Review: The Weird Tales Story by Robert Weinberg

by Gary Romeo

The Weird Tales Story by Robert Weinberg has seen three different editions. The first was published by Fax Collector’s Editions in 1977. This was a nice hardcover book with interior art by Alex Nino. The book is dedicated: To Margaret Brundage, whose covers might not have reflected the contents of Weird Tales but surely sold a lot of copies.

The second edition was published by Wildside Press in 1999. There is a new cover, the Alex Nino art is gone, and the contents and dedication pages have disappeared, but the inside contents are exactly the same (probably photo offset).

A third edition was expanded and revised in 2021. It was published by Pulp Hero Press. The dedication is forever gone but the contents were widely expanded. And the new cover is pretty good!

There are some differences between the three versions besides the covers, formatting, and new material. In this new enhanced version, the full page photo of Farnsworth Wright, with the inscription “Eerily yours” is missing

The new enhanced version includes the Alex Nino art that went missing from the Wildside edition. It also includes some new photos not in the previous editions. There are nice pics of: J. C. Henneberger, a new Farnsworth Wright pic, Ray Bradbury, that much used REH wearing that hat pic, C. L. Moore, and Manly Wade Wellman. The same photos of Otis Adelbert Kline, Frank Belknap Long, Greye La Spina and Seabury Quinn are used again, but with better quality reproduction. New photos of Mary Elizabeth Counselman, August Derleth, Edmond Hamilton, Henry Kuttner, and H. P. Lovecraft replace photos used previously. And a young Clark Ashton Smith pic replaces a photo of CAS with visiting fans and his self-portrait scribble used in the previous editions. Robert Bloch and Henry S. Whitehead photos are now gone and so is a Whitehead Memorial. All the pulp cover photos are the same but larger and with better quality reproduction. There might be other slight differences I have overlooked but I think I have noted them all.

Now for a quick look at the new material. There is, of course, some new introductory matter: a Publisher’s Note, a Foreword by Adrian Cole, and a new Introduction by Jason Ray Carney, Ph.D. This is all nice but the significant additions begin with Chapter Four. A new look at Dorothy McIlwraith by Terence E. Hanley is tacked on at the end of Weinberg’s original chapter. Hanley’s addition quotes from other pro-McIIlwraith articles and finishes with a page and a half of biographical details. It is a nice addition for this enhanced edition.

Chapter Five is where the “enhanced” edition starts to really emerge. Darrell Schweitzer starts the chapter with a look at Ray Bradbury. Schweitzer does a good job mentioning the best of Bradbury’s stories published by Weird Tales but fails to mention that fans can find these works most easily in Bradbury’s paperback collection called The October Country. Why whet our appetites without telling us where we can find the appetizers?

Mike Ashley gives a good short overview on Mary Elizabeth Counselman. “The Three Marked Pennies” is not her only work for Weird Tales. But that story is a darn good one. August Derleth gets a short overview from Darrell Schweitzer. Nothing really new here but it is an honest overview of Derleth’s talents. Edmond Hamilton by Mike Ashley tells us how Mr. Hamilton introduced “super-science” or as Farnsworth Wright labelled it, “weird-science,” into the Unique Magazine. Bobby Derie’s article on Robert E. Howard is longer than most and deals with REH’s early attempts at submitting stories. Rob Roehm also writes about Robert E. Howard in a longer article that deals with the later years. Henry Kuttner by Adrian Cole is an interesting look full of praise. Cole seems to have a real enthusiasm for the author; which makes sense since Cole has taken to writing pastiches of Kuttner’s Elak of Atlantis stories.

Mike Ashley writes on Frank Belknap Long. I only knew Long as a protege of H. P. Lovecraft so this article was informative. S. T. Joshi owns H. P. Lovecraft these days and does his usual good job detailing the relationship between Weird Tales and Lovecraft. Mike Ashley writes about C. L. Moore in a short overview. Darrell Schweitzer returns for Seabury Quinn. Schweitzer gives Quinn his due as Weird Tales‘ most popular writer. I liked this article. Mike Ashley returns for a short informative article on Clark Ashton Smith. Manly Wade Wellman by Darrell Schweitzer told me about an author I know very little about. Mike Ashley’s “A Fellowship of Fear” tells us about some of the lesser known Weird Tales writers. Terence Hanley’s “They Should Have Been in Weird Tales” is fun but wishing Weird Tales‘ a penny a word rate on some of these writers would be a punishment not a reward.

The next new item is Chapter Seven, “Gothic to Cosmic: Sword-and-Sorcery in Weird Tales” by Morgan Holmes. This chapter was probably the most dear to me as I am a fan of Sword & Sorcery. I did learn some new information in the sub-section titled “Sword-and-Sorcery Oddities” and I imagine others would as well. I also liked the “Conclusion” giving H. P. Lovecraft proper credit for his influence on the genre.

Chapter Thirteen, “Since 1954: The Magazine That Never Dies” and an Appendix featuring a reprint of the story, “Ooze” by Anthony M. Rud are the last new items. Chapter Thirteen is essential for those who care about the legacy of Weird Tales. And “Ooze” is worth the read.

All in all, I’d say any fan remotely curious about Weird Tales would appreciate this book. Since Howard Days 2023 is a celebration of Weird Tales you can’t go wrong by boning up studying with this book beforehand. It’s always fun to try and stump the panel or even better, to be the one to throw out a correction if a mistake is made!