Weird Tales: Best of the Early Years 1926-27

[dem]

Jonathan Maberry & Justin Criado [eds.] - Weird Tales: Best of the Early Years 1926-27 (Word Fire Press, July 2022)

Jonathan Maberry - Foreword: Writers Are Weird

E. Hoffman Price - The Peacock's Shadow
Seabury Quinn - The White Lady of the Orphanage
H. P. Lovecraft - The Terrible Old Man
A. Merritt - The Woman of the Wood
August Derleth - Bat's Belfry
Seabury Quinn - The Curse of Everard Maundy
H. P. Lovecraft - The Tomb
E. Hoffman Price - Saladin's Throne-Rug
Frank Belknap Long, Jr. - The Dog-Eared God
H. Warner Munn - The City of Spiders
H. P. Lovecraft - The Cats Ulthar
Manley Wade Wellman - Back to the Beast
Greye la Spina - A Suitor From The Shades
H. P. Lovecraft - Pickman's Model
Edmund Hamilton - The Atomic Conquerers

Original Publication Information
About the Editors

Blurb:
Spectral visitations...

World-conquering spiders...

An ancient feud with an enchanted forest...

Demonic paintings...

Zombies, mummies, vampires...

... and more.

Founded in 1922, Weird Tales is an iconic publication of fantasy, science fiction and horror stories. Weird Tales is the forerunner to today's pulp and speculative fiction genres.

Within these pages you'll find some of the best of the classic stories originally published in Weird Tales during the years 1926 and 1927, collected into a single volume. Featuring stories by legendary authors such as Seabury Quinn, E. Hoffman Price, Greye La Spina, Edward Hamilton, Frank Belknap Long Jr., H. Warner Munn, August W. Derleth, A. Merritt, and H.P. Lovecraft.

Introduced by the editor of the current incarnation. Stories of unspeakable rites, the dead who walk, psychic vampirism from beyond the grave, a plague of suicides, vegetarianism turns you cannibal, etc. Reproduces some, but not all the original accompanying illustrations by C.C. Senf, Hugh Rankin and G. O. Olinick.

Hugh Rankin

Seabury Quinn - The White Lady of the Orphanage: (Sept. 1927). A strong story of the horrors that occurred at the Orphan's home — a tale of the exploits of Jules de Grandin The occult detective is hired by Superintendent Gervaise to investigate the disappearance of six children from the Springsville Orphans Home in as many months. The learns from little Betsy that her companions were snatched from the dormitory by a nocturnal visitor, a ghostly woman in a white robe. The woman has threatened to split Betsy's tongue should she inform on her. Who can be behind these abductions and for what — we hope — horrible purpose?

I much prefer the 'twenties de Grandins and White Lady ... is among the nastiest (see also Isle of Missing Ships and The House of Horror ...)

G. O. Olinick

Frank Belknap Long, Jr. - The Dog-Eared God: (Nov. 1926). There were strange kings in the old forgotten days in Egypt, and they would not brook irreverent modern prying. Prof. Dewey, archaeologist and tomb looter, believes the crocodile gods, cat-headed and bat eared deities of the ancient Egyptians were a reality. Tonight, he invites the narrator to spend the night with him in the private museum of his Riverside Drive mansion. His guest has an appalling nightmare of cowled mummies conducting a human sacrifice ...

[andydecker]

This appears a bit lazy. 5 (!) stories by Lovecraft? Hard to believe that there wasn't enough other material from the second rank to qualify as "Best".

[dem]

Sept 13, 2024 14:23:27 GMT andydecker said:

This appears a bit lazy. 5 (!) stories by Lovecraft? Hard to believe that there wasn't enough other material from the second rank to qualify as "Best".

Well four, but yes, that is three too many. Surely those who find HPL of the least interest will have this stuff approximately 1000 times over (see also M. R. James). Book wise, I found the Weird Tales centenary year a disappointment.

C. C. Senf

Greye la Spina - A Suitor From The Shades: (June 1927). A human, touching ghost-story about a lover who returned from the grave to blight his sweetheart's happiness. Clifford Bentley, fifteen, gave his life to save that of his eleven-year-old sweetheart when their sledge fell through the ice. "Tell her I expect her to be true to me until death joins us. If she is not true, I shall come back to remind her of her promise. Now Margaret Sloane is engaged to marry Ned Wentworth, creator of New York's latest smash hit musical comedy, and her sainted sister, Clare, lame from birth and struggling with a heart condition, senses Bentley's evil presence about the place. Margaret, who has no time for ghosts, won't hear of it — until her long-dead lover molests her in bed.

As the ghost gains strength, so Clare's health fails until she impresses on the stubborn bride to be that they need allow Mrs. Campbell, a gifted clairvoyant, to conduct a seance.

C. C. Senf

Hugh Rankin

Manly Wade Wellman - Back To The Beast: (Nov. 1927). A terrific experiment was this, by which the steps of mans evolution were retraced, and dreadful was its outcome. "Let whoever reads these words take warning from my plight. Do not meddle with the scheme of things as nature has planned - delve not into her mysterious past. I have done that and it was my complete and dreadful undoing ....."

To prove his theories on evolution, Dr. Lawlor perfects a serum which rapidly degenerates the body until it resembles that of primeval man when he first crawled from the swamp. Unfortunately, in ape-like form, his clawed hands are unable to apply the restorative or continue his journal as he approaches the point of no return. "Even now the sliding back into lower and lower form continues ...."

[flavo5000]

I liked Wellman's "Back to the Beast" alright, but it certainly isn't one of his best.  Merritt's "Woman of the Wood" is great though, I'd say the best story in this collection in my opinion.  Munn's "City of the Spiders" was pretty decent if a little basic.  I quite enjoy Frank Belknap Long's early over-the-top Weird Tales stories, although "Dog-Eared God" is probably a step down from ones like "The Ocean Leech" and "Man with a Thousand Legs".

I'm actually surprised they didn't include Robert E. Howard's "Wolfshead", particularly since it's better than some of the selections.

Ones I would have included instead:
-To replace the spider-themed Munn story, I would've gone with Robert S. Carr's tomb-raiding "Spider Bite" story instead.  That was a fun one.
-Either "The Canal" or "Leonora" by Everil Worrell, or both.  It's downright criminal that Lovecraft gets four stories and neither of these are included.
-I'd personally include Donald Wandrei's "The Red Brain".  Some delightfully insane cosmic horror.
-No Henry S. Whitehead?  Ridiculous.  "The Shadows" should be on here for sure.
-I'd also include "Bells of Oceana" by Arthur J. Burks.  Easily the best story I've read by him.

[helrunar]

flavo5000, I like your recommendations very much. Whitehead is so little read now, but was one of the most fascinating figures in the 'Weird Tales' Circle. The others you mention are worthy of attention as well.

Of others included, Long wrote so much rubbish. and 'Bat's Belfry' is charming but rather banal juvenilia from Derleth. Oh well.

cheers, Hel.

[Satampra Zeiros]

I like it "banal juvenilia" from Derleth because of the list of books from the vampire uncle's library. In turn, this entire list is taken from August Strindberg's "Inferno" - a half-diary about persecution mania and insomnia against the backdrop of a occult mambo-jumbo - high camp in its own way.

[helrunar]

Fascinating, Satampra... I had no idea precocious little Augie was reading Strindberg back then. I happen to like Augie, for all his flaws--I read a biography of him a year or so ago by this woman who had a cult-like devotion to him. He had an interesting if short life (it feels short when one is 66 years old). 

Nothing he did can be excused but I'm not sure HPL's reputation would be as it is now without Arkham House... and he reprinted so many other writers we love--including Whitehead.

Also I appreciate the camp value of some of Augie's Cthulhu Mythos stories. Some of the Innsmouth ones are actually rather good, the ones he wrote much later in life.

Best, Hel.

[dem]

Some suggestions for an alt-Best of 1927/7 appear on Mr. Brewer's Weird Tales Anthology Challenge thread.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Sept 16, 2024 16:13:30 GMT helrunar said:

I read a biography of him a year or so ago by this woman who had a cult-like devotion to him.

Is that the one by a Dorothy Litersky? It seems only to be available in the outdated and unwieldy "print" format.

[helrunar]

Yes, that's it. I imagine it would cost more to ship the book to the UK than the actual price of the volume. She barely mentions Augie's weird fiction and his work with Arkham House so unless you're interested in Derleth's family, home life, position as a rural novelist and so forth, the book may hold little fascination for you. I had to read every page because he was such an offbeat character with an ego possibly larger than the little town he lived in--Sauk City, Wisconsin.

Hel.

[dem]

Hugh Rankin

Seabury Quinn - The Curse of Everard Maundy: (July 1927). An eldritch tale of voodoo, reanimated corpses, and the intrepid little French ghost-breaker, Jules de Grandin. A plague of inexplicable suicides, the one common denominator, each of the fatalities had recently attended the Jachin Tabernacle near Albermarie Pike on Lonesome Swamp. Confronted by de Grandin, charismatic preacher Reverend Everard Maundy, breaks down. As a young man, he was cursed by a medium for laughing at a seance. Death has followed in his path ever since. It's true. Even Trowbridge, tormented over a childhood transgression, almost succumbs to the evil influence. Fearful of banishment now the phantom fighter has its measure, the elemental force revives a corpse to attack de Grandin with an axe. Don't need me to tell you who comes off best.

H. P. Lovecraft - The Terrible Old Man: (August 1926, originally The Tryout, July 1921; The Lurking Fear, 1964, 100 Ghastly Little Ghost Stories, 1993, etc). Burglars break into the home of a retired sea captain, an eccentric recluse who addresses his bottle collection as though each contained the soul of an old enemy.

E. M. Stevenson

E. Hoffman Price - The Peacock's Shadow: (Nov. 1926). A tale of devil-worship and the Adytum of Darkness — a mystery story of graphic action and exotic imagery. Bayonne, France, Pierre d’Artois — occult detective, swordsman, de Grandin tribute act, etc — and his Boswell, Barrett, versus the Marquis and a Satanic coven bent on sacrificing a young woman to Malik Taus. The Marquis has chosen Madamoiselle Lili Allzaneau for her uncanny resemblance to both his first love and an ancient Egyptian Queen. Surely the offering will placate the vengeful soul of a friend he sent to his death?

E. M. Stevenson

[andydecker]

Sept 17, 2024 6:42:36 GMT dem said:

H. P. Lovecraft - The Terrible Old Man: (August 1926, originally The Tryout, July 1921; The Lurking Fear, 1964, 100 Ghastly Little Ghost Stories, 1993, etc). Burglars break into the home of a retired sea captain, an eccentric recluse who addresses his bottle collection as though each contained the soul of an old enemy.

I never cared much for this story or its conclusion. But after reading the Alan Moore version back then in his Providence, it did rise in my estimate.

[dem]

G. O. Olinick

H. Warner Munn - The City of Spiders: (November 1926).A complete novelette of shuddery horror and eery fascination that will remain long in your memory. When black widows ruled the world. Guyana, Venezuela. Jabez Pentreat, globe-trotting entomologist, is taken prisoner by hyper-intelligent giant arachnids in Guatiaribo cannibal country who long once again to feast on human flesh as they did pre-Ice Age. Through the insects' mastery of thought transference, Pentreat learns of their history, sharing in bloody conflicts with woolly mammoths, piranha and man-eating jungle tribes.

Artist Uncredited

August Derleth - Bats Belfry: (May 1926: Christine Campbell Thomson [ed], More Not At Night, 1926, etc.): Gruesome Was the Discovery Sir Harry Barclay Made in the Vaults of Lohrville Manor, and Fearful Was the Doom that Overtook Him. Sir Harry Everett Barclay spends summer at his moorland retreat, Lohrville Manor. The place has a sinister reputation on account of a previous owner, the late Baron Lohrville, locally suspected of some terrible involvement in the mysterious disappearance of several young women and infants. Derleth's micro-Dracula.

Andrew Brosnatch

H. P. Lovecraft - The Tomb: (Jan 1926). Jervas Hyde Learns Unutterable Secrets in the Tomb of His Ancestors. Jervais Hyde, graveyard ghoul, loner, standard Lovecraftian sad misanthropic wanker, etc, obsesses over a vault in a woodland glade where he imagines himself sharing nightly "blasphemous" revels with the rotting occupants. He's eventually carted off to the madhouse.

[dem]

"Suppose someone was trying to kill every human being on earth, to annihilate the world as we know it. Would you try to stop that too?"

G. O. Olinick

Edmund Hamilton - The Atomic Conquerors: (Feb. 1927). Up from an infra-universe hidden in a grain of sand poured a host of invaders bent on conquering the world. An advanced pre-human microscopic race whose world lies beneath the glassy forts on Keracham Hill, collude with misanthropic MAD SCIENTIST and modern day alchemist Dr. Henry Powell to wage flying saucer war on England. The scaly aliens prepare for attack on London by launching deadly frostbite-gangrene inducing frozen rays on Manchester and Merseyside. Marlowe, a former colleague of Powell, and Ernest Hunter, a student on a bicycling holiday in the Highlands, take the fight to the enemy; British airmen adopt kamikaze tactics to bring down several enemy black discs of death over London; but it is a third party, a super-people from beyond the galaxy who ultimately do for the Saurian menace.

H. P. Lovecraft - The Cats Of Ulthar: (Feb. 1926: Roger Elwood & Vic Ghidalia [eds], Beware the Beasts, 1970: Michel Parry [ed.], Beware of the Cat, 1972, etc.). A Short, Fantastic Tale. Menes the orphan calls down dreadful retribution on the ancient couple who murdered his and every other kitten to have strayed into their clutches. Poetic justice is done.

[dem]

Hugh Rankin

E. Hoffman Price - Saladin's Throne Rug: (Oct. 1927). An eery murder, and a descendant of Saladin — a tale that breathes the weird witchery of the Orient. Chicago. Ilderim Shirkuh bin Ayyub, collector of the finest Oriental rugs, outbids our narrator for a fragment from his ancestor, the Saladin's palace. Unfortunately, Dejenane Hanoum, bin Ayyub's mistress, is duped by dealer Morgan Revell into exchanging what appears to her a dirty strip of mat for a lustrous new one of Anatolian silk. The narrator, furious at Revell's deception, returns the precious piece to its owner, but too late to spare Dejenane a terrible end.

I've long adored Rankin's accompanying illustration (an outrageous spoiler, it transpires), but hadn't read Hoffman's story till now. It didn't disappoint.