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Manly Wade Wellman have been on my radar for a number of years now, especially after the fantastic Hellboy story "The Crooked Man" and Mike Mignola's introductory essay discussing the Silver John series as his main inspiration. Now that the Crooked Man is set to be a movie (fingers crossed its decent), I figured it was time to check out the original.

Old Gods Waken is a fun, pulpy adventure set in the Appalachian Mountains. I liked how the characters are very aware of the modern world (they go to college, serve in the military, and publish papers on folklore) but keep one foot in an older and simpler way of life (they swap folk songs on the front porch, know plant and herb lore, and know and appreciate the history of their region.) In this way, the characters felt more three-dimensional than the ignorant hillbilly stereotypes that populate more "realistic' novels.

That said, the plot itself is episodic and plodding. It felt more like a dungeon crawl than a novel, where John and his friends must pass seven mini-bosses before finally confronting the big boss, travelling through each one as if they were on rails.

Still, there were a few moments that gave me a delightful shudder, and like I said, the setting and characters were intriguing. I will likely read the next book in the series to see if the plotting improves.

I'm an atheist who was raised in a religious household. Despite leaving the church well over half my life ago, I'm still interested in trends in religion and understanding religion as a major social-political force in American culture. Despite not being a believer like Smietana, I found his reporting even-handed and compelling. His criticisms of secular culture, "nones," and the problems inherent with being "spiritual but not religious" were valid, well-argued, and respectful to people he's talking about.

My one issue with Smietana's reporting is a focus on churches and pastors who are focused on social justice issues and community outreach... supporting Black Lives Matter, supporting immigrants, helping rebuild after tornadoes, and maintaining food banks. There are certainly Christians involved in helping the hungry, the stranger, and the prisoner like Jesus commands, and they should be praised for it. But this social outreach seems (from the outside looking in) like a very small part of Christian identity and practice today, and certainly not the reason why people are leaving the church. Smietana offers this as "a hopeful reimagining of what the church might look like going forward," but it feels more like wishful thinking.