“Running Wolf” by Algernon Blackwood #GBSS09/27

Running Wolf” by Algernon Blackwood

Number 9 of 27 Great British Short Stories 

Premise: A clerk goes fishing in the Canadian wilderness and gets more than he bargained for.

Review: I loved this.  Absolutely beautifully done.  Eerie, menace, a satisfying resolution.

Outa ten: 10

Keywords: nature, supernatural, Canada

Quotes: “The man who enjoys an adventure outside the general experience of the race, and imparts it to others, must not be surprised if he is taken for either a liar or a fool, as Malcom Hyde, hotel clerk on a holiday, discovered in due course.”

Words: sumach – Sumac or sumach^[a] (/ˈsuːmæk, ˈʃuː-/ S(H)OO-mak, UK also /ˈsjuː-/)—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is Rhus coriaria that is most commonly used for culinary purposes.

Look up: nil

Afterlives of the story/connections to other stuff: 

“Published in the August 1920 edition of Century Magazine, “Running Wolf” is one of the stories in which Algernon Blackwood draws upon his own history of travelling in Canada. It is possible that Blackwood’s sometime travelling companion Wilfred Wilson played a role in its composition as the 1921 collection The Wolves of God and Other Fey Stories – which includes “Running Wolf” – is credited to both Blackwood and Wilson. Mike Ashley, in his biography of Blackwood Starlight Man, theorises that the minor character of Morton was based upon another of Blackwood’s friends, Reginald Moreton.” [source]

There’s a whole website of Blackwood’s stories

Is it online? Yes