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synopsis

Immortality may not be a word that springs to mind when one thinks of Weird Tales, but it should. The magazine’s aim coincided with an unusual desire to highlight authors whose stories didn’t necessarily fit any other publication’s criteria. These were stories too lurid or provocative for most mainstream outlets. But Weird Tales saw potential no one else had, and they knew that one day this writing could make its authors immortal. Now the likes of Lovecraft, Howard, Smith, Merritt, Burks, and countless others have all seen their names etched into the lore of weird and fantastical fiction. This is no mere coincidence. For Weird Tales was the spark that ignited their legacies and — by extension — its own immortality among the publishing world. Thus, one hundred years ago a pulp dynasty was born.
       Edited by horror and speculative fiction aficionado, Darrell Schweitzer, The Best of Weird Tales: The 1920s is an homage to that dynasty whose humble beginnings under editor Farnsworth Wright (following a short stint by Edwin Baird) carved out a place in the unpredictable niche market of weird fiction. Though, these same beginnings would also see the magazine flourish into one of the most lauded and unprecedented publications of the modern age. One that still finds itself relevant to readers today who search for the same sort of unorthodox tales that made it such a bastion of darkness in its heyday. No single print magazine could claim a foothold on an entire genre. That is, until Weird Tales staked its claim.
       And it's with “Ooze” that The Best of Weird Tales: The 1920s stakes its claim on you, the modern reader, venturing to Cajun country where man plays God yet again to damaging results. But he also plays mad scientist and just plain mad. For the outcome is a scandalous family tragedy that befittingly served as this magazine’s first cover.
       Stories like “Beyond the Door” and “The Hanging of Alfred Wadham” feature unsavory forces that compel their characters to think, feel, or act aberrant. It’s enough to drive one into a murderous psychosis or a state of God-fearing confusion. Even worse are “The Red Brain” and “The Copper Bowl,” which both provide their own take on the most egregious evils possible. The latter may be one of the most grotesque torture tales you’ve ever read, filled with the vilest that humanity has to offer. But the former is no slouch either, presenting a slice of life (or death?) in which the last great hope at survival may in fact be the worst of all enemies.
       But maybe not everything is as grave it seems to be. “Through the Vortex” may just give credence to the conspiracy theories around aircraft “lost at sea,” which may not actually be lost after all. And “The Night Wire” isn’t far removed from the macabre of Cornell Woolrich, featuring newsmen of the night laboring away at copy so hot off the press it may just sear the life out of them.
       Short stories aren’t the only flavor found in this most seething of anthologies. The short form verses included here are of the spine-tingling but perceptive variety with prose that’ll seize your heart and bleed your soul. “Forbidden Magic,” “The Haunted Castle,” and “Nyctalops” are just a few whose economy of language will leave you in awe. But they also work well as palate cleansers, preparing the mind for what’s coming next. And what’s next, be it short story or verse, will leave little doubt as to how Weird Tales attained its subtitle, “The Unique Magazine.”
       This new anthology of the best Weird Tales stories of the 1920s includes 32 stories, 25 poems, a gallery of all 1920s Weird Tales covers in color, and a half dozen essays, plus fifteen pages of contributor biographies with illustrations by Allen Koszowski. The full page story illustrations are by Francesco Giani, with dustjacket, frontispiece, and title page artwork by Jim Burns. Each copy is signed by editor Darrell Schweitzer, Jim Burns, and Allen Koszowski.