Weird Tales is an American magazine spotlighting works of fiction as well as comic strips and artwork. It began publication in 1923 under the guidance of J. C. Henneberger in Chicago, Illinois. Throughout the years, Weird Tales has seen numerous cancellations and revisions and has gone through several different publishers. From its inception, Weird Tales focused on works of the pulp-era fantasy and horror genres. It was the first major magazine to showcase works of the new burgeoning genre classified as "Weird Fiction", which served as a precursor towards modern day science fiction. Notable authors who have seen their work published in Weird Tales includes Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, August Derleth and Robert Bloch.
Publishing history[]
Weird Tales was originally published as a monthly magazine and was edited by Edwin Baird (1886 – 1957), who accepted nearly all works submitted by Lovecraft, and is also known for publishing stories by other well-known genre authors including Clark Ashton Smith and Seabury Quinn. Baird earned himself no small measure of controversy during his time with Weird Tales, particulary when he published a story called "The Loved Dead" by C. M. Eddy, Jr., which involved the subject of necrophilia. Public outcry against the story was so strong that J. C. Henneberger was forced to fire Edwin Baird.
Following Baird's departure, Henneberger hired Farnsworth Wright to replace him as head editor on the series. Wright was more discriminating than Baird, but managed to keep the title afloat despite declining sales. During his time on the series, Farnsworth Wright hired illustrator Margaret Brundage to compose cover art illustrations for the title. Brundage came from a fashion designer background and was the first woman to ever produce artwork for a pulp magazine. She began in 1933 and is known for her provocative depictions of women in bondage scenes and/or various states of undress.
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January, 1936 issue of Weird Tales; Classic Margaret Brundage cover.
Farnsworth Wright remained on the magazine throughout the 1930s, even after it was sold to William J. Delaney in 1938. Delaney was also the publisher of another title called Short Stories. One of Delaney's editors from Short Stories was Dorothy McIlwraith, who came on board Weird Tales and worked as editor along with Wright. Policy clashes between the two ultimately led to Farnsworth Wright's departure from the magazine in March of 1940 and he passed away three months later.
In September of 1954, sales on Weird Tales hit and all-time low and the company ceased publication of the title after 279 issues.
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.
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 notable contemporary writers such as Tanith Lee, Brian Lumley and Thomas Ligotti alongside artists including George Barr, Jason Van Hollander, and Allen Koszowski. However, after years of losses and reversion of the license by Weird Tales, Ltd., 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).
On August 23rd, 2011, John Betancourt announced Wildside Press would be selling Weird Tales to Marvin Kaye and John Harlacher of Nth Dimension Media. 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.
Issues[]
1928[]
Short stories[]
Items listed here are intended as a in-development index of material that has appeared in issues of Weird Tales over the years. To keep this section clean and up to date, the only listings that will be indicated here are stories with an existing link to elsewhere on the database. As each individual article is created, it will be listed here.
| Title | Author | Issue |
|---|---|---|
| The Call of Cthulhu | H.P. Lovecraft | Weird Tales (February, 1928) |
External Links[]
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