As [redacted] noted, Planet Stories will be publishing a collection of Manly Wade Wellman’s “Hok the Mighty” tales in November. However, that isn’t all the MWW news afoot.

In March, Planet Stories is releasing Who Fears the Devil? from Wellman. The protagonist of the book is John the Balladeer, also known as “Silver John.” The Planet Stories edition will collect all the short stories that Wellman wrote about his Appalachian hero and will use the 1963 Arkham House printing as its basis. Thus, the vignettes that MWW wrote especially for that edition to connect all the tales will be included and in their proper place. In addition, two other yarns will be included: namely, “Frogfather” and “Sin’s Doorway.” These tales are thought to be “prequels” to the Silver John saga and have never been collected with the other short stories until now.

Sci-fi/fantasy author, Mike Resnick, will be penning the introduction to Who Fears the Devil?. The entry for the book at Amazon.com also mentions Karl Edward Wagner. Wagner wrote a piece for the Silver John collection from Baen Books in the early ’90s. Perhaps that is being reprinted. We’ll have to see. If KEW would come back from the dead for anyone, chances are it would be Manly, as Steve Trout so eloquently noted.

Wellman got some kudos over at the REHupa blog last week. Morgan Holmes published a blog entry discussing a Sherlock Holmes pastiche written by Wellman and his son, Wade. The premise is more than a bit interesting and y’all can check out Morgan’s post here.

Manly Wade Wellman was a unique writer with a sweeping range (and a Howard fan in the bargain). He influenced several younger authors, including Wagner and David Drake. It’s good to see his work getting some attention.