Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE (14 March 1869 – 10 December 1951) was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T. Joshi has stated that "his work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".

Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religious ideas". Blackwood had a varied career, working as a milk farmer in Canada, operating a hotel, as a newspaper reporter in New York City, bartender, model, journalist for the New York Times, private secretary, businessman, and violin teacher.

Blackwood was a member of one of the factions of the qabbalistic Order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as was his contemporary Arthur Machen. : Qabalistic themes are at the heart of his novel The Human Chord

Blackwood wrote an autobiography of his early years, Episodes Before Thirty (1923).

Blackwood died after several strokes. Officially his death on 10 December 1951 was of cerebral thrombosis with arteriosclerosis as contributory. He was cremated at Golders Green crematorium. A few weeks later his nephew took his ashes to Saanenmoser and scattered them over the mountains that he had loved for over forty years.

Bibliography:

A brief listing of Blackwood's works:

Novels:

• Jimbo: A Fantasy (1909a)
• The Education of Uncle Paul (1909b)
• The Human Chord (1910)
• The Centaur (1911)
• A Prisoner in Fairyland (1913); sequel to The Education of Uncle Paul
• The Extra Day (1915)
• Julius LeVallon (1916a)
• The Wave (1916b)
• The Promise of Air (1918a)
• The Garden of Survival (1918b)
• The Bright Messenger (1921); sequel to Julius LeVallon
• Dudley & Gilderoy: A Nonsense (1929)

Short Fiction Collections:

• The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories (1906); original collection
• The Listener and Other Stories (1907); original collection
• John Silence (1908); original collection; reprinted with added preface, 1942
• The Lost Valley and Other Stories (1910); original collection
• Pan's Garden: a Volume of Nature Stories (1912); original collection
• Ten Minute Stories (1914a); original collection
• Incredible Adventures (1914b); original collection
• Day and Night Stories (1917); original collection
• Wolves of God, and Other Fey Stories (1921), honorarily coauthored with Wilfred Wilson; original collection
• Tongues of Fire and Other Sketches (1924); original collection
• Ancient Sorceries and Other Tales (1927a); selections from previous Blackwood collections, and pre-publication abridgment of 1932's planned The Willows and Other Queer Tales
• The Dance of Death and Other Tales (1927b); selections from previous Blackwood collections; reprinted as 1963's The Dance of Death and Other Stories

For futher reading and more information on this legendary figure, visit the Wikipedia page.