John Thunstone
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John Thunstone
John Thunstone is a fictional character and the hero of a series of stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. Thunstone is a scholar and playboy (lifestyle), playboy who investigates mysterious supernatural events. He is physically large and strong, intelligent, handsome, and wealthy. He is also well-read in occult matters and has access to several weapons that are especially potent against vampires, werewolves and other supernatural creatures. Thunstone has a sword-cane with a silver blade said to have been forged by Dunstan, Saint Dunstan, patron saint of silversmiths and a noted opponent of the Devil. The blade is inscribed with a text from Book of Judges, Judges chapter 5 in the Vulgate, "Sic pereant omnes inimici tui" — "thus perish all your enemies". The sword-cane had also been used by Wellman's earlier character, Judge Pursuivant, who passed it on to Thunstone when his advanced age made him too weak to effectively wield it. In addition to the ghosts and other traditio ...
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Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero'' is often used to refer to any gender, though ''heroine'' only refers to women. The original hero type of classical epics did such things for the sake of glory (honor), glory and honor. post-classical history, Post-classical and modern history, modern heroes, on the other hand, perform great deeds or selfless acts for the common good instead of the classical goal of wealth, pride, and fame. The antonym of ''hero'' is ''villain''. Other terms associated with the concept of ''hero'' may include ''good guy'' or ''wikt:white hat, white hat''. In Classics, classical literature, the hero is the main or revered character in Epic poetry, heroic epic poetry celebrated through ancient legends of a people, often striving for milit ...
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Judge Pursuivant
Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant is a fictional character and a supporting character in a series of stories (1938–41) by American author Manly Wade Wellman (1903–1986). Pursuivant is a retired judge, author, and occult scholar who investigates mysterious supernatural events. Fictional character biography Pursuivant is more a mentor to and helper of characters who have become embroiled in occult adventures than a hero per se. He first appears in the short story "The Hairy Ones Shall Dance," first published in 1938 in the weird-fiction pulp magazine '' Weird Tales''. Pursuivant is described as a man of great height and girth, with bulbous eyes and nose and a drooping blonde moustache. He lives in a small town five hours from Washington, D.C., and is sufficiently wealthy to be attended by a manservant. He is intelligent and well-read in occult matters. A biography of Pursuivant is presented in the short story "The Black Drama," which presents him as having been born in 1891, ret ...
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Literary Characters Introduced In 1983
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment, and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role. Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, Diary, diaries, memoir, Letter (message), letters, and the essay. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other printed information on a particular subject.''OED'' Etymology, Etymologically, the term derives from Latin language, Latin ''literatura/litteratura'' "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from ''litera/littera'' "letter". In sp ...
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Alex Cord
Alexander Viespi Jr. (May 3, 1933 – August 9, 2021), known professionally as Alex Cord, was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known as Archangel, in 55 episodes of the television series ''Airwolf'' (1984–1986). Early in his career, he was credited as Alex Viespi. Early life Cord was born to an Italian family in Floral Park, New York, the son of Marie (Paladino) and Alexander Viespi, who was in the construction business. Cord was stricken with polio at the age of 12. His family then moved to Wyoming, where doctors advised him to take up horseback riding as a therapeutic exercise. This helped him recover from the disease by the time he was 16. Cord attended New York University in New York City and the American Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford, Connecticut. Career In July 1960, Cord (billed under his real name) acted in a production of ''The Curious Savage'' in Canal Fulton, Ohio. He had a role in the 1961 episode "The Mount ...
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Monsters (American TV Series)
''Monsters'' is an American syndicated horror anthology series which originally ran from 1988 to 1991 and reran on the Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s. The series grew out of ''Tales from the Darkside'', the previous project by producer Richard P. Rubinstein and his company Laurel Entertainment. Unlike ''Tales'', which sometimes featured stories of science fiction and fantasy, ''Monsters'' was more strictly horror. As the name implies, each episode (with very few exceptions) features a different monster with which the story was concerned, from the animatronic puppet of a fictional children's television program to mutated, weapon-wielding lab rats. Synopsis In the show's self-referencing title sequence, a suburban family of monsters look for something to watch on television before finally settling on ''Monsters'', their favorite show. Each episode is a standalone tale, and feature a variety of monsters from vicious man-eating plants to friendly aliens from outer space. ''Monste ...
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Lonely Vigils
''Lonely Vigils'' is a collection of fantasy, horror and mystery short stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. It was released in 1981 by Carcosa in an edition of 1,548 copies, of which the 566 pre-ordered copies were signed by the author and artist. The stories feature Wellman's supernatural detective characters, Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant, Professor Nathan Enderby, and John Thunstone. The story "Vigil" first appeared in the magazine ''Strange Stories''. The remaining stories originally appeared in the magazine ''Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...''. Contents * Foreword * "The Hairy Ones Shall Dance" * "The Black Drama" * "The Dreadful Rabbits" * "The Half-Haunted" * "Vigil" * "The Third Cry to Legba" * "The Golden Goblins" * "Hoofs" * "Letters of ...
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The School Of Darkness
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pr ...
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What Dreams May Come (1983 Novel)
What Dreams May Come is a novel by American author Manly Wade Wellman. It is the second of three books featuring supernatural investigator John Thunstone. The book derives its title from a line in Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be..." soliloquy. Background The character of John Thunstone had previously appeared in a series of short stories by Wellman. Originally published in popular pulp magazines of the day, several of them were collected and reprinted in an anthology, ''Lonely Vigils''. Wellman decided to follow the anthology with the character's first book-length adventure. In his introduction to the novel Wellman mistakenly states that, while many of the locations he mentions have real-life counterparts, Claines is an entirely fictional locale, and such a place has never existed in England. However, a small community named Claines exists, north of Worcester. Main characters John Thunstone is an American scholar and investigator of the paranormal. He has the imposing physi ...
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Pulp Magazines
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazines printed on higher-quality paper were called "glossies" or "slicks". The typical pulp magazine had 128 pages; it was wide by high, and thick, with ragged, untrimmed edges. The pulps gave rise to the term pulp fiction in reference to run-of-the-mill, low-quality literature. Pulps were the successors to the penny dreadfuls, dime novels, and short-fiction magazines of the 19th century. Although many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines were best known for their lurid, exploitative, and sensational subject matter, even though this was but a small part of what existed in the pulps. Successors of pulps include paperback books, digest magazines, and men's adventure magazines. Modern superhero comic books are sometimes considered ...
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Sorcerer (person)
A magician, also known as an enchanter/enchantress, mage, magic-user, archmage, sorcerer/sorceress, spell-caster, warlock, witch, or wizard, is someone who uses or practices magic derived from supernatural, occult, or arcane sources. Magicians are common figures in works of fantasy, such as fantasy literature and role-playing games, and enjoy a rich history in mythology, legends, fiction, and folklore. Character archetypes In medieval chivalric romance, the wizard often appears as a wise old man and acts as a mentor, with Merlin from the ''King Arthur'' stories being a prime example. Wizards such as Gandalf in ''The Lord of the Rings'' and Albus Dumbledore from ''Harry Potter'' are also featured as mentors, and Merlin remains prominent as both an educative force and mentor in modern works of Arthuriana. Other magicians, such as Saruman from ''The Lord of the Rings'' or Lord Voldemort from ''Harry Potter'', can appear as hostile villains. Villainous sorcerers were so crucial to ...
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North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. Because it is on the North American Plate, North American Tectonic Plate, Greenland is included as a part of North America geographically. North America covers an area of about , about 16.5% of Earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the list of continents and continental subregions by population, fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 579 million people in List of sovereign states and dependent territories in North America, 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population. In Americas (terminology)#Human ge ...
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Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike forms. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a ''séance''. Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter or spectre, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul. The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead, is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary, human-like essences, though stories of ghostly armies and th ...
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