R A W. Lowndes - Magazine Of Horror

[dem]

... and you'd be spot on

Monster Emporium

[dreeder]

the lowndes magazines were great - i have a full set deep in storage...

in the early 1970s, i remember my collecting consisted pretty much these titles, plus the daw paperbacks, lin carter's reprints, lovecraft and howard and the zebra paperbacks. looking back, it was a great time to get a pulp education! and lowndes' editorials were always so full of interest.

hardest to find, i think, are the western reprints - fun even if you're not a fan.

[dmccunney]

Thanks for the comprehensive listings of the Robert Lowndes edited publications. I met Robert, way back when, when he was editing the Magazine of Horror, et al. Horror was never my particular interest, but I was a regular reader of his Famous Science Fiction title, and read at least some of the Startling Mystery Stories issues.

As you say, Robert was a fan first. When he broke into editing in the early pulp days, he consciously set out to make himself a fan of different genres, so he would properly understand what made a story in a particular genre a good one. He at one time of another edited SF, fantasy, horror, mystery, western, war, sports, and other pulp tiles, and put his knowledge and fandom to use.

Bob was always a secondary market offering low rates. He was able to turn out readable magazines through an eye for the slush pile, and through a network of friends selling to better paying markets who knew Bob was a market for the odd piece that didn't sell elsewhere.

For me, the best parts of his magazines were his editorial matter, where he displayed his broad knowledge of the field and always had something of interest to say. Some of it may have been written simply to fill space in the magazine when he needed copy, but that made it no less valuable. It's gotten some recognition elsewhere: NESFA Press did a hardcover edition of three long essays originally run as editorials in Famous Science Fiction that are worth reading by anyone with an interest in what SF offers and why we read it:
www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Lowndes.htm

It's out of print now, alas, but well worth it should you find a copy.
______
Dennis

[dem]

Thanks very much for sharing that, Dennis. i agree that his editorials and introductions to particular stories had plenty to do with why the magazines were so special. Even if some of the stories he reproduced hadn't aged particularly well, he kept you interested with his reminiscences of the author and/ or the magazine it first appeared in. i didn't get hold of any copies of MOH, SMS and WTT until twenty years after they'd all folded, but they seemed incredibly fresh even then and, for me, so much more likable than the day's mainstream magazines.

[dem]

Magazine Of Horror #25 (Health Knowledge, Jan 1969)

Virgil Finlay

Robert A. W. Lowndes - The Editor's Page

James Blish - There Shall Be No Darkness
Frederick Marryat - The Phantom Ship
Victor Rousseau - When Dead Gods Wake
Larry Eugene Meredith - The Writings Of Elwin Adams
Clark Ashton Smith - The Colossus Of Ylourgne

Magazine Of Horror #29 (Health Knowledge, Sept 1969)

Virgil Finlay

Robert A. W. Lowndes - The Editor's Page

Gordon MacCreagh - The Case Of The Sinister Shape
David H. Keller - The Thirty And One
Steven Lott - Portraits By Jacob Pitt
Charles Hilan Craig - The Red Sail
Arthur J. Burks - Guatemozin The Visitant

Many thanks to Justin for his kindness in gifting me two of the later MOH's, neither of which i'd seen in the flesh before now and both promise to be belters. Each issue feature lengthy novella's - James Blish's sensational werewolf opus There Shall Be No Darkness, and, perhaps less celebrated, the incomparable Arthur J. Burks's Guatemozin The Visitant. In his day Burks, whose sentences often lasted longer than the average James Moffat novel, was dubbed "the speed merchant of the pulps", an eighteen-thousand-words-a-day man who, according to Bob Jones, "never had to rewrite - or at least, never did ... He may have been the most compulsive writer ever." Burks contributed several stories to the notorious weird menace trio - Horror Stories, Terror Tales and Dime Mystery - but then, he contributed several stories to everything else, too. An Arkham House collection, Black Medicine (1966), reprints sixteen of his Weird Tales contributions plus Guatemozin The Visitant, which first saw publication in the highly regarded Strange Tales for November 1931. Gordon MacCreagh's The Case Of The Sinister Shape is another investigation for Dr. Muncing, Exorcist to shake his crucifix at while Victor Rousseau chronicles the strange and terrible goings on at Francis Maitland's personal museum. David H. Keller's Tales Of Cornwall have their fans - i found those i've read hit and miss to be honest, most likely because a few lean so far toward fantasy they're no longer horror - but maybe The Thirty And One will get me in the swing and i'll soon be raving about how great they are. Finally, until i get properly stuck in, Lowndes editorials are always worth reading and issue 29's is a real descent into a read-through-your-fingers snakepit as he mounts a spirited defence of Edgar Rice Burroughs against charges of racism in relation to the Tarzan novels.

[mattofthespurs]

Mar 4, 2011 13:32:56 GMT dem said:

Magazine Of Horror #25 (Health Knowledge, Jan 1969)

Robert A. W. Lowndes - The Editor's Page

James Blish - There Shall Be No Darkness
Frederick Marryat - The Phantom Ship
Victor Rousseau - When Dead Gods Wake
Larry Eugene Meredith - The Writings Of Elwin Adams
Clark Ashton Smith - The Colossus Of Ylourgne

Magazine Of Horror #29 (Health Knowledge, Sept 1969)

Robert A. W. Lowndes - The Editor's Page

Gordon MacCreagh - The Case Of The Sinister Shape
David H. Keller - The Thirty And One
Steven Lott - Portraits By Jacob Pitt
Charles Hilan Craig - The Red Sail
Arthur J. Burks - Guatemozin The Visitant

Many thanks to Justin for his kindness in gifting me two of the later MOH's, neither of which i'd seen in the flesh before now and both promise to be belters. Each issue feature lengthy novella's - James Blish's sensational werewolf opus There Shall Be No Darkness, and, perhaps less celebrated, the incomparable Arthur J. Burks's Guatemozin The Visitant. In his day Burks, whose sentences often lasted longer than the average James Moffat novel, was dubbed "the speed merchant of the pulps", an eighteen-thousand-words-a-day man who, according to Bob Jones, "never had to rewrite - or at least, never did ... He may have been the most compulsive writer ever." Burks contributed several stories to the notorious weird menace trio - Horror Stories, Terror Tales and Dime Mystery - but then, he contributed several stories to everything else, too. An Arkham House collection, Black Medicine (1966), reprints sixteen of his Weird Tales contributions plus Guatemozin The Visitant, which first saw publication in the highly regarded Strange Tales for November 1931. Gordon MacCreagh's The Case Of The Sinister Shape is another investigation for Dr. Muncing, Exorcist to shake his crucifix at while Victor Rousseau chronicles the strange and terrible goings on at Francis Maitland's personal museum. David H. Keller's Tales Of Cornwall have their fans - i found those i've read hit and miss to be honest, most likely because a few lean so far toward fantasy they're no longer horror - but maybe The Thirty And One will get me in the swing and i'll soon be raving about how great they are. Finally, until i get properly stuck in, Lowndes editorials are always worth reading and issue 29's is a real descent into a read-through-your-fingers snakepit as he mounts a spirited defence of Edgar Rice Burroughs against charges of racism in relation to the Tarzan novels.

Is anyone interested in buying any of these (before I eBay them)?
I have issues 10, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, 33, 34, and 36.

[dem]

Magazine Of Horror #8 (Health Knowledge Inc., April, 1965)

Robert A. W. Lowndes- Introduction

William J. Makin - The Last Laugh
Rev. R. H. D. Barham - The Hand Of Glory (verse)
David Grinnell (Donald A. Wollheim) - The Garrison
Robert W. Chambers - Passeur
John Brunner - Orpheus's Brother
Robert W. Chambers - Cassilda's Song
Washington Irving - The Lady Of The Velvet Collar
Reynold Junker - Jack
Oliver Taylor - The Burglar Proof Vault
Ray Cummings - The Dead Who Walk


While most readers doubtless bought a Health Knowledge magazine primarily for the pulp reprints, the original material is often equally entertaining and, on occasion, truly memorable. Cases in point would include Eddy C. Bertin's The Whispering Thing (aka, The Whispering Horror, in Weird Terror Tales #1, submitted to R.A.W.L at the same time it was mailed to Van Thal for consideration in the Pan Horror series), Tigrina's Last Act: October (Magazine Of Horror #4), Gerald W. Page's The Tree and Joanna Russ's Come Closer (both MOH #10), Steffan B. Aletti's The Last Work Of Pietro Of Apona (MOH #27), Ralph E. Hayes' A Matter Of Breeding (Startling Mystery Stories #3), Joseph H. Bloom's Laura (SMS # 17) ... and from MOH #8, Reynold Junker's Jack, the first short story to creep me out in quite some months.

John Brunner - Orpheus's Brother: When long-hair music superstar Rock Careless (nee Jack Suggs) is torn apart by screaming fans, Laurie, his estranged younger brother, blames Mr. Wise, Rock's unscrupulous manager. Laurie pulls a gun on Wise and threatens to kill him slow. Wise argues that he was Jack's one true friend when none of his family wanted to know, and, far from being a bad thing, Jack's death has ensured him the same immortality shared by James Dean, Buddy Holly .... and Orpheus. Who's he? Wise relates the story of the singer versus the Bacchantes, all the while thinking of the hungry pets lying in wait behind the locked door.

William J. Makin - The Black Laugh (Strange Tales, Jan. 1932.) Drakensberg, Nepal. Olivia, the village beauty and a huge fan of Douglas Fairbanks, demands that her prospective husband climb the sheer face of Spook Kopje to prove he's worthy. Johannes succeeds - he's the first to do so - but the problem is, he can't get down again, ever. The whites attempt a rescue, but there is no longer a single foothold to gain. What is to be done?

Reynold Junker - Jack: "... You just don't walk up to the first healthy looking man you see wearing suspenders and say "How do you do? My name is Harry Allyson. Your son, Jack, was my friend. We were in the same outfit. He died in my arms. Your son was a hero, but not a fast enough hero, because there was this German who was faster than he was ..."

Before returning home to New York, a young soldier dutifully takes a detour out in the sticks to call on the Boyers, tell them what a brave man their son was, hand them his effects (a duffle-bag containing a purple heart - and his legs !). Except Jonathan Boyer doesn't want to know. It broke his wife's heart when Jack enlisted, and she's been in decline ever since. They've tried for another baby, but it died stillborn. So, what consolation to her that her only son was given a posthumous medal? She needs a replacement, a child who never grows up and never leaves home ....

Robert W. Chambers - Passeur: English Illustrated Magazine, Oct. 1897). Jeannie, the beautiful ferry-woman, drowns on the river between Carnes and Morte-Dieu before the young American can get properly acquainted. On the night of her anniversary, he makes his way out into the storm and beckons to her across the waves. Amazingly, she replies. The ferry docks, he climbs aboard, but it isn't Jeannie who'll be taking him on this, his final journey.

Am a big admirer of his greatest hits - The Yellow Sign and The Repairer Of Reputations in particular - but sometimes Chambers' florid style makes for five pages that read like fifty and this is one such occasion.

Washington Irving - The Lady Of The Velvet Collar (aka The Adventure Of The German Student): (Weird Tales, February 1927: originally Tales Of A Traveller, 1824). Paris during the Revolution. Wolfgang meets a beautiful woman in black by the guillotine in the Place de Greve, a diamond-clasped collar her only outward show of prosperity. Although he's not set eyes on her before, Wolfgang has dreamt of this lovely creature for several nights and vows to protect her in this friendless and terrifying city. She spends the night in his bed and the sight that greets him next morning ensures that he lives out the rest of his days in a madhouse.Later reworked by Gaston LeRoux as The Woman In The Velvet Collar (Weird Tales, October 1929).

[Gaspard du Nord]

Here are some more Lowndes mag covers you don't appear to have. Perhaps someone smarter than me will be able to drop in the scans at more appropriate places.

Attachments:

[Gaspard du Nord]

The board didn't allow me to attach all the covers to one post. I need L plates here!

Attachments:

[dem]

They're lovely. Thank you for plugging the gaps, Gaspard. For all the revivals, I still think of RAWL's wonderful publications as the true successors to Weird Tales & Strange Tales. A great mix of the new and the old, and properly pulp, too - none of this glossy paper nonsense. The ads are great, too. Wonder how many 'Party Girl' inflatable dolls they shifted?

[Gaspard du Nord]

Agreed on all counts, demonik. I believe Lowndes' mags captured the spirit of Weird Tales far better than the later revivals have done. The most recent, Marvin Kaye one looks like it's heading for disaster, as I've mentioned here in the "Weird Tales in Paperback!" thread. Hope you liked the SMS covers, too. The inflatable dolls were mentioned elsewhere on this board, I noticed. When I have a few spare moments I'll hunt out the ad and scan it for you/everyone. A few laughs to go with the shivers!

[dem]

Something else I adore about RAWL's publications - the readers' letters depts., It Is Written (MOH), and The Cauldron (SMS). The mags were two decades discontinued by time I got into them, so couldn't have contributed even had I felt confident to do so, but it still felt like belonging to a great club.

Am delighted to meet another Lowndes fan. We've a few on here!

[Gaspard du Nord]

Yes, the readers' letters pages were a standout feature. RAWL would respond to just about every one published, sometimes at length, and as you say it gave the whole setup the atmosphere of a cosy club long before we had internet chat boards, social media etc. I've already mentioned the "Witchery" ebook which contains a couple of stories very much in the Weird Tales tradition, as the RAWL mags were with both their reprints and the then-new material. The introduction of the ebook, which has been described by fantasy fans elsewhere as worth the 99c price tag in itself, starts off with a quote from a reader's letter in a RAWL mag, Weird Terror Tales. RAWL is also quoted on the subject of pastiches. And what he had to say way back then applies equally today. If you haven't already read the "Witchery" intro, I really think you should!

[Gaspard du Nord]

Jul 5, 2013 14:09:35 GMT dem said:

They're lovely. Thank you for plugging the gaps, Gaspard. For all the revivals, I still think of RAWL's wonderful publications as the true successors to Weird Tales & Strange Tales. A great mix of the new and the old, and properly pulp, too - none of this glossy paper nonsense. The ads are great, too. Wonder how many 'Party Girl' inflatable dolls they shifted?

More than one lurker in the vault has expressed interest in "life size glamour topless Go Go Party Girl" Lori and her friends. Here they are direct from their date in SMS No. 8, Spring 1968: "...we'll send your money back if you're not thrilled."

Attachments:

[dem]

Jul 6, 2013 7:34:12 GMT Gaspard du Nord said:

Jul 5, 2013 14:09:35 GMT dem said:

They're lovely. Thank you for plugging the gaps, Gaspard. For all the revivals, I still think of RAWL's wonderful publications as the true successors to Weird Tales & Strange Tales. A great mix of the new and the old, and properly pulp, too - none of this glossy paper nonsense. The ads are great, too. Wonder how many 'Party Girl' inflatable dolls they shifted?

More than one lurker in the vault has expressed interest in "life size glamour topless Go Go Party Girl" Lori and her friends. Here they are direct from their date in SMS No. 8, Spring 1968: "...we'll send your money back if you're not thrilled."

Ah, there's just no substitute for class. You know, I can't help thinking Filthy Creations are missing a trick ...

SMS 9, Summer 1968

'Go Go Girls' 'Party Girls'? 'Luscious Girls,' Life-size girls' .... Ah, what the hell, let's just tell it as it is.

SMS 14, Winter 1969