Weird Tales: The Magazine That Never Dies

One hundred years ago, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre launched what would become one of the longest-running and most influential pulp horror titles of all time. Considered groundbreaking for its time, this unique magazine provided an outlet for stories that were initially considered taboo by other publishers.

Founded by J.C. Henneberger and J.M. Lansinger in late 1922, the debut issue of Weird Tales appeared on newsstands on February 18, 1923. Edited by Edwin Baird, the title featured early work by H.P. Lovecraft, Seabury Quinn, and Clark Ashton Smith. After just 13 issues, Weird Tales suffered financial difficulties and Henneberger and Lansinger decided to part ways. Devoting himself to Weird Tales, Henneberger released the first issue under his new imprint Popular Fiction Publishing in 1924. At this time, Farnsworth Wright became Weird Tales main editor with Henneberger giving him full control over story selection. With Wright at the helm, Weird Tales also published a number of works by Lovecraft, as well as debut stories by Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, and Frank Belknap Long.

Along with those mentioned above, Weird Tales sparked the literary careers of Manly Wade Wellman, Nictzin Dyalhis, E. Hoffman Price, Edmond Hamilton, and H. Warner Munn. Many of which are now considered the pioneers of modern day horror and fantasy writing. Throughout its run, Weird Tales also reprinted the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Mary and Percy Shelley, Nathanael Hawthorne, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, H.G. Wells, John Keats, William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Paul Verlaine, and Charles Baudelaire. In addition to authors, Weird Tales was regularly praised for its artwork. Prolific artists who worked on the title included J. Allen St. John, Virgil Finlay, Hannes Bok, and Margaret Brundage. 

Since its debut issue, Weird Tales was given the subtitle “The Unique Magazine.” Wright held to this standard by printing strange and bizarre stories that ranged from alien invasions and ghost encounters to dealings with the occult. In 1938, Henneberger sold the magazine to Short Stories’ publisher William J. Delaney who began publishing the magazine through the Weird Tales, Inc. imprint. Around this time, Wright became seriously ill and ceded many of his duties to editor Dorothy McIlwraith, who officially replaced him in 1940. Under McIlwraith, the magazine is considered by critics to have declined, although she published many of Ray Bradbury’s early stories, along with regularly featuring Fredric Brown, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, Fritz Leiber, and Theodore Sturgeon.

Weird Tales ceased its original run in September 1954, after publishing 279 issues. Since then countless attempts to relaunch the magazine have been made, leading to the publication earning the moniker “The Magazine That Never Dies.” The most successful version began in 1988, edited by Darrell Schweitzer in collaboration with George H. Scithers and John Betancourt, and ran with an occasional hiatus for over 20 years. Ann VanderMeer became editor in 2007, during which time Weird Tales was nominated for three Hugo awards, winning one. More recently, editor Jonathan Mayberry led the return of Weird Tales, with contributions from Sherrilyn Kenyon, Josh Malerman, Lisa Morton, Victor Lavalle, Stephanie Wytovich, and Hank Schwaeble.

Throughout its storied history, Weird Tales has remained a main source of fantasy short stories for anthologists. It continues to be one of the most widely collected pulps with many issues commanding very high prices.