THE HEART AND SOUL OF WEIRD TALES

"Every issue of this magazine fulfills its mission, printing the kind of stories you like to read -- stories which you have no opportunity of reading in other periodicals because of their orthodox editorial policies"

- Otis Adelbert Kline in WEIRD TALES

No mention is needed here of how a pulp magazine by the name of WEIRD TALES, the first issue being dated March 1923, would go on to host many writers of horror and the supernatural that would greatly influence today's current landscape of weird fiction. From H.P. Lovecraft, to Robert E. Howard, to Ray Bradbury, a constant role call of luminaries of the fantastic could be seen in the pages of WT.

Otis Adelbert Kline was assistant to editor Edwin Baird when he wrote this two-page editorial in the Vol. 4 No. 2 issue of WT (May-July 1924). It was reprinted ten years later in the March 1934 (Vol. 23 No. 3) issue to remind readers that WT had not broken its promise to them in delivering stories of the type that were not available anywhere else on the newsstands.

Kline provides WT's raison d'ê·tre by comparing its contents as unique to other periodicals (WT was subtitled, "The Unique Magazine", after all) that maintained a conservative and orthodox line of editorial policy. Hence, WT was admittedly considered an "outsider" publication, that is, removed from the mainstream by virtue of its own unorthodox editorial policy. One could even say that WT was a renegade among the hundreds of other pulp magazines of the day.

"Why Weird Tales?" explains the foundation of WT's philosophy and its commitment to publish fantastic fiction based on both the supernatural and the fringes of strange science and beyond. Kline goes on to assert that, like the tales of Poe and Verne of the last century, which the stories in WT would not necessarily emulate, but would instead likewise stand the test of time and endure until the next century. Well, Kline's prophecy was partially correct, as some of the fiction in WT has been firmly planted in the annals of horror literature (again, Lovecraft comes to mind). Giving readers context on what exactly they were reading was a forward-thinking, mature thing to do and the idea would be seen later in similar, thoughtful editorials in the science-fiction digests of the 1950's through the 1970's.

Mr. Kline's erudite and articulate words are a window into the heart and soul of WEIRD TALES.

NOTE: Coming in the next weeks and months, WOM will be presenting choice selections from the pages of WT.