The Shapes of Midnight by Joseph Payne Brennan
The Shapes of Midnight Joseph Payne Brennan Berkley, 1980 mass market paperback, $2.25, 176 p. Introduction by Stephen King Joseph Payne Brennan has sadly become one of the more neglected writers of...
View ArticleClark Ashton Smith Turns 122
Today marks the 122nd anniversary of Clark Ashton Smith’s birth. He was one of the Big Three of Weird Tales, the other two being H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (but then I probably don’t need to...
View ArticleCatherine Lucille Moore: Fantasy and Science Fiction Pioneer
Not to mention one of the most important writers of the past century. Catherine Lucille Moore, better known as C. L. Moore, was born on this day in 1911. She sold her first story, “Shambleau”, in...
View ArticleBlogging Northwest Smith: The Cold Gray God
“The Cold Gray God” adds a slight Lovecraftian element to the Northwest Smith saga. First published in the October 1935 issue of Weird Tales, the story opens with Smith being accosted on the street of...
View ArticleBlogging Jirel of Joiry: Black God’s Kiss
Black God’s Kiss C. L. Moore Paizo trade paperback $12.99 Shortly after she began chronicling the adventures of Northwest Smith, C. L. Moore created a second series character, one that would have an...
View ArticleLovecraft Letter to Publisher of Weird Tales
For those of you who have an interest in H. P. Lovecraft, I came across this today via The Passive Voice. It’s an 8 page single spaced letter housed in the Harry Ransom Collection at the University of...
View ArticleHenry Kuttner at 100
One of my all-time favorite writers was born 100 years ago on this date. Henry Kuttner was a prolific author who wrote in multiple genres. Kuttner started out writing Lovecraft pastiche for Weird...
View Article“The Golgotha Dancers” by Manly Wade Wellman
“The Golgotha Dancers” Manly Wade Wellman ebook $0.99 This story was originally published in the October 1937 issue of Weird Tales. It’s now available as a short story in electronic format. This is an...
View ArticleIf You Were Stranded on a Desert Island…
If you were stranded on a desert island and could have one complete run of a pulp magazine to help you while away the hours, which one would it be? For those of you who are anal retentive, assume that...
View ArticleKuttner Unkollected
No, that’s not a typo, it’s a deliberate misspelling. It’s a weisenheimer attempt at alliteration. About a decade ago, give or take a year, I had a little extra money from summer teaching. So did I...
View ArticleRIP, Jon Arfstrom 1928-2015
Jon Afrstrom passed away December 2. He was believed to be the last surviving artist to work on the original Weird Tales. While he wasn’t as well known as Margaret Brundage or J. Allen St. John, Jon...
View ArticleHappy Birthday, Margaret Brundage
Margaret Brundage was born on this date in 1900. Brundage gain fame, some would say infamy, illustrating covers for Weird Tales in the 1930s. She was born Margaret Hedda Johnson and was married...
View ArticleHappy Birthday, Clark Ashton Smith
January 13, 1893 saw the birth of Clark Ashton Smith. Along with his friends and correspondents Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft, Smith was regarded as one of the Big Three at Weird Tales during...
View ArticleBlogging Jirel of Joiry: Black God’s Shadow
“Black God’s Shadow” C. L. Moore First published in Weird Tales, December 1934 “Black God’s Shadow” is the second Jirel of Joiry tale, a direct sequel to “Black God’s Kiss“. The story opens while...
View ArticleIn Observance of Henry S. Whitehead’s Birthday
Henry S. Whitehead was born today, March 5, in 1882. He wrote a number of stories for Weird Tales during its early years before his untimely death in 1932. Much of his fiction focused on the...
View ArticleRobert Bloch Hits 99
Robert Bloch was born on April 5, 1917, in Chicago. He passed away on September 23, 1994 in Los Angeles. Although he will be remembered as the author of Psycho, and justifiably so, he was a writer of...
View ArticleIt’s Margaret Brundage’s Birthday
I wrote a post last year on Margaret Brundage. I don’t really have anything to add. But given all the brouhaha about art lately (see Daughter of Naked Slave Girls, Illustrated Edition as an example...
View ArticleBlogging Solomon Kane: “The Footfalls Within”
“The Footfalls Within” was first published in the September, 1930 issue of Weird Tales. It’s a pretty straight-forward story, but one that has some depth if you know where to look. It seems to take...
View ArticleBirthday Bonus: A Collaboration Between Bloch and Kuttner
“The Grab Bag” Robert Bloch and Henry Kuttner Originally appeared in Weird Tales, Spring 1991 Robert Bloch and Henry Kuttner were friends, and they collaborated on a handful of stories before Kuttner’s...
View ArticleBirthday Reading: Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman was born, this day, May 21, in 1903 in Portuguese West Africa. He was one of the greatest writers of horror and dark fantasy of the 20th Century, although he’s not as well known...
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