#WeirdTales

But instead of heading to Hollywood after the end of the pulps, Edmond ended his long career at DC Comics. She died from cancer in 1978, but not before turning in the first draft script for what would become “The Empire Strikes Back!” Although her script was rewritten by others, many key elements remain.

3/3

#ScienceFiction #SpaceOpera #SwordandPlanet #Pulp #WeirdTales #LeighBrackett #WomenWriters #StarWars #SF #SFF @sciencefiction @scifi

1975 Ballantine Books paperback, “The Best of Planet Stories” edited by Leigh Brackett.

1971 Ace Books “Ace Double”, “People of the Talisman / The Secret of Sinharat” by Leigh Brackett.

1974 Ballantine Books paperback, “The Hounds of Skaith” by Leigh Brackett.

1977 Del Rey/Ballantine Books paperback, “The Best of Leigh Brackett”, edited by her husband, Edmond Hamilton.

dance along the edge 💬

3 days ago

The great science fiction writer Leigh Brackett was #BOTD

The “Queen of Space Opera” wrote SF/F for the pulps of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1944 she wrote her first mystery novel, which came to the attention of legendary director Howard Hawks. When Hawks needed help on an adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s ‘The Big Sleep’…

1/3
#ScienceFiction #SpaceOpera #SwordandPlanet #Pulp #WeirdTales #LeighBrackett #StarWars #SF #SFF @sciencefiction @scifi

Science fiction pulp Startling Stories, March 1951.

Science fiction pulp Planet Stories, March 1951.

Science fiction pulp Planet Stories, Summer 1946.

Science fiction pulp Planet Stories, Winter 1954-1955.

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1 week ago

Mood.

Also Virgil Finlay illustrating "The Big Time" by Fritz Leiber from Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1958. Winner of the Hugo Award for best novelette.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #FritzLeiber #Illustration #Pulps #WeirdTales #GalaxyScienceFiction #SF #SFF #ScienceFiction @sciencefiction @scifi

A man naked from the waist up is spinning through time and is seeing visions of various faces against a starry sky.

Karl Sigler (he/him)

2 weeks ago

Happy Anniversary to Ungeheuer's first collection “Dein Gesicht ist Meine Geschichte” published this day in 1951!

Dust Jacket of “Dein Gesicht ist Meine Geschichte”, 1951, Out of Print #Horror #Surrealism #WeirdTales #HorrorFiction cockroach.org

Photo of the dust jacket of “Dein Gesicht ist Meine Geschichte” showing a black and white woodcut print of a skinny man in bed. There are ribbons at the top and bottom with the title and author

Maeltopia :podcast:

3 weeks ago

The chapel of a mysterious faith was uncovered in a recently discovered region of Canada. Although details are scant, the religion centers on transcending death through a form of metamorphosis. Intriguingly, the site contained human-sized funerary eggs and cocoons, cracked open as if something had emerged from them. Despite extensive inquiries and anthropological studies, little is understood about this religion.

#horror #Horrorfam #HorrorCommunity #audiodrama #audiofiction #darkfantasy #midjourneyart #AIArtCommunity #creepypasta #scarystories #podcasts #horrorpodcast #Lovecraft #lovecraftian #cthulhu #weirdtales #darkart #horrorart

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1 month ago

I hate when that happens.

🎨 Frank Kelly Freas 1957

#Caturday #FrankKellyFreas #Pulps #WeirdTales #ScienceFiction @sciencefiction @scifi

A group of space travelers on an alien world are scrambling in horror as a giant cat-like creature suddenly appears and begins to paw at their landed spacecraft as if it were a ball of yarn.

FUTURE SCIENCE FICTION No. 33

A New Parody
by Isaac Asimov

Cat O’ Nine Tales
by Thomas N. Scortia

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1 month ago

Virgil Finlay illustrating "Bride of the Lightning" by Edmond Hamilton, from Weird Tales, January 1939. #FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #EdmondHamilton #WeirdTales #Pulps #Illustration #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF

A light-haired woman in a white dress at the center of a lightning storm appears to acknowledge a dark figure who appears in the midst of it.

Christina Dongowski

1 month ago

A real treat for #Halloween! #backlisted #podcast is doing a free for all episode on #mrjames , godfather of the weird story. This will be fun and creepy! And if you never read a story by M.R. James, be prepared for some serious academic #horror. #bookstodon #sff #weirdfiction #weirdtales
https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/199

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1 month ago

@12pt9

Contains:
“Daughter of Dark Desire”
“The Girl Who Painted Horror”
“The Bus Death Drove”
“From Time’s Black Vault”
“God of Evil Paradise”
“Hell’s Winter Carnival”

Good purchase kid, and pleasant dreams.

#Horror #Pulps #WeirdTales #Halloween

The cover of the April-May 1937 issue of the Horror Stories pulp. Two “doctors” stand over a blonde girl in a red dress as they simultaneously take her vital signs while feeding her into an elaborate mechanical death trap.

Art by John Drew.

Mr. Pataphor, Dadaist Dad

1 month ago

#Photography #Monochrome #DigitalArt #BlackAndWhite #WeirdTales
#Halloween #Gothic
#NorthernOntario #NorthernOntarioGothic
#12DaysOfHalloween #TrickOrTreat

A dark scene of buildings, including a house, undergoing repairs. The digital effect blends scanned papers that have been embossed to resemble etching and cracks and scratches.

dance along the edge 💬

1 month ago

H.P. Lovecraft's poem Hallowe'en in a Suburb was first published in a small press publication in 1926 then in Lovecraft's second posthumous Arkham House collection in 1943. For the reprint in the September, 1952 issue of Weird Tales editor D. Mcllwraith asked Virgil Finlay for an appropriate illustration. #FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #HPLovecraft #Lovecraft #Halloween #Harpy #WeirdTales #Pulps #Illustration #Fantasy @fantasy

Under a full moon a gathering of a dozen giant-winged harpies circle the air with glee.

Hallowe'en in a Suburb

by H.P. Lovecraft

THE steeples are white in the wild moonlight,
And the trees have a silver glare;
Past the chimneys high see the vampires I'm ⁸ fly,
And the harpies of upper air,
That flutter and laugh and stare.

For the village dead to the moon outspread
Never shone in the sunset's gleam,
But grew out of the deep that the dead years keep
Where the rivers of madness stream
Down the gulfs to a pit of dream.

A chill wind weaves thro' the rows of sheaves
In the meadows that shimmer pale,
And comes to twine where the headstones shine
And the ghouls of the churchyard wail
For harvests that fly and fail.

Not a breath of the strange gray gods of change
That tore from the past its own
Can quicken this hour, when a spectral pow'r
Spreads sleep o'er the cosmic throne
And looses the vast unknown.

So here again stretch the vale and plain
That moons long-forgotten saw,
And the dead leap gay in the pallid ray,
Sprung out of the tomb's black maw
To shake all the world with awe,

And all that the morn shall greet forlorn,
The ugliness and the pest
Of rows where thick rise the stone and brick,
Shall some day be with the rest,
And brood with the shades unblest.

Then wild in the dark let the lemurs bark,
And the leprous spires ascend;
For new and old alike in the fold
Of horror and death are penn'd,
For the hounds of Time to rend.

Darrell Z. Grizzle

2 months ago

Guy the Cat is checking out Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, edited by Jonathan Maberry. Guy loves that his friend Charles R. Rutledge is in the Table of Contents, because Charles is one of only four humans that Guy actually likes. Also in the TOC are James A. Moore, Lisa Morton, Keith DeCandido, and a few of the ghosts my cats sometimes summon in the dark of the night (Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams).

#WeirdTales #WeirdFiction #Horror #Cat #CatsOfMastodon #Caturday

White cat, on a coffee table with the hardcover book, Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird.

dance along the edge 💬

2 months ago

Something special for this Halloween season Finlay Friday the 13th! In addition to his stunning artwork, Virgil also wrote the occasional poem. However, the only one published during his lifetime was in the final issue of the original run of Weird Tales, September 1954, with his own illustration. #FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #WeirdTales #Pulps #Poetry #Ghost #Halloween #Illustration #Fantasy #ScienceFiction #SF #SFF @fantasy @sciencefiction

A man looks behind in horror at a mist-filled window.

MOON MIST

By VIRGIL FINLAY

MIST that creeps on the valley floor
Fingers the windows, tries the door,
Crawls on my threshold, gropes about—
And strong, stone walls won't keep it out!
It quiets all the forest things And covers them with ghostly wings;
Dancing a shroud-like saraband It makes a moon-path on the land.
Thick, in chimney and water spout,
It chokes the roaring hearth fire out;
The candles flicker and grow dark-
White fingers snuff the last faint spark.
Mist, on my face, is a skull-like grin
As the fire goes out and the Moon comes in!

dance along the edge 💬

2 months ago

Virgil Finlay illustration for “The Trouble with Magic” by Randall Garrett in Fantastic, March 1959. #FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #RandallGarrett #Illustration #Halloween #Witch #Pulps #WeirdTales #SFF #Fantasy @fantasy

A dark-haired woman in a short black dress holds a cigarette while reclining seductively in a chair with her legs on top of a desk as magical energy swirls all around her. A dumbfounded man in a three piece suit looks on.

The Fabulist Magazine

2 months ago

"People are being used up. A little bit here, a little bit there — not enough to disable you, but enough to eat away at you." THE VANISHING, by Deborah Johnstone.

#weirdtales
#urbanfantasy
#surreal
#capitalism
#fiction

https://fabulistmagazine.com/the-vanishing/

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2 months ago

Virgil Finlay illustration for "Call Me Dumbo" by Bob Shaw, from the December, 1966 issue of Worlds of If Science Fiction. #FinlayFriday 👁️

#VirgilFinlay #BobShaw #WorldsOfIf #WeirdTales #Horror #Eyeball #Pulps #Illustration #ScienceFiction @sciencefiction

We see a person's watery reflection of horror as they look out over a river as a small box floats by containing one disembodied eyeball.

dance along the edge 💬

3 months ago

Virgil Finlay cover painting for Famous Fantastic Mysteries, August 1941, illustrating fantasy classic The Metal Monster by his friend and supporter A. Merritt.
#FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #AMerritt #Illustration #FantasyPainting #Pulps #WeirdTales #Fantasy @fantasy

A woman descends with arms raised in a white dress and yellow sash with blonde hair flowing above her. Behind her electricity crackles amongst square and circular objects as a skeleton screams.

The same image as before but with the bonus of a group of three additional skeletons and a horse skeleton on the left.

The cover for the August, 1941 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries featuring

The METAL MONSTER By A. Merritt

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3 months ago

Virgil Finlay illustrating “The Goddess of World 21” by Henry Slesar in Fantastic Science Fiction, March 1957. For no reason at all I’ve added an extreme crop of a photo of Bettie Page in Miami Beach by Bunny Yeager circa 1954. #FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #HenrySlesar #BettiePage #BunnyYeager #GGA #WeirdTales #Pulps #Illustration #ScienceFiction #SF #SFF @sciencefiction

A giantess in a polka dot bikini rests her hands on top of her head as a human-sized space explorer rests on one of her breasts.

A crop of a photo of Bettie Page in a polka dot bikini in the same pose as the illustration.

The full body image of Bettie on Miami Beach.

dance along the edge 💬

3 months ago

🄳🄰🄽🄲🄴 like no one’s watching

🎨 Norman Saunders

#NormanSaunders #FamousFantasticMysteries #Robot #Pulps #WeirdTales #ScienceFiction

As a city is engulfed in flames, a sexy blonde in a red dress seems to be dancing with a giant metallic robot with four antennae, glowing yellow eyes, sharp fangs, and arms with three large claws for hands. They seem like a good fit.

“S. FOWLER WRIGHT'S COMPELLING CLASSIC OF TOMORROW'S DESTINY”
“THE ADVENTURE OF WYNDHAM SMITH”

Famous Fantastic Mysteries, June 1950.

dance along the edge 💬

3 months ago

Virgil Finlay illustration for “The Spoilers of Lern” by Clee Garson (David Wright O'Brien) from Fantastic Adventures, August 1951.

#FinlayFriday
#VirgilFinlay #FantasticAdventures #Trees #Illustration #WeirdTales #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF @sciencefiction

Two tree-people, one appearing female and the other appearing male, gaze at each other in wonder.

“The tree seemed to have a face that mocked at his blocked memory, that laughed at him.”

THE SPOILERS OF LERN

By Clee Garson

The spaceship crew found a planet with all the comforts of home.
But the food was a bit unique: for dinner you had a friend!

dance along the edge 💬

4 months ago

Virgil Finlay title illustration for “Her Ways Are Death” by Jack Mann (E. Charles Vivian) from Famous Fantastic Mysteries, June 1952. #FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #JackMann #Illustration #FamousFantasticMysteries #Pulps #WeirdTales #Pegasus #Mythology #Fantasy #FantasyArt @fantasy

A mythological-attired warrior woman in a cape and winged helmet holding a sword and riding a Pegasus-type white horse with giant wings over the sea in a raging storm and ready for battle.

“They saw Dark Lagny riding a Valkyr horse in the storm—choosing the dead…”

A continuation of the title illustration showing fallen warriors in the sea below some desperately clinging to rocks.

“Her Ways Are DEATH”

“The blood of the dark and fearsome Valkyrs ran in her veins. And he was the master of modern necromancy. Which would survive when the two magics clashed, as they surely must?”

“Over lunch at The Three Choughs at Yeovil, Gregory George Gordon Green read through again the letter that had started him on his journey from London. Had he been in any hurry to complete that journey, he would have taken the Dorchester road out from Salisbury but the letter suggested an appointment that gave him plenty of time, and on the word of his friend Tony Briggs of the Foreign Office the cuisine and cellar of The Three Choughs justified one in making a point of lunching there. So, over coffee and a spot of liqueur brandy in the dining room…”

dance along the edge 💬

4 months ago

Virgil Finlay illustration for the 1919 H.P. Lovecraft story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" for it's reprint appearance in the March, 1938 issue of Weird Tales. It was later inscribed and gifted to another giant, "To A. Merritt, a master of fantasy. From Virgil Finlay"

#FinlayFriday
#VirgilFinlay #HPLovecraft #Lovecraft #AMerritt #WeirdTales #Illustration #Pulps #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF @fantasy @sciencefiction

Two naked dreamlike figures pulsating with energy hover over the Catskill Mountains of New York at night.

dance along the edge 💬

4 months ago

Virgil Finlay scratch board illustration for "Under Old Earth" by Cordwainer Smith from Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1966. Dig it.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #CordwainerSmith #GalaxyScienceFiction #Pulps #WeirdTales #ScienceFiction #SF #SFF @sciencefiction

A naked celestial being appears to be playing bongo drums with planets and stars.

BonnettsBooks

4 months ago

#PulpFiction #magazines, like #AmazingStories, #WeirdTales, #DocSavage, #TheShadow, & hundreds more, pulled us through the 1940s toward the millennium.

For 30+ years #RustyHevelin ran the original #PulpCon here in #DaytonOhio. Collectors visited us annually. Now, we've essentially run out of #PulpMagazines & the evolved #PulpFest has moved to PA. I miss the books & their fans.

#Pulps are fragile & difficult to find in any condition. Perhaps we let some go too easily...

https://c.im/@shansterable/110854781547338272

Bobby D.

4 months ago

This week on Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein, we look at how Belgian writer Jean Ray broke into WEIRD TALES in the 1930s...and what Lovecraft thought of his work.

https://deepcuts.blog/2023/08/05/deeper-cut-jean-ray-and-weird-tales/

#lovecraft #hplovecraft #weirdfiction #weirdtales #jeanray

dance along the edge 💬

4 months ago

Virgil Finlay cover painting for the April, 1941 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries. Plus a possible inspiration, the painting Neptune's Horses by English artist Walter Crane circa 1893.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #WalterCrane #HorseArt #Pulps #WeirdTales #Illustration #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF @fantasy

A fair blonde woman in a translucent white dress runs through ocean waters as three white horses pursue her through crashing waves.

The same as the previous image but as it was used and printed as the April, 1941 issue of the science fiction and fantasy publication Famous Fantastic Mysteries.

The painting Neptune's Horses by Walter Crane, circa 1893. Neptune, the Roman god of waters and seas, leads a team of white horses through cascading waves in the ocean. Also known as Neptunus Equester, he was recognized as a god of horses and horsemanship, as well as patron of horse racing, a popular form of entertainment for the ancient Romans.

Dan O'Ginnec

4 months ago

The 2023 #Souvenir #Book is once again a downloadable #pdf filled with lots of full-color #articles, including: centennial tributes to Mort Walker, #weirdtales , #Disney Animation, #WarnerBros a 75th celebration of Pogo Comic Strip, and celebrations of the 50th anniversaries of #Blade, Human Target, #redsonja, Howard the Duck, Shang-Chi, the Direct Market as well as 50 plus years of Underground #comix

https://www.comic-con.org/cci/2023-souvenir-book

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4 months ago

Virgil Finlay illustrating Fletcher Pratt's "The Conditioned Captain" from Startling Stories, May 1953. The original page ran vertically but I feel it looks better horizontally.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #FletcherPratt #StartlingStories #Pulps #WeirdTales #Illustration #ScienceFiction #SF #SFF @sciencefiction

A man and a woman lie in a spacecraft watching through a window or a monitor as they fire weapons at another targeted spacecraft above them.

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5 months ago

Virgil Finlay illustrating A. Merritt's classic novel "The Face in the Abyss" reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1940. See the #AltText for more.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #AMerritt #Illustration #Scratchboard #WeirdTales #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF @sciencefiction @fantasy

Art by Virgil Finlay showing a person drifting through a mystical valley with waterfalls followed by flying creatures and passing through a row of large statues.

Below the artwork is Finlay's handwritten note, which reads: "This is from the beginning of the story where the hero dreams that he sees a pair of eyes which draw him to the Snake Mother. He is shown here as he passes over a valley with huge statues in it."

dance along the edge 💬

5 months ago

Virgil Finlay cover painting for the November, 1959 issue of Fantastic Universe. Another fine Finlay obscured by excessive text.

#FinlayFriday
#VirgilFinlay #Illustration #Painting #WeirdTales #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF @sciencefiction @fantasy

Our POV is from inside a huge circular cave. At the far end is a round mouth and we see a space traveler begin to enter with a landed spacecraft behind them. There are multiple textured rings throughout the cave, the ends of which resemble the uvula of a throat. Hold on, is this a cave at all or something else?

The same cover painting as the first image but as it was used for the cover of Fantastic Universe with the following text added:

FANTASTIC UNIVERSE
SCIENCE FACT & FICTION

NOW 132 PAGES STILL 35 CENTS

CITY OF THE TIGER
An Exciting Short Novel
by JOHN BRUNNER

AN AUGUST DERLETH FANTASY: HALLOWEEN FOR MR. FAULKNER

SPECIAL FACT SECTION
Featuring
PLANET OF WASTE by LESTER DEL REY

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6 months ago

Interior illustration by Virgil Finlay for "Shadow Over Mars" by Leigh Brackett from Fantastic Story Magazine, March 1953.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #LeighBrackett #Illustration #PenandInk #GGA #WeirdTales #Fantasy #ScienceFiction #SF #SFF @fantasy @sciencefiction

SHADOW OVER MARS by Leigh Brackett

A spacecraft roars through a futuristic city as a humanoid with giant wings wearing a skimpy two piece outfit next to the head of a giant statue hails the destruction.

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6 months ago

Virgil Finlay cover painting for Swords and Sorcery, Pyramid Books, 1963.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #SwordandSorcery #WeirdTales #Illustration #VintagePaperbacks #Fantasy @fantasy

A sword-wielding Knight confronts a witch and three demons before the gates of Hell.

SWORDS & SORCERY
Action, magic, enchantment -
eight novelettes by masters of heroic fantasy
POUL ANDERSON
H. P. LOVECRAFT
ROBERT E. HOWARD
HENRY KUTTNER
LORD DUNSANY
CLARK ASHTON SMITH
C. L. MOORE
FRITZ LEIBER

Selected and with an introduction by
L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP
Illustrated by VIRGIL FINLAY

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6 months ago

Virgil Finlay interior illustration for "...As Others See Us" by Raymond F. Jones published in Fantastic Adventures, May 1951. Jones is best known for his 1952 novel "This Island Earth" which was adapted into the 1955 film. #FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #RaymondFJones #ThisIslandEarth #FantasticAdventures #Pulps #WeirdTales #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF #Illustration #PenandInk @sciencefiction @fantasy

A blonde woman in a white dress caught in a kaleidoscopic mirror of sharp triangles.

dance along the edge 💬

7 months ago

#FinlayFriday meets #MerMay part 2

Virgil Finlay cover painting for Fantastic Universe, July, 1957, which I guess is kinda-sorta illustrating August Derleth's Cthulhu Mythos story which was later changed to "The Seal of R'lyeh." I don't remember any mirror-obsessed mermaids from that but part of it does take place in the sea!

#VirgilFinlay #AugustDerleth #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #WeirdTales #CthulhuMythos #Mermaid #Illustration @fantasy

A blonde-haired mermaid seated on rocks by the shoreline checks herself out in the reflection of a window to a...spaceship? A submarine? Your guess is as good as mine. Behind her on the shore either an astronaut or a deep sea diver gasps for air or is already dead.

The same image as it was used for the cover of the July, 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe.

dance along the edge 💬

7 months ago

#FinlayFriday meets #MerMay
Virgil Finlay preliminary cover design for the July, 1948 issue of Fantastic Novels, which the editor rejected in favor of this basic Lawrence Stevens woman in peril by blue meanie cover. Unbelievable.

#VirgilFinlay #LawrenceStevens #Mermaid #Fantastic #Pulps #WeirdTales #Illustration #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF @sciencefiction

Fish are swimming around a mermaid who literally holds the earth in an embrace.

Blue monster with red eyes attacks sleeping woman with ample breasts.

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7 months ago

Virgil Finlay back cover illustration for the Leigh Brackett story, "The Road to Sinharat" from the May 1963 issue of Amazing Stories.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #LeighBrackett #EricJohnStark #AmazingStories #Pulps #WeirdTales #Illustration #penandink #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #SF #SFF @sciencefiction

Space Adventurer Eric John Stark holds up the collapsed body of a being emanating waves of energy as another ghostly being dances in front of them.

The same image as the previous one with the quote on the back cover as originally published:

"Rama meant Immortal, and it had been a word of terror for so long that no amount of time could erase the meaning."

see THE ROAD TO SINHARAT
by Leigh Brackett

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8 months ago

Virgil Finlay interior illustration for "Abercrombie Station" by Jack Vance from Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1952.

#FinlayFriday #VirgilFinlay #JackVance #Illustration #PenandInk #Pulps #WeirdTales #ScienceFiction #SF #SFF @sciencefiction

A woman is amongst a horde of alien beasts in a free-for-all as one of them taps her on the shoulder.

The same illustration as before but as it appeared in the magazine with the beginning of the Jack Vance story accompanying it.

dance along the edge 💬

8 months ago

Zebra Books 1982
Cover artist unknown

#WerewolfWednesday #Werewolf #Lycanthrope #LoupGarou #Horror #HorrorBooks #PaperbacksFromHell #WeirdTales

Three closeup portraits, one on top of each other. On the bottom is a man. Above him is a wide-eyed half-creature who has begun to grow fangs. Above the creature is a snarling werewolf with leathery skin, long sharp fangs and bright orange-yellow eyes.

WHEN THE WOLFSBANE GROWS ON THE BAYOU - THE TERROR BEGINS...

WOLFSBANE

BY WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE

ROOT OF EVIL

It had been years since the wolfsbane grew on the bayou, yet everyone who lived in Ducros Parish, Louisiana, knew that someday it would appear again. With its pretty yellow flowers and lovely green leaves, the wolfsbane was as beautiful as it was deadly.
And when the parishers saw the ancient root spring from the earth, they knew it wouldn't be long before they heard the howls of the hairy, hunch-backed creatures whose fangs hungered for flesh... whose tongues thirsted for human blood.
Some people called the wolfsbane magic, others silly, superstitious myth. But those who lived in Ducros Parish knew that when the wolfsbane grew on the bayou— the horror would begin again!

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9 months ago

#FinlayFriday
Virgil Finlay illustrating "Witch of the Four Winds," a 1963 Brak the Barbarian tale by John Jakes.

#VirgilFinlay #JohnJakes #Brak #Barbarian #NotConan #SwordandSorcery #WeirdTales #Fantasy #FantasyFiction #Illustration #PenandInk @fantasy

Brak the Barbarian is on his stomach high atop a cliff clinging with one hand desperately to a girl who has lost her grip. Directly in front of them a giant monster approaches.

Caption: "From the black heart of the earth the monster's red eyes watched. Brak went rigid in an effort to keep from tumbling off into the pit. The girl's wrist slipped from his fingers. Death was upon him and the girl too."

Mike Palumbo

9 months ago

#365Stories in 2023 - 57/365
--
"The Hoax of the Spirit Lover" (1924)
by Harry Houdini

Houdini seeks to expose a fraudulent medium, who demonstrates his supposed powers at a séance by summoning a woman's dead fiancé.

Another ghostwritten Houdini story for Weird Tales, portraying the magician's quest to debunk psychic and spiritual hoaxes. The author's identity has been the subject of much speculation, but remains unknown.

#Books
#Bookstodon
@bookstodon
#Houdini
#Pulp
#Reading
#WeirdTales

Illustration by William F. Heitman, from WEIRD TALES, April 1924. It depicts Houdini, in a suit and bow tie, looking out a window at a ladder on the side of the building.

Mike Palumbo

9 months ago

#365Stories in 2023 - 56/365
--
"The Spirit Fakers of Hermannstadt" (1924)
by Harry Houdini

The daughter of an infamous Transylvanian count enlists the help of the magician Houdini against a blackmailer; a former associate of the count posing as a spiritualist.

The first of three Houdini stories from Weird Tales; the true author's identity is unknown but is believed to have been a member of the magazine staff.

#Books
#Bookstodon
@bookstodon
#Houdini
#Pulp
#Reading
#WeirdTales

Illustration by William F. Heitman, from the March 1924 issue of WEIRD TALES magazine. It depicts Harry Houdini, in a suit and tie, standing at the right end of a table, flanked by two women in 1920s clothing, and facing off with the man at the other end, a fake spiritualist dressed in a turban and robe.

Mike Palumbo

10 months ago

#365Stories in 2023 - 54/365
--
"Black God's Kiss" (1934)
by C.L. Moore

When the kingdom of Joiry is overrun by invaders, the swordswoman Jirel enters another dimension in search of a weapon to defeat the enemy commander, Guilliaume.

Combining elements of horror and fantasy, Moore eschews action for atmosphere, detailing the bizarre world to which Jirel ventures in her quest.

#Books
#Bookstodon
@bookstodon
#Fantasy
#Lovecraft
#Reading
#SwordAndSorcery
#WeirdTales

Cover illustration from C.L. Moore's collection, JIREL OF JOIRY. Artist unknown, it depicts Jirel, a red-haired woman wearing a suit of silver armor and a green cloak, surrounded by a stampede of white stallions, against the background of a strangely-colored sky.

Mike Palumbo

10 months ago

#365Stories in 2023 - 49/365
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"The Phoenix on the Sword" (1932)
by Robert E. Howard

The outlaw Ascalante leads a conspiracy to overthrow King Conan, while Thoth-Amon, a wizard enslaved by Ascalante, plots his revenge. A long-dead sage visits Conan with a warning.

Howard was a pioneer of the sword-and-sorcery subgenre, and with this story, spawned an immensely popular fantasy franchise.

#Books
#Bookstodon
@bookstodon
#Conan
#Fantasy
#Reading
#RobertEHoward
#SwordAndSorcery
#WeirdTales

From the December 1932 issue of Weird Tales. Illustrated by Jayem Wilcox, it depicts a monstrous humanoid, with pointed ears, fangs, and webbed claws, approaching as King Conan wields a battle-axe.

dance along the edge 💬

10 months ago

March 1935
John Howitt cover
#WerewolfWednesday

#Werewolf #Pulps #TheSpider #WeirdTales #JohnHowitt #WeirdMenace

Pulp Hero The Spider, dressed in a black suit and cape with a black hat and domino mask has a werewolf barely trapped in spider webbing as freaked out onlookers run for their lives.

Moonmoth

10 months ago

Mary Elizabeth Counselman: Die drei markierten Pennies (The Three Marked Pennies, 1934)

Eine schöne kurze Geschichte von 6 Seiten.

Vorbereitung für den mächtigen „Anhang N Buchclub“ am Sonntag um ca. 13 Uhr auf dem Discordserver von @systemmatters (seid dabei!!) #weirdtales #pnpde

Ein PDF der August 1934-Ausgabe der "Weird Tales" mit der Geschichte auf meinem Schoß. Frei verfügbar auf archive.org.

dance along the edge 💬

10 months ago

Pyramid Books 1965
Cover by Virgil Finlay
#FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #LSpraguedeCamp #PyramidBooks #Illustration #BookCovers #Paperbacks #WeirdTales #Bookstodon #Fantasy @fantasy @bookstodon

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?47649

A knight battles a wizard in a cauldron on fire held by a smiling hooded skeletal figure with red glowing eye sockets.

Virgil Finlay cover to "The Spell of Seven" anthology from 1965, edited by L. Sprague de Camp. Supernatural Tales of Swords and Sorcery.

The back cover of the anthology. The same cover art but with a solid redish-pink hue. WARRIOR vs. WIZARD. Might fights magic...spears clash with spells...in these seven masterful tales of adventure and sorcery - stories of strange dooms, barbaric battles, and superhuman heroes!

dance along the edge 💬

11 months ago

Robert Ervin Howard (1906–1936) #BOTD
The main outlet for his stories was Weird Tales, where he created Conan the Barbarian. With Conan and his other heroes, Howard helped create the genre now known as sword and sorcery, spawning many imitators and giving him a large influence in the fantasy field. Conan was later adapted into comics to instant and enduring success.

#RobertEHoward #WeirdTales #SwordandSorcery #Conan #ConanTheBarbarian #Fantasy #REH @fantasy @bookstodon

Margaret Brundage cover for the December 1934 issue of Weird Tales illustrating Robert E. Howard’s "A Witch Shall Be Born", one of the original sword and sorcery novellas about Conan the Cimmerian. The story concerns a witch replacing her twin sister as queen of a city state, which brings her into conflict with Conan who had been the captain of the queen's guard. Themes of paranoia, and the duality of the twin sisters, are paramount in this story but it also includes elements of the conflict between barbarism and civilization that is common to the entire Conan series. The novella as a whole is considered an average example of the series, but one scene stands out. Conan's crucifixion early in the story during the second chapter ("The Tree of Death") is considered one of the most memorable scenes in the entire series.

Hannes Bok cover for the 1946 Arkham House hardcover collection, “Skull-Face and Others” by Robert E. Howard. The title story is clearly influenced by Sax Rohmer's opus Fu Manchu but substitutes the main Asian villain with a resuscitated Atlantean necromancer (similar to Kull's Thulsa Doom) sitting at the center of a web of crime and intrigue meant to end White/Western world domination with the help of Asian/semite/African peoples and to re-instate surviving Atlanteans (said to lie dormant in submerged sarcophagi) as the new ruling elite.

Frank Utpatel cover for the 1963 Arkham House collection of Robert E. Howard stories, “The Dark Man and Others”, edited by August Derleth.

Boris Vallejo cover for the first issue of “The Savage Sword of Conan” magazine from August 1974. It’s last issue was #235, July 1995. Conan and Red Sonja battle skeletal axe-wielding warriors.

d4doome

11 months ago

Any weird fiction fans here? I'm talking about the real stuff, from Weird Tales of the 1920s/30s.

I got into the genre in the usual way, through Lovecraft. And in the usual way I started exploring work of various writers in his circle, and the work of writers whom Lovecraft admired.

Hashtags for some of the weird fiction writers I like:

#hplovecraft #ClarkAshtonSmith #CLMoore #LeighBrackett #algernonblackwood #arthurmachen #LordDunsany #RobertEHoward #weirdfiction #WeirdTales #SeaburyQuinn

dance along the edge 💬

11 months ago

Eric Frank Russell (1905-1978) was #BOTD
A British writer best known for his #sf novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the U.S. in #JohnWCampbell ‘s #AstoundingScienceFiction , #Unknown and other #pulps . Russell also wrote #horrorfiction for #WeirdTales and won the first #HugoAwards for Best Short Story in 1955. The #ScienceFiction and #Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted Russell in 2000.

@bookstodon @sciencefiction #Bookstodon

The cover for UNKNOWN from March 1939 by H.W. Scott which illustrates SINISTER BARRIER By Eric Frank Russell. A dark towering figure with long nails literally embraces the earth while looking down upon the destruction of a major city.

The cover of ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION from December 1946 by Alejandro Canedo which illustrates METAMORPHOSITE by Eric Frank Russell. Two shadowy figures forcing or coercing a third figure into a space pod as another humanoid in the foreground looks on against a backdrop of lined up spaceships.

The cover to SCIENCE FICTION QUARTERLY from November 1952 by Milton Luros which illustrates THE TIMELESS ONES by ERIC FRANK RUSSELL. Two spacecrafts soar over a futuristic cityscape in front of the looming portrait of a beautiful woman in a spacesuit.

The cover to the 1978 Del Rey/Ballantine paperback THE BEST OF ERIC FRANK RUSSELL by H. R. Van Dongen. Aboard a spaceship a humanoid and an alien play chess.

Karl Sigler (he/him)

1 year ago

Raised in 1920s Berlin during the Dada movement, K. Ungeheuer's world is one where young love sparks during the building of the Tower of Babel and beautiful women make their homes in teeth, where a bag of fingers can fetch a good price, and the curse of divine lineage results in the weight of the ocean on your chest.

#Horror #Surrealism #WeirdTales #HorrorFiction

d4doome

1 year ago

The Poseidonis and interplanetary stories, two of Clark Ashton Smith's lesser known story cycles.

The Poseidonis tales take pace in the remnant of Atlantis. More or less sword-and-sorcery tales, but unconventional.

The interplanetary stories were as close as Smith got to sci-fi.

Lush, decadent, brilliant.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2018/01/clark-ashton-smith-poseidonis-and.html

#ClarkAshtonSmith #weirdfiction #WeirdTales #scifi #fantasyfiction #atlantis #swordandsorcery #swordandplanet #decadent ##decadentfiction