Starlight man

the long version

"Algernon Blackwood was one of the greatest writers of supernatural fiction of the twentieth century - Dion Fortune described him as 'pre-eminent among the writers of occult fiction' - yet he remains a mysterious figure. An indefatigable traveller, an undercover agent during the First World War, a Searcher for the Red Cross, he was also an extremely popular storyteller on radio and television - indeed, he appeared on the first ever television programme. He originated the play, The Starlight Express, was a member of the magical order of the Golden Dawn, and was acquainted with most of the literary and artistic establishment of his day from Hilaire Belloc to Arthur Machen, from Sinclair Lewis to H. G. Wells." "Blackwood revealed that all of his stories were based on personal experiences or those of his close friends.^ This from the man whose stories take us to a lonely island in the river Danube where two travellers face the cosmic powers of the Earth in all their might; and deep into the deserts of Egypt where a lone man witnesses the spirit of the ancient past rise up like a gigantic wall of sand. H. P. Lovecraft said of him, 'Of the quality of Mr. Blackwood's genius there can be no dispute; for no one has even approached the skill, seriousness, and minute fidelity with which he records the overtones of strangeness in ordinary things and experiences ...'" "In the 1920s, he published an autobiography. But as its title suggests - Episodes Before Thirty - it covers only the period up to 1899 and its ends, 'Or mystical, psychic or so-called "occult" experiences, I have purposely said nothing'. But there was much to be said.^ Mike Ashley has been researching his life for more than twenty years and has discovered a wonderfully complex character - a profound mystic, a delightful storyteller, an innocent child, a wild adventurer, and a remarkable man. Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of his death, his full biography is available for the first time and reveals the inside story on this most mystical and magical of men."--BOOK JACKET.