I didn't read all the stories, but I read a fairly good smattering of them, enough to get a flavor of Manley Wade Goodman's voice, which was mainly what I was after, that and some of the folk elements. I really did like the turns of phrase of his mountain-dwelling characters, and I liked the character of John the Balladeer a lot. The stories were pretty predictable and --to my mind--the action was wildly signposted ahead of time, but they were fun as sort of a book version of campfire stories. ( )

I didn't read all the stories, but I read a fairly good smattering of them, enough to get a flavor of Manley Wade Goodman's voice, which was mainly what I was after, that and some of the folk elements. I really did like the turns of phrase of his mountain-dwelling characters, and I liked the character of John the Balladeer a lot. The stories were pretty predictable and --to my mind--the action was wildly signposted ahead of time, but they were fun as sort of a book version of campfire stories. ( )