THE DEEP ONES: "Owls Hoot in the Daytime" by Manly Wade Wellman

"Owls Hoot in the Daytime" by Manly Wade Wellman.

DISCUSSION BEGINS NOVEMBER 2

Online version:

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/Mountain%20M...

Print Versions:

Dark Forces by Kirby McCauley
Who Fears the Devil (Planet Stories) by Manly Wade Wellman
Owls Hoot in the Daytime by Manly Wade Wellman

Miscellaneous:

http://www.manlywadewellman.com/Wellbio.html

I just snagged a copy of Dark Forces from the public library!

I just dug up my copy of DF. Think I'll read the Wellman story from there, too!

Read the first bit and I'm intrigued! Still reading the Ligotti story, and I'll get a response up for that at some point soon. Currently Halloween is slated as a "do nothing but read horror/weird fiction" day, so we'll see how things go.

So, I was really looking forward to this story. I had read a couple of Silver John novels by Wellman about twenty-five years ago, and I remembered them really stoking my interest in traditional ideas about magic and the occult.

But now that I've read it, I feel like it was really the least of our course thus far. The writing was fairly capable; I wasn't put off or turned on by the conspicuous use of local dialect. I never felt like I learned anything about the monster, or why it was there at the hellmouth. It was just a sort of pointless scare, I felt. The interactions with Maltby Sanger were more interesting, but still seemed ultimately unproductive.

Wellman's genius with the "Wandering John" tales is that they are set in such a unique place - the Appalachian mountains - which is not only rich in folkloric traditions, but would seem more than readily capable of housing the strange and sometimes menacing places and settings encountered in the stories. I really enjoy their flavor, as they almost without fail transport me directly into those haunted woods.

I rather like the "Moloch" monster in "Owls" (and yes, it is just a good ol' monster from the bowels of hell for the Deep Ones this time), with its mouth "wet and black, like a mess of hot tar", just lurking behind that cabin facade like a big old trap-door spider. Wellman did create better monsters, such as the infamous Behinder, the Shonokins, or the Flat (were some of these stolen for the D&D Monster Manual?). Here is a good listing of those: http://www.manlywadewellman.com/Wellbeast.htm

This is later period Wellman. His writing is assured, but this particular story does leave out a lot of the usual entertaining banter with the local denizens (both human and otherwise) that you usually get. So I'd agree that while entertaining, "Owls" is by no means the best. By this point, Wellman had been living in Chapel Hill, NC for about 30 years or so, and his knowledge of the people and folkways of the area ran deep. The dialect and folk songs that are so often quoted are real and accurate representations.

Here is an interesting remembrance by author David Drake:

http://david-drake.com/2010/manly-wade-wellman/#more-1367

I love these two lines, from the beginning:

"I found a bridge across a creek, but it was busted down in the middle, like a warning not to use it. I splashed across there."

It's very effective in displaying the kind of "sign" a knowledgeable person might see along those mountain paths, as well as John's unwavering resolve.

Hey, all. Sorry I'm just now joining the discussion - my modem died on Sunday & I haven't been able to replace it until this morning.

I wanted to like this story more, but I tend to agree with paradoxosalpha - I really felt like this was the story that had the least aesthetic merit of all the ones we've read so far. The "local color" elements (setting, language, etc.) are nicely handled (I'm particularly fond of the phrase "might could", which this northern Illinois boy doesn't get to hear very often) but other than that it struck me as a pretty conventional weird tale and I didn't find that there was any particular frisson created by the bringing together of local color & weird fiction elements. I've enjoyed other stuff I've read by Wellman a great deal (his "These Doth The Lord Hate" in 100 Wild Little Weird Tales was one of my very favorite stories in that collection) but this one just didn't do it for me, I'm afraid.

> 6

I do agree that the monster was well-described. A "pointless scare," I said, but a scare nevertheless!

>10 paradoxosalpha:

Well, the point is simply that those ancient hills are haunted and you'd best keep your wits about you or you might come to a bad end.

I really liked the wizened possum-thing, Ung, too, although I wish it was given more to do,. The dialog between Sanger and John is arguably the high point of the story - I always enjoy the folksy, backwoods rhythm to the conversations in Wellman's Appalachian tales. I also admire the fact that the mountain folk are generally treated with much respect by the author.

Even so, I think we should have perhaps gone with "O Ugly Bird" - oh well, maybe in a future "Deep Ones"!