Algernon Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill, now a suburb of London, in 1869. Raised in a strictly Christian household, Blackwood was interested in other religions from a young age and eventually came to believe in what he called 'animism'--the idea that nature was sentient and embued with spiritual meaning--which greatly influenced his work. In 1880, he travelled to North America where he hunted moose, worked as a reporter, and wrote short stories. Throughout his life he continued to travel widely and write prolifically, producing 14 novels as well as many popular collections of weird and ghostly tales.