Weird Tales was an American science fiction and horror pulp magazine first published in March of 1923. It was set-up in Chicago by J.C. Henneberger , an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre. Edwin Baird was the first editor of Weird Tales, and his assistant was Farnsworth Wright .

Baird was replaced by Farnsworth Wright after fourteen issues. Wright (who suffered from Parkinson's disease) gave Weird Tales a unique identity, and began to publish stories by H.P. Lovecraft, as well as the hugely popular Jules de Grandin stories of Seabury Quinn. Another successful contributor was Robert E. Howard, whose Conan the Barbarian stories, amongst many others, were hugely popular. Wright also gave early opportunities to such highly regarded pulp writers as Robert Bloch and Clark Ashton Smith. Wright continued as editor until March 1940, dying in June of that year.

Weird Tales always struggled financially, and like Black Mask suffered competition from comic books, radio and cheap pulp paperback books. After the death of Lovecraft and retirement of Wright, Weird Tales declined steadily until it ceased publication in September 1954 after 279 issues. Its last years, under the editorship of Dorothy McIlwraith, were characterised by occasional pieces of "lost" Lovecraft, lurid covers, and Lovecraftian pastiches written by his self-appointed literary executor August Derleth.

After some abortive reincarnations Weird Tales was revived under the editorship of George H. Scithers and Darrell Schweitzer in 1988, beginning with issue 290. They have edited it since, although during an interlude where Robert Weinberg, owner of the title, sold an exclusive option to another company, the magazine was known for a few issues as Worlds of Fantasy and Horror; these were retrospectively declared to have been Weird Tales issues when the magazine resumed that name. The magazine is now quite successful, as far as fiction magazines go, publishing distinguished modern writers such as Tanith Lee, Brian Lumley, and Thomas Ligotti. In recent years it has become part of the DNA Publications chain.

External links

• DNA Publications - Weird Tales®