Clik here to view.
Heart of Darkness-Part Five
Kurtz is mysterious, just as Africa is mysterious. Marlow penetrates into both mysteries. The title of Joseph Conrad's novella first appears in Marlow's description of his journey upriver: "We...
View ArticleHeart of Darkness-Part Six
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a tale, an old form of which the weird tale is also an example. Heart of Darkness and weird tales have things in common, one of which is the use of intelligible...
View ArticleOoze & Abysses
I have been writing for a long time now about Weird Tales in its first year and in its 100th. Weird Tales began in March 1923 with a story called "Ooze" by Anthony M. Rud. In its current incarnation,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stephen Bagby (1894-1969)
Pseudonym of Charles Meriwether StephensAuthor, Newspaper Editor, Advertising ManBorn August 28, 1890, Atlanta, GeorgiaDied December 11, 1969, Little Creek Hospital, Knoxville, TennesseeIn February...
View ArticleRobinson H. Harsh (1894-1968)
Aka Harold HarshAuthor, Inventor, Genealogist, Philatelist, Government Worker, Railroad Worker, Salesman, NewsboyBorn October 9, 1894, Dayton, TexasDied October 9, 1968, Leonardtown, MarylandAuthors...
View ArticleRobert G. Bowie (1880-1959)
Author, Schoolteacher, Government Worker, Railroad WorkerBorn November 2, 1880, Goresville, Loudoun County, VirginiaDied September 20, 1959, Washington, D.C.Like Robinson H. Harsh, Robert G. Bowie was...
View ArticleDick Heine (1897-1977)
Author, Clock & Watch Maker, MeteorologistBorn November 25, 1897, Talladega, AlabamaDied May 15, 1977, presumably in Talladega, AlabamaRichard Toole Heine, Jr., who wrote as Dick Heine, was born on...
View ArticleLawrence on Dostoevsky
Here is a quote for all authors, aspiring, beginning, well established, and otherwise, including those writing in Weird Tales:"As far as I'm concerned, in proportion as a man gets more profoundly and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Louise Garwood (1900-1980)
Poet, Author, Newspaper Feature Writer, TeacherBorn January 29, 1900, Houston, TexasDied March 21, 1980, Seton Medical Center, Austin, TexasLouise Ford Garwood had an admirable career as a poet,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shakespeare in "The Eyrie"
Sometimes there was verse in "The Eyrie." The authors of that verse aren't credited in bibliographies. I can understand why. But for the sake of completeness, and for the sake of not missing out on...
View ArticleTellers of Weird Tales in The New Yorker
The first issue of The New Yorker was dated February 21, 1925, one hundred years ago today. Unlike Weird Tales, The New Yorker has been published continuously since its inception. Also unlike Weird...
View ArticleRobert W. Chambers & the Language of Cosmic Horror
Robert W. Chambers' name is the first to appear in the Cosmic Horror Issue of Weird Tales (#367, published in 2023). This is in "The Eyrie," which used to be a letters column but has become simply a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Robert W. Chambers & Lost Lands
One sub-sub-genre of fantasy and adventure fiction is the tale of lost cities, lost lands, and lost continents. Sometimes those places that are lost are sunken cities and submerged continents. Atlantis...
View ArticleFour Men-Part One
Two figures cast their long shadows over the Cosmic Horror Issue of Weird Tales. They are of course Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. But it seems to me that there is more of Friedrich Nietzsche and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Four Men-Part Two
I'll set aside Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft before bringing them up again. The four men of the title are:German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900);French author Guy de Maupassant...
View ArticleClik here to view.
100 Years of R'lyeh!
I have overlooked the 100th anniversary of the real-life earthquake that brought the fictional (we hope) Cthulhu Island to the surface of the South Pacific Ocean. It happened this past weekend,...
View ArticleFour Men-Part Three
God created the cosmos, thereby banishing the void and chaos that preceded it. For as long as God exists and reigns supreme, there can be no void, and nothing from the void can exist in or intrude upon...
View ArticleFour Men-Part Four
"The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant is in two versions. The first version is a short story or tale published in 1886. The second is a long short story or novelette published in 1887. If you can, you...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What is it? What was it?
In "The Horla," by Guy de Maupassant, one of the narrators asks, "What is it?", this invisible being that has afflicted him. His question echoes the title of Fitz-James O'Brien's earlier short story...
View ArticleMargaret McBride Hoss (1890-1962)
Poet, Lyricist, Author, LibrarianBorn November 8, 1890, Nevada, MissouriDied September 29, 1962, Lake Worth Beach, FloridaMargaret McBride Hoss was born on November 8, 1930, in Nevada, Missouri. That's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anne Forman Ellis (1893-1946)
Travel Writer, Tourist/Traveler, SecretaryBorn December 18, 1893, Carrollton, KentuckyDied June 22, 1946, Leigh Memorial Hospital, Norfolk, VirginiaAnne Elizabeth Forman Ellis was born on December 18,...
View ArticleThe 100th Anniversary in the San Diego Comic Con Book
As I was going through anniversaries and observances of anniversaries last year, I missed an observance. This one was for the 100th anniversary of Weird Tales, and it was published in the Comic Con...
View ArticleThe Weird Tales Scam
Every once in a while I look on the Internet for news of my blog. This isn't really vanity--or not mostly vanity--I just want to see what's going on out there. I don't have any connections to people in...
View ArticleA Friend
A friend died very recently. I don't yet know what day. I came back earlier this week, late on a rainy and utterly black night to find a terrible message waiting for me. The next morning I drove into a...
View ArticleThe Ships of Literature
When I wrote last, I pretty clearly placed literature above the level of genre fiction. That might be a little harsh. It's likely to offend fans of weird fiction, science fiction, horror, and so on. It...
View Article