Sinister Stories

by John Gregory Betancourt, Robert E. Howard

SHADOW KINGDOMS is the first volume of the Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, presenting all of Howard's work for the pulp magazine Weird Tales meticulously restored to its original magazine texts. Edited by Paul Herman. Introduction by Mark Finn. Cover by Stephen Fabian.

Genres: Horror

116 pages, Hardcover

First published January 18, 2005

About the author

John Gregory Betancourt is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at Amazing Stories and editor of Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field, the revived Weird Tales magazine, the first issue of H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror (which he subsequently hired Marvin Kaye to edit), Cat Tales magazine (which he subsequently hired George H. Scithers to edit), and Adventure Tales magazine. He worked as a Senior Editor for Byron Preiss Visual Publications (1989-1996) and iBooks. He is the writer of four Star Trek novels and the new Chronicles of Amber prequel series, as well as a dozen original novels. His essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in such diverse publications as Writer's Digest and The Washington Post.

Reviews

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fire built on the stones cast obscene lurid glow over the ring of old men. With its base wedged into a crevice stood a holy outline - a wooden cross. And trailing down from it as she half hung, half knelt with her arms tied to the cross pieces was Elaine. They had undressed her; before the sadist pack she stood utterly nude. Her hair streaming down over her bosom outlined her little breasts. Her face, uplifted in the moonlight, was a pallid agony-mask. One of the torturers stood behind her. His whip whistled and fell to bring zigzags like red fingers clutching her shoulders.

That's how they did Weird Menace in the good old days! From 1940 this "weird menace" pulp magazine was a few years later than the heyday of weird menace as penned by writers like Arthur Leo Zagat and Hugh B. Cave. SINISTER STORIES lasted only 3 issues before disappearing from newsstands. I'm guessing they turned to publishing children's bedtime stories, but who knows.

I picked up a reprint of this pulp magazine from a store in the Mission District in San Francisco a number of years ago. I can't remember the name of the store now, but I think they closed it a few years later and went online only. It doesn't matter now. The quote above is from the cover story "Brides for the Half-Men" by Francis James. I've never heard of Francis James. Nor have I heard of any of the other writers collected in this issue. The titles are fantastic. Stories like "Satan's Studio of Sin" and "White Flesh Must Rot" and "They Trade in Mangled Bodies" just to name a few. The writing is over the top and generally awful. There are plenty of "slavering, blood-lusting beasts" to invite to your next party here. The plots are strewn with torture and titillation but invariably have happy endings, in spite of innocents getting gruesomely dispatched along the way. All of the stories have a flying blind, seat-of-the-pants feel to them. It's possible that many of the authors credited here were house names for one or two hard-drinking pulpsters spitting out first drafts for a quick buck.

Whatever. 80 some odd years later they make for decent Halloween season reading.