The legendary Weird Tales Magazine had a tough but reasonably long run, and it eventually achieved a cult status among the followers of fantasy/horror/SF genre. Several anthologies based on Weird Tales stories have been published by acclaimed editors like Peter Haining and Marvin Kaye. Here are two of my favourites:
Weird Tales: A Selection in Facsimile, of the Best from the World’s Most Famous Fantasy Magazine
Edited by Peter Haining
An anthology that is true to the spirit of the magazine. As the title says, this 250 page book is a facsimile reproduction of the actual pages of Weird Tales. Like the celebrated magazine’s original format, it has a two column layout and includes letters from readers, nostalgic illustrations, and priceless old advertisements that appeared in the late 1930s. If you never had the opportunity to grab an old copy of Weird Tales, this book will heal your wound. And Mr. Haining’s introduction is absolutely priceless.
Contents:
Introduction – Peter Haining
Edmond Hamilton – The Man Who Returned
Robert E. Howard – Black Hound of Death
August Derleth – The Shuttered House
Seabury Quinn – Frozen Beauty
H. P. Lovecraft – Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Clark Ashton Smith – The Garden of Adompha
Henry Kuttner – Beyond the Phoenix
G. G. Pendarves – The Black Monk
Henry S. Whitehead – The Passing Of A God
Manly Wade Wellman – The Valley Was Still
Nictzin Dyalhis – The Heart of Atlantan
Fritz Leiber – The Phantom Slayer
Robert Bloch – The Beasts of Barsac
Ray Bradbury – Bang! You’re Dead!
Theodore Sturgeon – Cellmate
Algernon Blackwood – Roman Remains
Eric Frank Russell – Displaced Person
H. Russell Wakefield – From the Vasty Deep
Mary Elizabeth Counselman – The Shot-Tower Ghost
Allison V. Harding – Take the Z-Train
Margaret St. Clair – The Little Red Owl
Anthony M. Rud – Ooze
Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors
Edited by Stefan R. Dziemainowicz, Robert Weinberg & Martin H. Greenberg
655 pages of some of the finest writing from the magazine’s finest years. This is probably the biggest Weird Tales collection ever to hit the stands. It comes with introductions and illustrations for each story. Tentacled gods, haunted houses, laboratories illuminated with faint blue lights will scare you shitless.
If you ever get marooned on a desert island, this is one book you would want to have with you.
Foreword – Stefan R. Dziemainowicz
Introduction – Robert Bloch
Anthony M. Rud – A Square Of Canvas
C. M. Eddy – The Loved Dead
Nictzin Dyalhis – When The Green Star Waned
R. Anthony – The Parasitic Hand
Edmond Hamilton – Evolution Island
H. Warner Munn – The Chain
Robert E. Howard – The Shadow Kingdom
Henry S. Whitehead – The Shut Room
Seabury Quinn – Satan’s Stepson
Jack Williamson – The Wand Of Doom
Clark Ashton Smith – The Isle Of The Torturers
C. L. Moore – Dust Of Gods
Laurence J. Cahill – Charon
Arthur J. Burks – The Room Of Shadows
Mary E. Counselman – The Black Stone Statue
Gans T. Field (Manly Wade Wellman) – The Hairy Ones Shall Dance
Robert Barbour Johnson – Far Below
Fritz Leiber – The Automatic Pistol
H. P. Lovecraft – The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward
Henry Kuttner – Masquerade
Robert Bloch – Black Barter
Frank Belknap Long – The Peeper
Carl Jacobi – Barnaby’s Fish
Ray Bradbury – Let’s Play Poison
C. Hall Thompson – The Will Of Claude Ashur
Theodore Sturgeon – The Professor’s Teddy Bear
Frederic Brown – Come And Go Mad
Isaac Asimov & James MacCreigh – Legal Rites
August Derleth – Something From Out There
Joseph Payne Brennan – The Green Parrot
Richard Matheson – Slaughter House
Everil Worrell – Call Not Their Names
When Capsules appear in the sky and land on Earth, people get confused. Next, gigantic, metallic creatures with tentacles creep out of the capsules and launch a devastating campaign against the inhabitants of the planet with heat rays and deadly vapours. Looks like Martians seek revenge for the havoc John Carter wrecked on Barsoom.
The Book Haven 