guitar. (The...
[The entire page is 976 words long]
- Add John the Balladeer to your favorites