The Selected Stories of Manley Wade Wellman, Vol. 5 by Manly Wade Wellman

But John knows the song as well, and he and another fellow play it and add a new verse, and impossibly.the train with coffin cars can soon be heard approaching. So she had the train line through the valley torn up, and sleeps her way through the local populace (her inheritance demands she never marry again) - and tonight she has her eye on John.

That didn't stop a curse on her, encapsulated in the titular rural song, which lays out that a sinister black train of death will one day call for her. In 'The Little Black Train', John is invited to a barbecue party in a little valley, hosted by a woman notorious in the area for possibly having deliberately instigated a lover's death through jealousy = although the law found her innocent. Even more interesting is the ending - was there acknowledgment, from this point on, that John - the eternal wanderer - had a wife/lady love? Nice use, as always in these stories, of Appalachian folklore and magic traditions and the conflict between the man's black magic fiddle and John's silver stringed guitar is, while underplayed, interesting. In a cursed hollow - currently inhabited by a young woman trying to escape a malevolent, spell-casting pursuer but previously occupied by an evil, cannibalistic spirit - John is drawn into the conflict between the sweet woman and the magical fiddle player (who deliberately lured John there). 'Nine Yards of Other Cloth' - this is a solid little tale that deliberately wrong-foots you at the start (you think John is being pursued by some malevolent something in the shape of a woman, but the story - told in flashbacks - eventually makes you realize otherwise). A pleasant little fantasy story with a good moral.

Then, a wandering carpenter comes through - asked to build a fence between the properties, he builds something else instead. John tells a story at Christmas to his wife and kids (I think) about two neighbors who were strong friends until a misunderstanding between them caused a falling out. 'On the Hills and Everywhere' - An atypical John story, as the only evil is that of human pride and anger. PLACEHOLDER REVIEW: - I don't own this, but as I'm reading a number of Wellman stories from their original magazine appearances, I needed a place to put the review.

The Selected Stories of Manley Wade Wellman, Vol. 5 by Manly Wade Wellman