Rank your favorite 10 Algernon Blackwood stories

[Die Math]

Gary Platt's recent effort to create rankings for M.R. James stories on Facebook has inspired me to conduct such rankings on behalf of Algernon Blackwood. In this thread, please rank your ten favorite Algernon Blackwood stories. Your favorite story should be numbered 1, while your less preferred stories should ascend down to the number 10. If you haven't read or like 10 of his stories, you don't have to fill out a complete list.

Once I have sufficient results, I'll put the details into a spreadsheet and create a table to share with the respondents. This is my small attempt to boost awareness of Blackwood's more notable stories. Thanks for participating!

 

[Extollager]

This is a worthwhile idea, DM (and welcome to Chrons!), since Blackwood's work seems (at least this has been my impression) to be variable. (I'd suggest, though, that one of the moderators move this thread to the Horror category.)

I've read quite a bit of Blackwood, but not much recently. At this time, I'd venture just these (no surprises here):

1.The Wendigo
2.The Willows (in some ways superior to "The Wendigo," but, as I recall, having a defect of overt occult theorizing eventually that doesn't come up in the latter)

 

[Die Math]

Thanks, Extollager. Algernon Blackwood isn't discussed as much as some of the other weird fiction authors, which is why I thought it would be helpful to list some of his more popular works. I've been surprised by the number of responses I've received to this survey so far (11).

Here's my own list:

1. The Willows
2. Smith: An Episode in a Lodging House
3. Secret Worship
4. May Day Eve
5. The Wendigo
6. The Listener
7. The Glamour of the Snow
8. The Man Whom the Trees Loved
9. A Descent into Egypt
10. The Human Chord

 

[Extollager]

Gary Platt's recent effort to create rankings for M.R. James stories on Facebook has inspired me to conduct such rankings on behalf of Algernon Blackwood. In this thread, please rank your ten favorite Algernon Blackwood stories. Your favorite story should be numbered 1, while your less preferred stories should ascend down to the number 10. If you haven't read or like 10 of his stories, you don't have to fill out a complete list.

Once I have sufficient results, I'll put the details into a spreadsheet and create a table to share with the respondents. This is my small attempt to boost awareness of Blackwood's more notable stories. Thanks for participating!

Your mention of the effort to get a popular list of M. R. James's outstanding stories prompted me to create this thread:

Your Favorite Antiquarian Ghost Stories by Authors Other than M. R. James

 

[Randy M.]

I haven't read as widely in Blackwood's oeurve as others here, I suspect:

1. The Willows
2. The Wendigo
3. Secret Worship
4. Ancient Sorceries
5. The Transfer
6. The Woman's Ghost Story


I'll leave it at that. I should dig into the collections by him I haven't gotten to, though I've no idea when that'll happen.

Randy M.

 

[Die Math]

Thanks for participating, Randy. Part of the reason I'm attempting to do this survey is to get the word out about Blackwood's lesser known but excellent stories. Because of my recent efforts, I've discovered one of my favorite stories of his, "A Victim of Higher Space". It's readily available online if you'd like to check it out.

 

[Die Math]

Sorry for the delay, but here are results of the recent online poll of Algernon Blackwood readers. All told, 13 individuals participated, which was much higher than I anticipated. In terms of the mechanics of coming up with list, I assigned points using each story's ranking, with 1 netting 10 points, 2 netting 9 points, and so on. I'll be running a similar poll on Arthur Machen sometime in early February.

1. The Willows 93
2. The Wendigo 63
3. Secret Worship 44
4. Ancient Sorceries 40
5. The Glamour of the Snow 38
6. The Man Whom the Trees Loved 31
7. The Listener 28
8. May Day Eve 25
9. The Centaur 20
10. Jimbo 19
11. Ancient Lights 18
12. A Victim of Higher Space 15
13. A Descent into Egypt 14
14. 14 & 15 Sand 13
    
15. 14 & 15 The Trod 13
16. Smith: An Episode in a Lodging House 12
    
17. 17 & 18 The Damned 11
    
18. 17 & 18 The Empty House 11
    
19. 19 - 23 The Human Chord 10
    
20. 19 - 23 The Doll 10
    
21. 19 - 23 The Man Who Found Out 10
    
22. 19 - 23 The Man Who Played Upon the Leaf 10
    
23. 19 - 23 The Transfer 10