Weird tales

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Weird Tales July 1941

Weird Tales is an American pulp magazine that publishes science fiction , fantasy and horror stories.

Development 1923–1937

The first edition appeared in March 1923. It was published in Chicago by JC Henneberger , a former journalist with a penchant for the macabre. The first editor was Edwin Baird and his assistant was Farnsworth Wright .

After just fourteen issues, Wright took over Baird's division, giving the magazine its own note. He has published stories from HP Lovecraft and the then very popular Seabury Quinn . Another successful author was Robert E. Howard , whose stories of Conan the Cimmerian became well known. He also gave authors such as Robert Bloch and Clark Ashton Smith the opportunity to publish their works for the first time. Wright, who had Parkinson's disease , worked as a lecturer for Weird Tales until March 1940 . He passed away in June of the same year.

Decay 1937–1954

Weird Tales always suffered financial hardship, with the magazine competing with comics , the radio and cheap paperbacks. After the death of Lovecraft in 1937 and the retirement of Wright, the magazine experienced a decline and was finally discontinued in 1954, after 279 issues. The past few years, with Dorothy McIlwraith as editor, have been marked by "lost" Lovecraft works that have occasionally surfaced, garish cover art, and Lovecraft-style stories written by the self-appointed literary administrator August Derleth .

Donald A. Wollheim published eighteen volumes of the Avon Fantasy Reader from 1947 to 1952 , in which the best stories from the magazine were reprinted.

Resurrection

Between 1954 and 1988, the magazine saw several brief revivals. Under the editorship of George Scithers and Darrell Schweitzer, the magazine began to appear more regularly from 1988. The magazine achieved financial success with contributions from respected contemporary authors such as Tanith Lee , Brian Lumley, and Thomas Ligotti . Weird Tales was published by DNA Publications from 1998 to 2005 and then sold to Wildside Press in 2005 . In 2007 the magazine was completely redesigned and in 2009 it received the Hugo Award for the first time .

Awards

literature

  • Robert M. Christ: Weird Tales, an unusual magazine. In: Blätter für Volksliteratur 52/1 (2013), pp. 35–45.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ TheHugoAwards.org (ed.): 2009 Hugo Award Winners , total. 2012-0606-1525.
  2. ↑ WorldFantasy.org (ed.): Awards List , ges. 2012-0606-1525.

Web links

Commons : Weird Tales  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files