Silver John
#8543.83 adjusted 3.87 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 5 books Status Complete 1979–1984 Reading commitment Medium Manly Wade Wellman Last reviewed 2026-11-02
Overview
Silver John is a series of five novels by the American writer Manly Wade Wellman, published by Doubleday between 1979 and 1984. John is a wandering balladeer, a Korean War veteran who carries a guitar strung with silver and travels the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. He meets ancient spirits, witches, druids, werewolves and other creatures from folklore, and defeats them with courage, wit, white magic and his music. The novels follow earlier short stories about the same character. Wellman died in 1986, and the five novels are the full run of the series in novel form.
Dark fantasy, Mythic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (5 works) counts toward ranking
Silver John Manly Wade Wellman
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Old Gods Waken; First published by Doubleday. | 1979 | 1 | core | 3.67 (963 ratings) |
 | After Dark; First published by Doubleday. | 1980 | 2 | core | 4.01 (316 ratings) |
 | The Lost and the Lurking; First published by Doubleday. | 1981 | 3 | core | 4.00 (222 ratings) |
 | The Hanging Stones; First published by Doubleday. | 1982 | 4 | core | 4.03 (157 ratings) |
 | The Voice of the Mountain; First published by Doubleday. | 1984 | 5 | core | 4.12 (92 ratings) |
Five novels about a wandering balladeer who fights supernatural evil in the Appalachian mountains.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Silver John? Silver John's Core Canon is 5 books.
- What is the reading order for Silver John? Publication order, starting with The Old Gods Waken. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Silver John finished? Complete (1979–1984).
- How much reading does Silver John take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 5 Core Canon books).
- How is Silver John ranked? #854 in this site's official ranking, based on 1,750 reader ratings across 5 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #854?
Ranked #854 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.83 across 5 core books.
- A smaller readership (1,750 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.67 to 4.12.
- 0.04 behind #853, Gods of Jade and Shadow.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.46.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 5 books · Complete · 2k ratings · Ranks #854 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (5 Core Canon books)
- The Old Gods Waken (1979)
- After Dark (1980)
- The Lost and the Lurking (1981)
- The Hanging Stones (1982)
- The Voice of the Mountain (1984)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.83 across 1,750 ratings on 5 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: 29 universes; Inda widened to Sartorias-deles; 5 candidates ruled out accepted 2026-11-02
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Silver John Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Manly Wade Wellman Tier 2
- Skulls in the Stars review Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
Rule: Core Canon = the five Silver John novels, The Old Gods Waken (1979) to The Voice of the Mountain (1984). The short-story collections are excluded.