Weird tales Book

I've had this book on my shelves as part of my permanent collection for several years. It's a great introduction to the pulp magazine Weird Tales and is presented in a facsimile approach where the presentation of the stories is basically how they were presented in the magazine. The size of the pages are the same and the stories are presented in two columns for reading. This actually makes the stories seem longer because a lot of words fit on each two-column 6" x 9" page. The paper for the book is also a cheaper pulp type paper which really gives it a feel for reading the old pulps from the early 20th century. There are also old advertisements, letters to the editor (The Eyrie), poems, and true experiences submitted by readers. Then there is a very good introduction by Haining giving a history of the magazine as well as information about some of its more famous authors including H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Ray Bradbury among others.

As far as the stories go, I enjoyed most of them although some were to me a lot better than others. I tended to like the horror stories more than the fantasy offerings such as BEYOND THE PHOENIX by Henry Kuttner and HEART OF ATLANTAN by Nictzin Dyalhis which were both tales of Atlantis.


Some of the stories I enjoyed the most were:
THE MAN WHO RETURNED by Edmond Hamilton from February 1934. This was about a man who had died and comes back to life a week later only to find that his wife has another lover, his son received his life insurance money to make ends meet, and his boss thought he was pretty worthless. Enough to make you want to return to your crypt!

BLACK HOUND OF DEATH by Robert E. Howard from November 1936. This one was really a "weird" tale about a man who was transposed to a werewolf and is after the man who deserted him in Mongolia. There is also a psychotic black man involved in this tale that was pretty racist in its presentation and definitely not politically correct by today's standards.

FROZEN BEAUTY by Seabury Quinn from February 1938. This tale involves Russian anarchists who are after a coffin containing a frozen woman who is thawed and returned to the living. This is one of Quinn's Jules de Grandin tales and was quite enjoyable.

THE GARDEN OF ADOMPHA by Clark Ashton Smith from April 1938. This was one of the strangest stories in the collection about a garden where human body parts are grafted onto plants. Very eerie!

THE BEASTS OF BARSAC by Robert Bloch from July 1942. This was a tale about a mad scientist in a European castle who is trying to transpose his traits to animals. This reminded me somewhat of H.G. Wells' ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU.


The stories included from H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury were not among my favorites. Overall, a good introduction to Weird Tales Magazine but for me some of this got a little tedious towards the end. Probably better to read these tales sparingly and spaced out over several weeks. I read this in about four days.