Weird Tales

This article is about the pulp magazine. For other uses, see Weird tales (disambiguation).
Weird Tales

The cover of Weird Tales issue May 1934 featuring Queen of the Black Coast, one of Robert E. Howard's original stories about Conan the Barbarian.
Editors Marvin Kaye
Frequency bimonthly
First issue 1923
Company Rural Publishing, Popular Fiction, Weird Tales, Renown, Kensington, Terminus, DNA, Wildside Press, Nth Dimension Media
Country United States
Language English
Website weirdtalesmagazine.com
ISSN 0898-5073

Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J(acob) C(lark) Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre.[1] Edwin Baird was the first editor of the monthly, assisted by Farnsworth Wright.[2] The subgenre pioneered by Weird Tales writers has come to be called "weird fiction". The magazine's office were initially at 450 North Michigan Ave, Chicago, but later moved north to 840 North Michigan Ave.[3]

Edwin Baird (editor March 1923 – October 1924)

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1923 1/1 1/2 1/3 1/4 2/1 2/2 2/3 2/4 3/1
1924 3/2 3/3 3/4 4/2 4/3 4/4
1925 5/1 5/2 5/3 5/4 5/5 5/6 6/1 6/2 6/3 6/4 6/5 6/6
1926 7/1 7/2 7/3 7/4 7/5 7/6 8/1 8/2 8/3 8/4 8/5 8/6
1927 9/1 9/2 9/3 9/4 9/5 9/6 10/1 10/2 10/3 10/4 10/5 10/6
1928 11/1 11/2 11/3 11/4 11/5 11/6 12/1 12/2 12/3 12/4 12/5 12/6
1929 13/1 13/2 13/3 13/4 13/5 13/6 14/1 14/2 14/3 14/4 14/5 14/6
1930 15/1 15/2 15/3 15/4 15/5 15/6 16/1 16/2 16/3 16/4 16/5 16/6
1931 17/1 17/2 17/3 17/4 18/1 18/2 18/3 18/4 18/5
1932 19/1 19/2 19/3 19/4 19/5 19/6 20/1 20/2 20/3 20/4 20/5 20/6
1933 21/1 21/2 21/3 21/4 21/5 21/6 22/1 22/2 22/3 22/4 22/5 22/6
1934 23/1 23/2 23/3 23/4 23/5 23/6 24/1 24/2 24/3 24/4 24/5 24/6
1935 25/1 25/2 25/3 25/4 25/5 25/6 26/1 26/2 26/3 26/4 26/5 26/6
1936 27/1 27/2 27/3 27/4 27/5 27/6 28/1 28/2 28/3 28/4 28/5
1937 29/1 29/2 29/3 29/4 29/5 29/6 30/1 30/2 30/3 30/4 30/5 30/6
1938 31/1 31/2 31/3 31/4 31/5 31/6 32/1 32/2 32/3 32/4 32/5 32/6
1939 33/1 33/2 33/3 33/4 33/5 34/1 34/2 34/3 34/4 34/5 34/6
1940 35/1 35/2 35/3 35/4 35/5 35/6
Issues of Weird Tales from 1923 to 1940, showing volume/issue number. Editors
were Edwin Baird (yellow), Farnsworth Wright (blue), and Dorothy McIlwraith
(green). There was no issue numbered 4/1.

Henneberger had some success with publishing College Humor and had started a detective pulp, Detective Tales in 1922. Unfortunately, the editor of Detective Tales, Edwin Baird, was also made editor of Weird Tales, though he had no interest in supernatural fiction.[4] As a result, the first few issues, which started in March 1923, contain little of any lasting quality, although a few recognisable pulp authors are present, including Otis Adelbert Kline, Joel Townsley Rogers and Harold Ward. Baird first published some of Weird Tales' most famous writers, including H. P. Lovecraft, C. M. Eddy, Jr., Clark Ashton Smith and Seabury Quinn, author of the hugely popular Jules de Grandin stories. (While Smith's main contributions would not be until the thirties, he contributed two poems to the combined July/August 1923 issue). The October 1923 issue was the key issue of that first year, marking the appearance of three writers who would dominate Weird Tales over the next decade, those being Frank Owen, Seabury Quinn and H.P. Lovecraft. The magazine lost a considerable amount of money under Baird's editorship, however—running through $11,000 in capital and amassing a $40,000 debt—and he was fired after 13 issues.[5]

To make the magazine more visible Henneberger changed its size from the standard pulp format of 6x9 inches, to the larger flat size of 8.5 x 11 inches, which was becoming increasingly common. It had little effect. Baird struggled to fill each issue and soon resorted to using some classic reprints by Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce and Lord Lytton.[4]

The magazine also became the subject of controversy after a story by C. M. Eddy, Jr. (revised by H. P. Lovecraft) was published in the May–July 1924 issue (edited by Otis Adelbert Kline - the only issue with Kline at the helm). This was "The Loved Dead", whose plot focussed on necrophilia. There was a public outcry (stories abound of it having caused a furore in polite society) and according to Eddy, Weird Tales was removed from several newsstands as a result,[6] though S.T. Joshi has stated this only occurred in Indiana.[7] That would not have helped Henneberger's cash flow but the publicity regarding the story raised the magazine profile, helping save it from bankruptcy.

Henneberger decided the magazine was worth saving. His dedication was such that he sold his two profitable titles, College Humor and Detective Tales, and invested that money in Weird Tales. Baird stayed with the detective magazine so Henneberger needed a new man at the helm. Henneberger offered the editorial job to Lovecraft, who declined, citing his reluctance to relocate to Chicago; "think of the tragedy of such a move for an aged antiquarian," the 34-year-old writer declared.[8] So Henneberger hired Farnsworth Wright, the man who made Weird Tales the legend it became.

Farnsworth Wright (editor November 1924 – March 1940)

Cover of the June 1936 issue. Cover art by Margaret Brundage.

The publisher then gave the job to Baird's assistant Farnsworth Wright, who became the magazine's best-known editor, being at the editorial helm for over fifteen years and 179 issues. Wright (who suffered from Parkinson's disease) continued to publish stories by Lovecraft, Smith, and Quinn, though he was more selective than Baird; he rejected Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and (initially) "The Call of Cthulhu", among other stories. Many of Smith's Hyperborean cycle stories were rejected as well.[9]

Among the new writers Wright found for the magazine were Robert Bloch and Robert E. Howard, whose Conan the Barbarian stories, among many others, were hugely popular. Wright put playwright Tennessee Williams into print for the first time (Aug 1928)(with his story "The Vengeance of Nitocris").[10] Edmond Hamilton's earliest science fiction stories also first appeared in Wright's Weird Tales. Wright published perhaps the only short story which has survived by film director Val Lewton - "The Bagheeta" (July 1930). He also bought two stories by the upcoming playwright Joseph Kesselring (best known for Arsenic and Old Lace) - "King Cobra" appeared in the December 1933 Weird Tales, whist "Java Madness" appeared in its short-lived companion magazine Oriental Stories (Spring 1932). Other new or little-known writers acquired by Wright included Nictzin Dyalhis, and the British writers G. G. Pendarves and [Arlton Eadie.

Notably, Wright hired the former fashion designer and illustrator Margaret Brundage to produce the magazine's cover illustrations, starting in 1933—making Brundage the only female cover artist of the pulp era. She created many striking images, especially of nude or semi-nude young women in provocative poses (her whipping scenes attracted the highest attention). Brundage's covers became a focus of extreme attention and controversy—which of course helped to sell the magazine. Wright also ignited the careers of two important fantasy artists, Virgil Finlay and Hannes Bok, by buying and publishing their work, first and frequently.

Weird Tales always struggled financially. In the 1920s and 1930s, the magazine's business manager, William (Bill) Sprenger, was crucial in keeping the enterprise afloat. It is estimated that the monthly circulation of Weird Tales never topped 50,000 copies per issue. (In the 1920s, circulation figures for the most successful pulps topped one million; even in the depths of the Great Depression, popular pulps like Doc Savage or The Shadow enjoyed circulations of 300,000 per issue, monthly or even semi-monthly.) After 1926, Farnsworth Wright paid his contributors at the rate of one cent per word, double the going pulp rate of a half-cent per word; but during the 1930s, the magazine was sometimes very late in making its payments to authors (which was not unusual in the pulp field as a whole, at the time).

In 1938, Henneberger sold Weird Tales to William J. Delaney, owner and publisher of the magazine Short Stories. Davis brought in Dorothy McIlwraith (1891-1976),[11] the editor of Short Stories, to assist Wright. A period of policy clashes and declining sales led to Wright's departure from Weird Tales in March 1940. Wright died in June of that year.

Dorothy McIlwraith (editor April 1940 – September 1954)

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1941 35/7 35/8 35/9 35/10 36/1 36/2
1942 36/3 36/4 36/5 36/6 36/7 36/8
1943 36/9 36/10 36/11 36/12 37/1 37/2
1944 37/3 37/4 37/5 37/6 38/1 38/2
1945 38/3 38/4 38/5 38/6 39/1 39/2
1946 39/3 39/4 39/5 39/6 39/7 39/8
1947 39/9 39/10 39/11 39/11 39/12 40/1
1948 40/2 40/3 40/4 40/5 40/6 41/1
1949 41/2 41/3 41/4 41/5 41/6 42/1
1950 42/2 42/3 42/4 42/5 42/6 43/1
1951 43/2 43/3 43/4 43/5 43/6 44/1
1952 44/2 44/3 44/4 44/5 44/6 44/7
1953 44/8 45/1 45/2 45/3 45/4 45/5
1954 45/6 46/1 46/2 46/3 46/4
Issues of Weird Tales from 1941 to 1954, showing volume/issue number. The
editor was Dorothy McIlwraith. The apparent error in duplicating volume 39/11 is in
fact correct.
Cover of the September 1954 issue. Cover art by Virgil Finlay (reprint from August 1939)

Under the editorship of McIlwraith, beginning in April 1940, Weird's later years were distinguished by an influx of newer writers, including such major figures as Ray Bradbury, Manly Wade Wellman, Fritz Leiber, Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore, Theodore Sturgeon, Joseph Payne Brennan, Jack Snow and Margaret St. Clair, a somewhat more eclectic range. McIlwraith was instructed by Delaney not to publish fiction which he considered "disgusting" or "more esoteric", which meant the magazine no longer published "sword and sorcery" stories as it did during Wright's tenure.[12] Occasionally the magazine would publish Lovecraftian pastiches presented as pieces of "lost" Lovecraft completed by his self-appointed literary executor August Derleth, who also wrote fiction for the magazine under his own name.

Like most Ameican pulp magazines, Weird Tales suffered from the newsprint shortage during World War II, and after the war from increasing competition from comic books, radio drama, television, and paperback books. Commercially, the magazine declined until it ceased publication in September 1954, after 279 issues.

Later incarnations

The magazine had several reincarnations in subsequent decades. The first was a short-lived magazine in the early 1970s edited by Sam Moskowitz and published by Leo Margulies. It lasted four issues.

The second was a series of four paperback anthologies published from 1981 to 1983 and edited by Lin Carter. The series was licensed by Robert Weinberg and Victor Dricks, who purchased the title after Margulies' death. The rights to the title reverted to Weinberg when the Carter-edited version was dropped by Zebra Books.

There were two issues in 1984 and 1985 from the small publisher the Bellerophon Network, though only the first saw much in the way of distribution. Brian Forbes (via a company called The Wizard in West Hollywood) leased the title from copyright holder Robert Weinberg. It had been reported that the first issue would be distributed by Pacific Comics with a print run of 20,000. The fiction editor was Gil Lamont.[13] In August 1984, Forrest J. Ackerman was contending that he was the editor, with Gil Lamont working for the distributor as first reader only. Lamont stated he was the fiction editor, with Ackerman in charge of reprints.[14] In Oct 1984 Locus reported that neither Ackerman nor Lamont knew where they stood with the elusive publisher, but that instead of being printed, the galleys for the first issue (edited by Lamont) were re-set.[15] Locus magazine reported that most copies went to two distributors (Seagate and Longhorn) who, among others, never paid for them, causing Forbes financial difficulties. An A.E. van Vogt collaboration which commenced in the first Forbes issue was inexplicably not continued in the second. The editor of the second 'Forbes' issue was Gordon Garb.[16] Both the Forbes issues are rare.

1988-2014 version

Weird Tales was more lastingly revived in 1988 under license by publisher/editors George H. Scithers, John Gregory Betancourt and Darrell Schweitzer, beginning with issue 290. The revived magazine saw initial success, publishing contemporary writers such as Tanith Lee, Brian Lumley and Thomas Ligotti alongside artists including George Barr, Jason Van Hollander, and Allen Koszowski. Weird Tales later became part of the DNA Publications chain for several years around the turn of the millennium. In 2005, the magazine was sold entirely to Wildside Press (owned by former co-editor Betancourt).

In early 2007, Wildside announced a revamp of Weird Tales, naming Stephen H. Segal the editorial and creative director and later recruiting Ann VanderMeer as the new fiction editor. Scithers and Schweitzer remained as contributors, Betancourt as publisher. The April/May 2007 edition (issue #344) featured the magazine's first all-new design in almost seventy-five years. During the next few years, Weird Tales published works by a wide range of strange-fiction authors including Michael Moorcock, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Norman Spinrad and Carrie Vaughn, as well as artwork by a younger generation of artists such as Molly Crabapple, Steven Archer and Jason Levesque. The period also saw the addition of a broader range of nonfiction, ranging from narrative essays to comics to features on weird culture. The magazine won its first Hugo Award in August 2009 at the 2009 Worldcon in Montreal, two Hugo Award nominations in subsequent years, and its first World Fantasy Award nomination in more than seventeen years.[17] In January 2010, the magazine announced Segal was leaving the top editorial post to become an editor at Quirk Books. VanderMeer was elevated to editor-in-chief, Mary Robinette Kowal joined the staff as art director, Paula Guran joined as nonfiction editor and Segal became senior contributing editor.[18]

On August 23, 2011, John Betancourt announced Wildside Press would be selling Weird Tales to Marvin Kaye and John Harlacher of Nth Dimension Media.[19][20] Marvin Kaye took over chief editorial duties, though Ann VanderMeer remained a contributing editor. Issue 359, the first under the new publishers, was published in late February 2012, though most of the content in this issue was handled by the previous editorial team. Some months before the release of issue 359, a special World Fantasy Convention preview issue was given away for free to interested attendees.[21] It was not well received by Locus Online, which stated it was "a preview that bodes not well" and "the other offerings range from mediocre to awful. To really awful . . . It doesn’t bode well for the future of this once-great publication."[22] The first issue under Marvin Kaye's editorial direction was sent only to subscribers after having lost newsstand distribution earlier in the year. As The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has pointed out, "its future is once again in the balance."[23]

In August 2012, Weird Tales became involved in a media altercation after the editor announced the magazine was going to publish an excerpt from Victoria Foyt's controversial novel Save the Pearls, a novel which many critics have accused of featuring racist stereotyping.[24][25] This decision, made despite the protests of VanderMeer, received widespread criticism, and prompted her to end her association with the magazine.[25] Since then the original post has been deleted and the publisher has indicated the magazine will not run the excerpt of Save the Pearls: Revealing Eden after all.[25][26]

In June 2013, Kaye returned to writers material he had previously accepted for publication and described as "excellent". In a note to such writers, he wrote, "Dear Contributor, I regret to inform you that the publisher of Weird Tales has decided to pass on quite a few stories, yours included. This is a measure to reduce our huge fiction inventory. If you have not sold your submission elsewhere, try us again in 9 months. If we have room at that time, it will be an automatic sale (but do remind us of this message!)." In a further note Kaye commented, "I don't like having to do this, but the pressure to reopen the submission portal has been growing and we can't ignore it any longer."[27] The submission portal has yet to be opened months after this, and the managing editor is no longer involved with the magazine. Issue 362 appeared in Spring 2014; none have been released since then.

Ownership

There is some question about who actually owns the magazine and the Weird Tales trademark, though strong evidence points to Viacom/MTV, having acquired the trademark for a planned TV series.[28][29][30] In 2012, a Viacom executive stated: "I can confirm that we have owned the Weird Tales catalog since 2008, but I'm not in a position to disclose what the status of the project is today."[31] However, in issues 361 and 362, the masthead clearly states: "WEIRD TALES ® is a registered trademark owned by Viacom International Inc."

Television adaptation

In April 1995, HBO announced they had plans to turn Weird Tales into an anthology show similar to their Tales from the Crypt series. The deal for the rights was facilitated by screenwriters Mark Patrick Carducci and Peter Atkins. Directors Tim Burton, Francis Ford Coppola, and Oliver Stone were attached as Executive Producers and Directors with Stone planned to direct the pilot. However, this series never came to fruition.[32]

Anthologies

Numerous anthologies of stories from Weird Tales have been published.

Further reading

Leigh Blackmore (Feb 2016). "A Look at Weird Tales Magazine-Based Anthologies". Mantichore (11, No 1).

Leigh Blackmore (June 2016). "A Look at Books and Sources About Weird Tales Magazine". Mantichore (11, No 2).

Alistair Durie. Weird Tales. Jupiter Books (London), 1979. Features primarily magazine cover reproductions, with a small amount of text.

Sheldon Jaffery and Fred Cook. Collector's Index to Weird Tales. Bolwing Green State University Press, 1985.

John Pelan and Jared Walters (eds) Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle. Centipede Press, 2009.

Reginald Smith. Weird Tales in the Thirties. Santa Ana, CA: Smith, 1966 (2 printings).

Robert Weinberg (author). WT50. Oak Lawn, IL: Weinberg, 1974. A tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of the magazine's founding.

Robert Weinberg (ed). The Weird Tales Collector. Journal devoted to the magazine. 6 issues 1977-1980.

Robert Weinberg. The Weird Tales Story. FAX Collectors Editions, 1977. Reprint: Wildside Press, 1999. Some contents are reprinted from WT50.

References

  1. ↑ Sam Moskowitz. "The Forgotten Creator of Weird Tales" in Leo Margulies (ed) Worlds of Weird NY: Pyramid Books, 1968. Reprint in John Pelan and Jared Walters (eds) Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle. Centipede Press, 2009.
  2. ↑ Ashley, pp. 1000-1003.
  3. ↑ Price, E. Hoffman (2001). "Book of the Dead". Friends of Yesteryear: Fictioneers and Others (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House): 10.
  4. 1 2 Ashley, Mike Ashley. "Weird Tales". Book and Magazine Collector 293(April 2008).
  5. ↑ Carter, pp. 35-37.
  6. ↑ Weinberg,p.22
  7. ↑ S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001, p.156
  8. ↑ H. P. Lovecraft, letter to Frank Belknap Long, March 21, 1924; cited in Carter, p. 43.
  9. ↑ Murray, pp. 11-14.
  10. ↑ "The Story", Weird Tales: The Unique Magazine (fansite).
  11. ↑ The McIlwraith Family: A Cultural and Intellectual Biography at The University of British Columbia.
  12. ↑ Delaney rejected Clark Ashton Smith's story "The Coming of the White Worm" as he considered it unsuitable for "Weird Tales". See "Story Notes: The Coming of the White Worm" by Scott Connors and Ron Hilger in The Collected Fantasies Of Clark Ashton Smith Volume 5: The Last Hieroglyph. Night Shade Books, 2010 ISBN 1597800325 (p.309-10)
  13. ↑ "Weird Tales revived Again", Locus (June 1984) No 281
  14. ↑ "Whos on First?", Locus (Aug 1984) No. 283
  15. ↑ "Weird Tales in Limbo", Locus (Oct 1984) No 285, p. 4
  16. ↑ Locus (Sept 1986) No 307.
  17. ↑ Laufenberg, Kathleen (August 23, 2009). ""Weird" wins: Tallahassee sci-fi editor brings home a Hugo Award". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
  18. ↑ "January 2010 Weird Tales Press Release". Weirdtales.net. 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  19. ↑ Marvin Kaye buys Weird Tales by Ian Randal Strock. SFScope.com, Retrieved February 9, 2011.
  20. ↑ Kaye to Buy Weird Tales Locus Online, Retrieved 09-02-2011.
  21. ↑ "World Fantasy Convention Special Preview Issue". Scribd.com. 2012-01-16. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  22. ↑ "Lois Tilton Reviews Short Fiction, Mid November 2012". Locusmag.com. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  23. ↑ Warriors of the Storm by Jack L. Chalker. "Weird Tales entry". Sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  24. ↑ "A Thoroughly Non-Racist Book". Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  25. 1 2 3 Racism row over SF novel about black 'Coals' and white 'Pearls' Guardian, 21 August 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  26. ↑ "A Message from the Publisher". Weirdtalesmagazine.com. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  27. ↑ Ansible *. "Magazine Scene". Ansible. Retrieved 2012-07-01.
  28. ↑ "Tuesday Sick Notes". Nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  29. ↑ "Meteor 17, Weird Tales, and MTV/Viacom". Meteor17.com. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  30. ↑ "WEIRD TALES - Trademarks411, Trademark Search Made Simple". Trademarks411.com. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  31. ↑ L. Vincent Poupard (2012-07-11). "Weird Tales on TV: The Stars are Right". Tv.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  32. ↑ Variety Staff (1995-04-10). "Top helmers on ‘Tales’ team". variety.com. Retrieved 2015-06-12.

Sources

External links

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