Manly Wade Wellman, remembered as the king of Appalachian horror and fantasy, wrote thirty-nine tales for the magazine, including this volume’s “Back to the Beast,” which takes a bit of inspiration from H.G. Wells’ Island of Doctor Moreau. He would go on to write folkloric fantasy tales featuring Silver John, John Thunstone, and others, largely at the request of his literary agent, Oscar J. Friend, who was a partner in the Otis Kline Literary Agency. A pair of Kline’s creepy tales are included in the companion volume out of the nine he wrote for the magazine. Wellman was also a popular writer in what is now called the “young adult” genre.

Interestingly, Otis Adelbert Kline and Oscar J. Friend—apart from being pulp writers and editors themselves—represented many of the authors who wrote for Weird Tales. And that list includes Ray Bradbury (who wrote four stories), Wellman, and Robert E. Howard.

E. Hoffman Price, who, alas, has mostly been forgotten today, wrote two dozen stories for Weird Tales. He was a fan, friend, and avid correspondent with Lovecraft, and their plans to create a kind of literary supergroup—since they were both high output writers—was never realized because of Lovecraft’s death. It’s rather delightful that this volume contains a pair of Price’s stories, each showcasing different aspects of his considerable skill. Included in this volume are “The Peacocks Shadow” and “Saladin’s Throng Rug”.

And we can’t forget Frank Belknap Long, a beloved, prolific, and versatile writer of short stories, novels, poetry, essays, nonfiction, and plays over his seventy-plus year career. He wrote twenty-eight stories for the magazine and got his start in the writing business in Weird Tales. One of his later works for the title, The Hounds of Tindalos, is regarded as a masterpiece, but there’s a whole lot to love in the story we present here, “The Dog-Eared God.”

As with the list of writers who penned Lovecraftian fiction, the list of amazing storytellers who graced the early pages of Weird Tales goes on and on. And that right there is part of the reason no one wants the magazine to fade into obscurity. It’s why we’ve brought it back, why we worked out a deal with Blackstone to launch a new Weird Tales Presents novel imprint, and why the bright young creatives at Western Colorado University have worked with us at Weird Tales to curate these two volumes of stories from nearly a century ago. Too much literary history is tied to Weird Tales to let it be a footnote. Too many careers were launched or propelled forward in that magazine’s pages. Weird Tales is one of the Great Wonders of the modern literary world. Without doubt or fear of contradiction.

So, settle back and turn the page and let the weirdness sweep over you and through you.

And…never be afraid to be weird.

—Jonathan Maberry

Editor of Weird Tales Magazine