Weird Tales is an American
fantasyFantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
and
horror fictionHorror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
pulp magazinePulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
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
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre.
Edwin BairdEdwin Baird was the first editor of Weird Tales, the pioneering pulp magazine that specialized in horror fiction.Baird, hired by Weird Tales publisher J. C. Henneberger, put out the magazine's premiere issue, dated March 1923. Over the course of the next year, Baird published some of the...
was the first editor of the monthly, assisted by
Farnsworth WrightFarnsworth Wright was the editor of the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the magazine's heyday.He was born in California, and educated in the University of Nevada and the University of Washington....
. The "sub-genre" pioneered by
Weird Tales writers has come to be called
weird fictionWeird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction written in the late 19th and early 20th century. It can be said to encompass the ghost story and other tales of the macabre. Weird fiction is distinguished from horror and fantasy in that it predates the niche marketing of genre fiction...
.
Edwin Baird
Baird first published some of Weird Tales most famous writers, including
H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
,
C. M. Eddy, Jr.Clifford Martin Eddy, Jr. was an American author best known for his horror and supernatural short stories. He is best remembered for his work in Weird Tales magazine.- Career :...
,
Clark Ashton SmithClark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
, and
Seabury QuinnSeabury Grandin Quinn was an American pulp magazine author, most famous for his stories of the occult detective Jules de Grandin, published in Weird Tales.-Biography:...
, author of the hugely popular
Jules de GrandinJules de Grandin is a fictional occult detective created by Seabury Quinn for Weird Tales. Assisted by Dr. Trowbridge , de Grandin fought ghosts, werewolves, satanists in over ninety stories between 1925 and 1951. Jules de Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge lived in Harrisonville, New Jersey...
stories. The magazine lost a considerable sum 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.
Henneberger offered the 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.
The magazine also became the subject of controversy after a story by
C. M. Eddy, Jr.Clifford Martin Eddy, Jr. was an American author best known for his horror and supernatural short stories. He is best remembered for his work in Weird Tales magazine.- Career :...
was published in the May–July issue, "The Loved Dead", that briefly mentioned
necrophiliaNecrophilia, also called thanatophilia or necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses,It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from the ancient Greek words: νεκρός and φιλία...
. There was a public outcry and according to Eddy, Weird Tales was removed from several newsstands as a result, but also the publicity regarding the story resulted in increased sales and helped to save the imperiled magazine from bankruptcy.
Farnsworth Wright
The publisher then gave the job to Farnsworth Wright, who became the magazine's best-known editor. Wright (who suffered from
Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
) continued to publish stories by Lovecraft, Smith, and Quinn, though he was more selective than Baird; he rejected Lovecraft's "
At the Mountains of MadnessAt the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories...
", "
The Shadow Over InnsmouthThe Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
", and (initially) "
The Call of CthulhuThe Call of Cthulhu is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, in February 1928.-Inspiration:...
", among other stories. Many of Smith's
Hyperborean cycleThe Hyperborean cycle is a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that take place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea . Various elements in Smith's cycle have been borrowed by H. P. Lovecraft, most notably the "toad-god" Tsathoggua...
stories were rejected as well.
Among the new writers Wright found for the magazine were
Robert BlochRobert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
and
Robert E. HowardRobert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
, whose
Conan the BarbarianConan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
stories, among many others, were hugely popular. Wright even put playwright
Tennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
into print for the first time (with his story "
The Vengeance of Nitocris"The Vengeance of Nitocris" is a short story by Tennessee Williams, written when Williams was 16 years old, and published in Weird Tales in its August, 1928 issue. The story is a "surprisingly lurid" tale of loosely historical fiction, based on the account of the semi-legendary female pharaoh...
").
Edmond HamiltonEdmond Moore Hamilton was an American author of science fiction stories and novels during the mid-twentieth century. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania...
's earliest science fiction stories also first appeared in Wright's Weird Tales.
Notably, Wright hired the former fashion designer and illustrator
Margaret BrundageMargaret Brundage, born Margaret Hedda Johnson was an American illustrator and painter who is remembered chiefly for having illustrated the pulp magazine Weird Tales...
to produce the magazine's cover illustrations, starting in 1933—making Brundage the first and 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). Though her art was far from flawless, 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 FinlayVirgil Finlay was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. While he worked in a range of media, from gouache to oils, Finlay specialized in, and became famous for, detailed pen-and-ink drawings accomplished with abundant stippling, cross-hatching, and scratchboard techniques...
and
Hannes BokHannes Bok, pseudonym for Wayne Francis Woodard , was an American artist and illustrator, as well as an amateur astrologer and writer of fantasy fiction and poetry. He painted nearly 150 covers for various science fiction, fantasy, and detective fiction magazines, as well as contributing hundreds...
, by buying and publishing their work, first and frequently.
Weird Tales
always struggled financially. In the 1920s and '30s, the magazine's business manager, William 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 DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, popular pulps like Doc SavageDoc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
or The ShadowThe Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
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-Origin of Short Stories:Short Stories began its existence as a literary periodical, carrying work by Rudyard Kipling,Emile Zola, Bret Harte, Ivan Turgenev and Anna Katharine Green. The magazine advertised...
. Davis brought in Dorothy McIlwraith, 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
Under the editorship of Dorothy McIlwraith beginning in April 1940, Weirds later years were distinguished by an influx of newer writers, including such major figures as
Ray BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
,
Manly Wade WellmanManly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...
,
Fritz LeiberFritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...
,
Henry KuttnerHenry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.-Early life:Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915...
,
C. L. MooreCatherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction....
,
Theodore SturgeonTheodore Sturgeon was an American science fiction author.His most famous novel is More Than Human .-Biography:...
,
Joseph Payne BrennanJoseph Payne Brennan was an American writer of fantasy and horror fiction, and also a poet. He lived most of his life in New Haven, Connecticut, and worked at the Yale Library for over 40 years....
,
Jack SnowJohn Frederick "Jack" Snow was an American radio writer and scholar, primarily of the works of L. Frank Baum. When Baum died in 1919, the twelve-year-old Snow offered to be the next Royal Historian of Oz, but was politely turned down by a staffer at Baum's publisher, Reilly & Lee...
and
Margaret St. ClairMargaret St. Clair was an American science fiction writer, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Idris Seabright and Wilton Hazzard....
, a somewhat more eclectic range. Occasionally the magazine would publish Lovecraftian pastiches presented as pieces of "lost" Lovecraft completed by his self-appointed
literary executorA literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of a literary estate. According to Wills, Administration and Taxation: a practical guide "A will may appoint different executors to deal with different parts of the estate...
August DerlethAugust William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
, who also wrote fiction for the magazine under his own name.
Like most pulp magazines,
Weird Tales suffered from the newsprint shortage during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 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 MoskowitzSam Moskowitz was an early fan and organizer of interest in science fiction and, later, a writer, critic, and historian of the field.-Biography:...
and published by
Leo MarguliesLeo Margulies was an American editor and publisher of science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines.- Career :...
. It lasted four issues.
The second was a series of
four paperback anthologiesWeird Tales was a series of paperback anthologies, a revival of the classic fantasy and horror magazine of the same title, published by Zebra Books from 1980 to 1983 under the editorship of Lin Carter. It was issued more or less annually, though the first two volumes were issued simultaneously and...
published from 1981 to 1983 and edited by
Lin CarterLinwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
. The series was licensed by Robert Weinberg and Victor Dricks, who purchased the title after Margulies' death.
There were two issues, though only the first saw much in the way of distribution, in 1984 and 1985, from the small publisher the Bellerophon Network.
Current version
Weird Tales was more lastingly revived in 1988 under license by publisher/editors
George H. ScithersGeorge H. Scithers was a science fiction fan, author, and Hugo Award winning editor.A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the '50s, wrote short stories, and moved on to edit several prominent science fiction magazines, as well as a number of...
,
John Gregory BetancourtJohn Gregory Betancourt is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at Amazing Stories and editor of Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field, the revived Weird Tales magazine, the first issue of H. P...
, and
Darrell SchweitzerDarrell Charles Schweitzer is an American writer, editor, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy...
, beginning with issue 290. The revived magazine saw reasonable commercial success, publishing notable contemporary writers such as
Tanith LeeTanith Lee is a British writer of science fiction, horror and fantasy. She is the author of over 70 novels and 250 short stories, a children's picture book and many poems. She also wrote two episodes of BBC science fiction series Blake's 7...
,
Brian LumleyBrian Lumley is an English horror fiction writer.Born in County Durham, he joined the British Army's Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1980 and becoming a professional writer.He added to H. P...
, and
Thomas LigottiThomas Ligotti is a contemporary American horror author and reclusive literary cult figure. His writings are unique in style, have been noted as major continuations of several literary genres – most prominently Lovecraftian horror – and have overall been variously described as works of...
alongside artists including
George BarrGeorge Barr is a US science fiction and fantasy artist.-Career:Barr's work shows influences from Arthur Rackham, Hannes Bok and Virgil Finlay. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes him as one of the least appreciated SF/fantasy artists. His work is often romantic and whimsical...
,
Jason Van HollanderJason Van Hollander is an award-winning illustrator, book designer and occasional author. His stories and collaborations with Darrell Schweitzer earned a World Fantasy Award nomination...
, and Allen Koszowski.
The anthology
Weird Tales - Seven Decades of Terror (1997,
Barnes & NobleBarnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
Books), features stories (1923–1993) selected by editors
John Gregory BetancourtJohn Gregory Betancourt is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at Amazing Stories and editor of Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field, the revived Weird Tales magazine, the first issue of H. P...
and
Robert WeinbergRobert Allan Weinberg is a Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at MIT and American Cancer Society Research Professor; his research is in the area of oncogenes and the genetic basis of human cancer. Weinberg is also affiliated with the Broad Institute and is a founding member of the...
. The authors featured are
Henry S. WhiteheadRev. Henry St. Clair Whitehead was an American writer of horror fiction and fantasy.- Biography :Henry S. Whitehead was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on March 5, 1882. He graduated from Harvard University in 1904. He led an active and worldly life, playing football at Harvard...
,
H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
,
Arthur J. BurksArthur J. Burks was an American writer and a Marine colonel.- Biography :Burks was born to a farming family in Waterville, Washington. He married Blanche Fidelia Lane on March 23, 1918 in Sacramento, California and was the father of four children: Phillip Charles, Wasle Carmen, Arline Mary and...
, G. G. Pendarves,
Clark Ashton SmithClark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
, Mary E. Counselman,
Henry KuttnerHenry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.-Early life:Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915...
,
C. L. MooreCatherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction....
,
Fritz LeiberFritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...
,
Ray BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
,
August DerlethAugust William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
,
Manly Wade WellmanManly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...
,
Frank OwenFrank Owen is a United States author, novelist and anthologist. He wrote 10 novels in the 1930s under the pseudonym Roswell Williams, a name which is sometimes erroneously listed as his real name. Owen is best known for his oriental fantasy short stories, many of which appeared in the magazine...
,
Seabury QuinnSeabury Grandin Quinn was an American pulp magazine author, most famous for his stories of the occult detective Jules de Grandin, published in Weird Tales.-Biography:...
,
Robert BlochRobert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
,
Eric Frank RussellEric Frank Russell was a British author best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the United States, in John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction and other pulp magazines. Russell also wrote horror fiction for Weird Tales, and...
,
Ray RussellRay Russell was an American writer of short stories, novels, and screenplays. In 1991 he received the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement....
,
Gene WolfeGene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the...
,
Brian LumleyBrian Lumley is an English horror fiction writer.Born in County Durham, he joined the British Army's Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1980 and becoming a professional writer.He added to H. P...
,
Steve Rasnic TemSteve Rasnic Tem was born in Jonesville, Virginia, which is in the heart of Appalachia. He went to college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and also at Virginia Commonwealth University. He got a B.A. in English education. In 1974, he moved to Colorado and studied creative...
,
Robert SheckleyRobert Sheckley was a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist and broadly comical.Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and...
,
Ramsey CampbellJohn Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
,
Tanith LeeTanith Lee is a British writer of science fiction, horror and fantasy. She is the author of over 70 novels and 250 short stories, a children's picture book and many poems. She also wrote two episodes of BBC science fiction series Blake's 7...
,
Nina Kiriki HoffmanNina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.-Profile:Hoffman started publishing short stories in 1975. Her first nationally published short story appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine in 1983...
, and
Nancy SpringerNancy Connor Springer is an American author of fantasy, young adult literature, mystery, and science fiction. Her novel Larque on the Wing won the Tiptree Award, and she has also received the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.-Series:Book of the Isle* 1. The White Hart * 2...
.
Weird Tales became part of the
DNA PublicationsDNA Publications was an American publishing company which existed from 1993 to 2007 and was run by the husband-and wife team of Warren Lapine and Angela Kessler, who met at science fiction convention in Virginia. Although initially founded in Massachusetts by Lapine, the company later relocated to...
chain for several years around the turn of the millennium, and then in 2005 was sold to
Wildside PressWildside Press is an independent publishing company located in Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1989 by John Gregory and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limited editions, it has broadened out somewhat since then, both...
(owned by former co-editor Betancourt) and changed to a bimonthly (6 issues/year) schedule.
In early 2007, Wildside announced a revamp of
Weird Tales, naming
Stephen H. SegalStephen H. Segal is a Hugo Award-winning American editor, writer and publication designer.Segal began his editorial career as a journalist at In Pittsburgh Weekly and WQED's Pittsburgh Magazine...
the editorial and creative director, and later recruiting
Ann VanderMeerAnn VanderMeer is an American publisher and editor, and the second female editor of the venerable horror magazine Weird Tales. She is the founder of Buzzcity Press.Her work as Fiction Editor of Weird Tales won a Hugo Award...
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 75 years. Subsequently,
Weird Tales has published works by a wide range of strange-fiction authors including
Michael MoorcockMichael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
,
Caitlín R. KiernanCaitlín Rebekah Kiernan is the author of many science fiction and dark fantasy works, including seven novels, many comic books, more than one hundred published short stories, novellas, and vignettes, and numerous scientific papers.- Overview :Born in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to the United States...
,
Norman SpinradNorman Richard Spinrad is an American science fiction author.Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco,...
, and
Carrie VaughnCarrie Vaughn is an American author who writes the urban fantasy Kitty Norville series. She has published more than 50 short stories in science fiction and fantasy magazines as well as short story anthologies and internet magazines...
, as well as artwork by a younger generation of artists such as
Molly CrabappleMolly Crabapple is an American artist, author and entrepreneur.The AP Wire once compared her work to "limerick shared amongst good company in a Victorian parlor."-Early life:...
, Steven Archer, and Jason Levesque. Recent issues have also seen the addition of a broader range of nonfiction, ranging from narrative essays to comics to features on weird culture.
The magazine earned its first
Hugo AwardThe Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
win in August 2009 at the
2009 WorldconThe 67th World Science Fiction Convention , also known as Anticipation, was hosted in Montréal, Québec, Canada, on 6–10 August 2009, at the Palais des congrès de Montréal...
in
MontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. At the same convention, writer Peter Atwood's short story “All In,” which was published in the May–June 2008 issue of
Weird Tales, was nominated for a 2009 Prix Aurora Award as Best Short-Form Work in English.
In January 2010, the magazine announced Segal was leaving the top editorial post to become an editor at
Quirk BooksQuirk Books is an independent book publisher based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.The company was founded by David Borgenicht, co-author of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, which has spawned sequels, as well as a TBS television series and a board game. Quirk develops "Coffee...
. VanderMeer was elevated to editor-in-chief,
Mary Robinette KowalMary Robinette Kowal is an American author and puppeteer. She also served as art director for Shimmer Magazine and in 2010 was named art director for Weird Tales...
joined the staff as art director, Paula Guran joined as nonfiction editor and Segal became senior contributing editor.
Like many small press magazines,
Weird Tales has an irregular publishing schedule, but usually manages to come close to its announced quarterly schedule.
On August 23, 2011, John Betancourt announced Wildside Press would be selling
Weird Tales to
Marvin KayeMarvin Nathan Kaye is an American mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and horror author and editor. He has also edited numerous horror anthologies, such as H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine...
, who
intends to edit the publication himself; Ann VanderMeer will thus be stepping down as
Weird Tales editor.
Anthologies
Numerous anthologies of stories from
Weird Tales have been published.
- The Moon Terror (1927) edited anonymously by Farnsworth Wright.
- The Unexpected (1961)
- The Ghoul Keepers (1961)
- Weird Tales (1964)
- Worlds of Weird (1965) all edited by Leo Margulies
Leo Margulies was an American editor and publisher of science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines.- Career :...
.
- Far Below and Other Horrors (1974) ed. Robert Weinberg
Robert Weinberg is an American author. His work spans several genres including non-fiction, science fiction, horror, and comic books.-Biography:...
- Weird Tales (1976) ed. Peter Haining
Peter Alexander Haining was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk...
.
- Weird Legacies (1977) ed. Mike Ashley
Michael Ashley is a British bibliographer, author and editor of science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.He edits the long-running Mammoth Book series of short story anthologies, each arranged around a particular theme in mystery, fantasy, or science fiction...
.
- Weird Tales:The Magazine That Never Dies (1988) ed. Marvin Kaye
Marvin Nathan Kaye is an American mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and horror author and editor. He has also edited numerous horror anthologies, such as H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine...
.
- Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors (1988) ed. Weinberg, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz and Martin H. Greenberg
Martin Harry Greenberg was an American speculative fiction anthologist and writer.-Biography:Dr. Martin H. Greenberg was born March 1, 1941, to Max and Mae Greenberg in South Miami Beach, Florida...
.
- The Eighth Green Man and Other Strange Folk (1989) ed. Weinberg.
- 100 Wild Little Weird Tales (1994) ed. Weinberg, Dziemianowicz and Greenberg.
- Best of Weird Tales (1995) ed. John Gregory Betancourt
John Gregory Betancourt is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at Amazing Stories and editor of Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field, the revived Weird Tales magazine, the first issue of H. P...
.
- The Best of Weird Tales: 1923 (1997) ed. Kaye and Betancourt.
- Weird Tales: Seven Decades of Terror (1997) ed. Weinberg and Betancourt.
- Weird Tales: The 21st Century (2007) ed. Segal and Wallace.
See also
- Fantasy fiction magazine
- Horror fiction magazine
A horror fiction magazine is a magazine that publishes primarily horror fiction with the main purpose of scaring or frightening the reader. Horror magazines can be in print, on the internet, or both.-Defunct magazines:*The Arkham Collector...
- Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
- Science fiction magazine
A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard copy periodical format or on the Internet....
External links