Customer Reviews

Weird Tales

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Pyramid Books published three paperback anthologies of stories from _Weird Tales_ in the early 1960s: _The Unexpected_ (1961), _Weird Tales_ (1964), and _Worlds of Weird_ (1965). All three credit Leo Margulies as the editor. But according to _The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction_ (1995), Sam Moskowitz ghost edited the last two. This seems likely. The first book consists of more modern-- and generally better-- stories. The latter two books are more old fashioned and uneven in quality. But perhaps they come a bit closer to giving the reader the flavor of the magazine during its golden years.

_Weird Tales_ (1964) consists of eight stories published between 1931 and 1942. The stories are: Edmond Hamilton's "The Man Who Returned," Fritz Leiber's "Spider Mansion," Robert Bloch's "A Question of Etiquette," Nictzin Dyalhis's "The Sea Witch," H.P. Lovecraft's "The Strange High House in the Mist," August W. Derleth's "The Drifting Snow," Frank Belknap Long's "The Body Masters," and Robert E. Howard's "Pigeons From Hell". Only the Leiber and the Bloch were not purchased by Farnsworth Wright, the greatest editor of _Weird Tales_.

Let us dispense with several stories straightaway. The Howard is absolutely awful-- from its ridiculous title to its silly plot to its purple prose to its blatant racism. The Derleth is less offensive, but it is little more than a stock variation of a vampire story. The Long is a heavy-handed science fiction satire of the sort that became obsolete after the thirties. The Bloch is mildly amusing but trite and fairly predictable. The other four stories, however, deserve a bit more attention.

Nictzin Dyalhis was a chemist and short story writer who sold a small handful of stories to _Weird Tales_ over the years. I believe that he has been somewhat overrated as an author, but "The Sea Witch" is still a good story-- a pleasant romance with well-rounded characters.

I am not a keen admirer of H.P. Lovecraft, especially his dream stories. But "The Strange High House in the Mist" is one of his better yarns; and the sights that you will see through the leaded bulls-eye windows will stay with you, even if they slip away from the mind of the hero. It is a sort of companion piece to "The Terrible Old Man".

The plot of the Hamilton story is outlandish and unbelieveable if you stop to think about it. But it is still a nicely done character study. It begins where a lot of Edgar Alan Poe stories end. A man returns from the grave. But he then discovers that his life was not what he thought it to be.

"Spider Mansion," like "Pigeons From Hell," is an Old Dark House story. Most ODH tales are patently ridiculous, and so it is here. But this dish is served up with panache and style and a poker face. Leiber actually gets away with his nonsense. This is the most entertaining story in the anthology.

How much you will enjoy this book will depend on how much affection you have for what was billed as "the unique magazine". If you have a weakness for ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night, for cemeteries and haunted houses, for slavering batrachian monsters in shuttered rooms, and for eldrich horrors waiting in jungle temples for luckless travelers... Well then, you may find that this book will provide you with a pleasant hour or two.