Weird Tales
This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. Information on the Golden Smog album can be found at Weird Tales (album)Weird Tales is the name of an
American fantasy fiction and horror
pulp magazine first published in March of
1923. The magazine was set-up in Chicago by
J.C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre.
Edwin Baird was the first editor of
Weird Tales, and his assistant was
Farnsworth Wright.
Baird was replaced by Farnsworth Wright after fourteen issues. Wright (who suffered from
Parkinson's disease) gave
Weird Tales a unique identity, and began to publish stories by
H.P. Lovecraft, as well as the hugely popular
Jules de Grandin stories of
Seabury Quinn. Another successful contributor was
Robert E. Howard, whose
Conan the Barbarian stories, among many others, were hugely popular. Wright also gave early opportunities to such highly regarded pulp writers as
Robert Bloch and
Clark Ashton Smith. Wright continued as editor until March 1940, dying in June the same year.
Weird Tales always struggled financially, and like most pulp magazines including the similarly legendary
crime fiction title
Black Mask, suffered competition from comic books, radio drama, and eventually inexpensive paperback books. After the death of Lovecraft and retirement of Wright,
Weird Tales took on a different flavor, but commercially generally declined until it ceased publication in September
1954 after 279 issues. Under the editorship of Dorothy McIlwraith beginning in April 1940, Weird's later years were distinguished by an influx of newer writers, including such major figures as Robert Bloch,
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, and occasional pieces of "lost" Lovecraft completed, and Lovecraftian pastiches written by his self-appointed
literary executor August Derleth, who also wrote better fiction for the magazine in his own voice.
After several short-lived reincarnations, including four issues as a magazine in the early 1970s edited by
Sam Moskowitz and published by
Leo Margulies, Robert Weinberg & Victor Dricks purchased the title after Marguiles' death and licensed a series of four paperback anthologies from 1981-1983 edited by
Lin Carter.
Weird Tales was revived under license by publisher/editors
George H. Scithers,
John Gregory Betancourt, and
Darrell Schweitzer in
1988, beginning with issue 290. Some combination of these three have edited it since. The revived magazine has seen reasonable commercial success (as far as fiction magazines go) publishing notable contemporary writers such as
Tanith Lee,
Brian Lumley, and
Thomas Ligotti.
Weird Tales became part of the
DNA Publications chain for several years around the turn of the millennium, and in 2005 was sold to
Wildside Press (owned by former co-editor
John Gregory Betancourt) and changed to a bimonthly (6 issues/year) schedule. Betancourt, Scithers, and Schweitzer remain as co-editors.
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Weird Tales Weird Tales website.
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Wildside Press – current publisher.
