After Dark (1980) is a bit more robust of a story than Old Gods. John plays a few songs at a strange folk music festival and gets himself mixed up in a plot by the shonokins to, in effect, begin an attempt to take over the United States. They’re an odd creation, previously appearing in stories about Wellman’s New York City occultist, John Thunstone. They’re sort of North America’s answer to the Fae or Formori — they claim to have inhabited the continent before humans crossed the Bering straight. They can’t bear the presence of corpses of their own kind, exert control over something similar to Ley lines and live in Gardinels, giant carnivorous plants that camouflage themselves as houses.

Again, the action is sort of vague and low stakes. The shonokins, led by creepily charismatic Brooke Altic (Wellman had a talent for oddball names), want the land a friend of John’s owns and they make several offers to buy it or otherwise convince the owner to leave, before attacking it with magic. But thanks to John’s own Christian folk magic (found in the very real grimoire, The Long-Lost Friend, a copy of which John keeps in his pocket) and the battlefield conversion of a black magic-wielding witch, the good folks of Appalachia win the day.

It’s hard to convey why these bold, broad stroked novels are so good, but they are. Its the characters, they way they chatter about, the cadence of their voices, the unpretentious way they live (Wellman lived in and loved North Carolina for years). It’s also the way they transpose events better suited for fantasy or horror stories into 1960s rural America, and the way that changes the feel of the action. And John. He’s so good. He’s just a lovable guy. Reading these books, you know you’ve got a friend in him, especially if you ever run afoul of witches and warlocks.

Cover by Michael Flanagan — I love how designy this one is.