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“That is not dead which can eternal lie, yet with stranger aeons, even Death may die.” –H.P. Lovecraft
The literary world was shocked last year when legendary fiction mag WEIRD TALES was bought by Marvin Kaye and John Harlacher of Nth Dimension Media. Kaye announced that the magazine would return to its original “classic logo,” and that he would be editing the magazine himself.
The supposition was that the mag would also be returning to a more classic style of weird fiction—a shift away from the surreal and “new weird” direction the mag had been exploring in the past few years. Since then only one issue has been released, that being an already “canned” issue put together by the outgoing editorial team. Speculation has continued about the mag’s future: Would Kaye’s editorial reign be well received? Would the often sporadically-published magazine get back to a regular schedule? Kaye has endured much criticism and complaint about some of his controversial decisions, and the future of the Unique Magazine has hung in the balance.
Now comes word that the first Kaye-edited issue has finally gone to press. It features the bold cover headline “CTHULHU RETURNS” along with the classic WT logo at full size and a Lovecraft-inspired artwork. A blend of classic and modern sensibilities, the new cover evokes a wholehearted celebration of the magazine’s history, as exemplified by this Cthulhu-themed issue. Perhaps no other creation reflects the “classic” WEIRD TALES sensibility more than Lovecraft’s tentacled squid-god, an obvious symbol of Kaye’s vision for the magazine: A return to the “weird” tradition.
Sure to be the subject of much argument, debate, and strong feelings on both the pro and con sides, the Kaye/Harlacher version of WEIRD TALES is about to arrive.
My experience with Kaye’s work dates back to his 1988 anthology WEIRD TALES: THE MAGAZINE THAT NEVER DIES. I was in college when this terrific collection of classic WT tales was released. It was responsible for leading me directly to the Terminus Publishing version of the magazine that existed at that time—a magazine that became one of the biggest influences on my own writing career.
Some of the stories in this anthology still rate among my all-time favorites, including Tanith Lee’s “The Sombrus Tower,” Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan” H.P. Lovecraft’s “He,” and Darrell Schweitzer’s “The Mysteries of the Faceless King.”
If not for Kaye’s ’88 anthology, I might never have discovered WEIRD TALES and its fantastic history of weird fiction. It will be interesting to see where he takes the magazine now that he’s in charge.
Above all else, WEIRD TALES needs to return to a stable bi-monthly or quarterly schedule in order to maintain its reputation as one of genre fiction’s most enduring institutions.
Damn, I hope so. I don’t know if there is a mag I would rather brag I have sold a story too. That said, until recently I also never believed I could get a story in, simply because I didn’t care for the direction the mag was going. The new weird championed by lead editor Vandemeer just wasn’t my cup of tea and what it seems she preferred wasn’t what I would ever likely write-to each their own in that regard.
I would love a return to the style of that Weird Tales antho (which I also own) and those stories that defined the magazine. They should still be fresh weird tales, not just rehashes of Cthulhu and Conan, but the spirit of those certainly.
The recent upset with the (I honestly have forgotten the name) racist book, Save the Pearls? sounded like absolute jackassery and an incredibly bad decision on WT’s part.
I do hope the black-eye can be taken care of and all the things you’re mentioning come to pass.
I’m right with you on this, friends. I was introduced to Weird Tales via the Pinnacle paperback collections allegedly edited by Leo Margulies in the 1960s, which was an experience not dissimilar, I guess, from finding WT via the Marvin Kaye, Doubleday anthology of the ’80s.
Like you, I’ve wondered whether we would ever see a WT return of the kind mentioned here. Sadly, over the years of my on-and-off participation in the genre-fiction market between bouts of newspaper and other magazine work, there has never been such an outlet. The closest I came to it was in the early 1970s when, of all things, I wrote some scripts for the Charlton Comics Group’s “ghost” titles, which did occasionally give a nod to the WT tradition that probably wasn’t recognized or appreciated.
With Marvin Kaye stepping up to steer the fortunes of WT, I think I can safely say we now have the outlet that has been missing for so long.
Marvin has two stories in hand from me for future issues of WT. One is unashamedly inspired by Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne stories; the other is a sword and sorcery yarn Marvin kindly says reminds him of Fritz Leiber. I can’t see myself ever getting much more “classic” than this. (As I’m sure you can gather from this, I’m another who has always wanted to see his byline in Weird Tales, and I’m delighted to know it’s going to happen, thanks to Marvin.)
The “need to return to a stable bi-monthly or quarterly schedule” … ? Spot on! But that is largely in the hands of the readers and how they react to the Kaye-Harlacher venture. Surely a strong subscription response by the US audience can be the only way to guaranteeing our dreams.
Both of those stories sound fascinating. Looking forward to reading them in WT!
Thanks, John. I hope my stories meet the expectations and high standard associated with the WT name. They will appear under my own name, Keith Henry Chapman, rather than Chap O’Keefe, which is a pen-name mostly associated with my 25 Western novels. Meantime, you might like to read (for free!) my short story Outback Gothic which was published by Beat To a Pulp for Halloween in 2010.
http://www.beattoapulp.com/stor/2010/1031_co_OutbackGothic.shtm