Algernon Blackwood created subtle terrors that eroded sanity and turned what was unreal into reality. Often there were two worlds that existed side by side with one being the conscious world and the other a nightmare threatening all who venture into it. Nature and its powers also played a large role within his work. He was born in 1869 and most of his work was published in the early 20^th century. H.P. Lovecraft was a great admirer of his stories, and Blackwood’s influence on horror and fantasy can still be felt. Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories is a collection of nine of his short stories. Included is “The Willows” perhaps his most well known story. In it two friends are taking a canoe trip down the Danube, stopping at a small island within the river surrounded by willows only to discover that something is very wrong. In “Ancient Sorceries” a man is warned before he hastily gets off a crowded train only to find himself in a very odd French village. Egypt is the location for “Sand” where a traveler finds the desert is waiting for him. All of the stories are overshadowed by a sense of dread and build in detail to a true terror of the unknown.