Stephen Jones - The Weird Tales Boys

[andydecker]

Stephen Jones – The Weird Tales Boys (PS Publishing, 2023, 248 pages, this edition Drugstore Indian Press tradepaperback)

Cover: Les Edwards

H. P. Lovecraft, R. E. Howard and C. A. Smith - the publisher's text is informative: 'In The Weird Tales Boys, award-winning writer and editor Stephen Jones explores the relationship between this trio of — in many ways flawed — friends, and how their work and lives became not just entwined with each other, but also with so many other authors and publishers of the period.

The legacy of these writers — Lovecraft, Howard and Smith —and the periodical in which their work appeared still has a profound influence on horror and fantasy fiction after more than a century, as the "Weird Tales Boys" continue to cast their long, talented and sometimes controversial shadows over the genre today.

This is their story . . .'

Jones has put together a nicely written overview of the history of Weird Tales most famous contributors. Made lively by a lot of photos and reprinted illustrations it covers the life and times of the three writers and the publication histories of their work.

For readers already familiar with the life-stories and the reception of the big three there is not much new here. This is for the casual interested. (After all the years the well-read devote of this particular topic is apt to recognize even the quotations.) The controversies of Lovecraft's and Howard's legacies are recorded but their background is not much examined; first and foremost this is very politely written, sometimes you have to read between the lines to discover some well-deserved bite.

Considering how much pages Jones devote to examining the reprint business in all kinds of media some later day omissions are a bit baffling. While the Gollancz edition of C. A. Smith in the Fantasy Masterworks series 2002 is mentioned, the 5 volume Smith edition of the collected stories by Nights Shade Books from 2006 onward is missing. The chapter on Lovecraft comics mentions even rather obscure productions like the Cross Plains Comics adaption of The Call of Cthulhu by Thomas and Maroto or mass-market productions like Mignola's Batman/Cthulhu mash-up The Doom that came to Gotham, but neglects to mention the Manga adaptions or Alan Moore's Providence which may have been the most serious examinations of Lovecraft's themes in any kind of medium in the last decades.

On the whole this is a nice read and a nice overview of the publishing history of those writers, their impact and their legacies in the media world. Done in a very well produced tradepaperback (and a sold out hardcover), another nice production by PS Publishing.

[dem bones]

Thanks, Andreas. When I first saw this advertised, I was hoping for a history of Weird Tales, as opposed to yet another book focusing on the three with the big fanbases. Come to think, for all the hype surrounding last years centenary, I'm not sure we had too many overviews? There were a couple of 'best of the early years' antho's — ignoring all but the name authors — and Jonathan Maberry's '100 Years of Weird Tales' (not seen, but apparently "a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.)" Any more?

[Jojo Lapin X]

Jan 28, 2024 16:33:57 GMT dem bones said:

Jonathan Maberry's '100 Years of Weird Tales' (not seen, but apparently "a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.)"

Here is a passage that occurs early on in that one. Can you make sense of it:

"The very first book I ever bought with my own money was the Lancer edition of Conan the Wanderer, which introduced me to Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Lin Carter. I was hooked immediately, and it was through that book—and the others in the expanded library of Conan stories, that Howard’s grim Cimmerian swordsman was born in the pages of Weird Tales."

[andydecker]

Jan 28, 2024 16:33:57 GMT dem bones said:

Come to think, for all the hype surrounding last years centenary, I'm not sure we had too many overviews? There were a couple of 'best of the early years' antho's — ignoring all but the name authors — and Jonathan Maberry's '100 Years of Weird Tales' (not seen, but apparently "a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.)" Any more?

Not to my knowledge. I can't remember any ads celebrating WT. Now that you mention it, there should have been more, shouldn't it? 100 years is a landmark and quite an achievement, considering that the magazine never sold very well.

But I am not up to date about American horror professionals and fandom after the idiotic Lovecraft uproar. Also it is hard to keep track of all the niches and splinters and dozens of small press publishers. So it is possible that there was a lot of stuff on this website or that.

[andydecker]

Jan 28, 2024 20:12:50 GMT Jojo Lapin X said:

Jan 28, 2024 16:33:57 GMT dem bones said:

Jonathan Maberry's '100 Years of Weird Tales' (not seen, but apparently "a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.)"

Here is a passage that occurs early on in that one. Can you make sense of it:

"The very first book I ever bought with my own money was the Lancer edition of Conan the Wanderer, which introduced me to Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Lin Carter. I was hooked immediately, and it was through that book—and the others in the expanded library of Conan stories, that Howard’s grim Cimmerian swordsman was born in the pages of Weird Tales."

No. Looks like sloppy editing.

[dem bones]

Just had a look through the '100 Years of Weird Tales' TOC on isfdb. Guess I can live without it.

[andydecker]

Jan 29, 2024 10:54:11 GMT dem bones said:

Just had a look through the '100 Years of Weird Tales' TOC on isfdb. Guess I can live without it.

This is lazy, isn't it? A couple of truly over-anthologized stories, no Smith, Quinn, Keller, etc. What is the point?

I took Weinberg's The Weird Tales Story from the shelves and his 100 Wild Little Weird Tales.

[dem bones]

Jan 29, 2024 13:50:32 GMT andydecker said:

Jan 29, 2024 10:54:11 GMT dem bones said:

Just had a look through the '100 Years of Weird Tales' TOC on isfdb. Guess I can live without it.

This is lazy, isn't it? A couple of truly over-anthologized stories, no Smith, Quinn, Keller, etc. What is the point?

I took Weinberg's The Weird Tales Story from the shelves and his 100 Wild Little Weird Tales.

Yes, they'd be my picks too, along with Dziemianowicz, Weinberg, & Greenberg's 32 Unearthed Terrors and Haining's Weird Tales. Pulp Hero Press quite recently published a revised and expanded version of The Weird Tales Story with much new material.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Jan 29, 2024 10:54:11 GMT dem bones said:

Just had a look through the '100 Years of Weird Tales' TOC on isfdb. Guess I can live without it.

I paid money for the ebook. It also looks horrible---all in boldface. I feel like you are taunting me now.

[dem bones]

Jan 29, 2024 19:40:53 GMT Jojo Lapin X said:

I paid money for the ebook. It also looks horrible---all in boldface. I feel like you are taunting me now.

Not at all, it's just that my own interest in Weird Tales pretty much ends with the short-lived Weinberg-Moskowitz revival.

Should add Marvin & Saralee Kaye's Weird Tales to above list of personal favourites.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Jan 30, 2024 20:05:55 GMT dem bones said:

Jan 29, 2024 19:40:53 GMT Jojo Lapin X said:

I paid money for the ebook. It also looks horrible---all in boldface. I feel like you are taunting me now.

Not at all, it's just that my own interest in Weird Tales pretty much ends with the short-lived Weinberg-Moskowitz revival.

Should add Marvin & Saralee Kaye's Weird Tales to above list of personal favourites.

At least I managed to cancel my order of the physical book in time. Why was I even interested in this, you may wonder. Well, the Amazon reviews are quite enthusiastic, including this somewhat odd one from "R. Hobson" titled "Buy it now before it is gone":

"I don't like long reviews, hate them actually. Every story is an excellent example of Wierd writing, the way it used to be; it makes you think, makes you wonder, and sends you to your cupboard to make sure all the dangerous chemicals are still there."

[jamesdoig]

Jan 30, 2024 20:05:55 GMT dem bones said:

Should add Marvin & Saralee Kaye's Weird Tales to above list of personal favourites.

This one isn't bad - collects four stories from each decade from the 1920s to the 1990s.

[dem bones]

Jan 30, 2024 20:21:46 GMT Jojo Lapin X said:

Jan 30, 2024 20:05:55 GMT dem bones said:

Not at all, it's just that my own interest in Weird Tales pretty much ends with the short-lived Weinberg-Moskowitz revival.

Should add Marvin & Saralee Kaye's Weird Tales to above list of personal favourites.

At least I managed to cancel my order of the physical book in time. Why was I even interested in this, you may wonder. Well, the Amazon reviews are quite enthusiastic, including this somewhat odd one from "R. Hobson" titled "Buy it now before it is gone":

"I don't like long reviews, hate them actually. Every story is an excellent example of Wierd writing, the way it used to be; it makes you think, makes you wonder, and sends you to your cupboard to make sure all the dangerous chemicals are still there."

Couldn't resist a browse of the sample pages on A**z*on. The physical book can't look like that — can it?

James's Betancourt - Weinberg effort looks solid.

[helrunar]

I had to look at the 100 years of Weird dish-up. Egads.

Amusingly, the first story that was available in the sample after a long rambling editorial intro in which the word Weird was obsessively repeated, was something involving a guy at a urinal struggling not to piss his pants.

Honestly...

Hel.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Jan 31, 2024 18:42:03 GMT helrunar said:

Amusingly, the first story that was available in the sample after a long rambling editorial intro in which the word Weird was obsessively repeated, was something involving a guy at a urinal struggling not to piss his pants.

That story is actually perfectly readable, albeit with a lame ending which suggests the author never had any idea of where to go with the premise. Scott Sigler is nevertheless a good storyteller---I thought his trilogy starting with ALIVE (2015) was lots of fun.