Pulp Classics: Strange Tales #4

by John Gregory Betancourt

STRANGE TALES OF MYSTERY AND TERROR . . . When Strange Tales first appeared in 1931 as a pulp magazine, it was clearly something new. Edited by Harry Bates as a companion to Astounding Stories, it combined the supernatural horror and fantasy of Weird Tales with vigorous action plots. Had the Great Depression not intervened and killed it after seven issues, the whole history of fantastic fiction might have been different. Strange Tales rapidly attracted the most imaginative and capable writers of the day, including such Weird Tales regulars as Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Henry S. Whitehead, Hugh B. Cave, Ray Cummings, and numerous others. Certainly Strange Tales gave Weird Tales a serious run for its money. The March 1932 issue features work by Paul Ernst, Henry S. Whitehead, Gordon MacCreagh, and more. The fine cover by H.W. Wesso illustrates 'The Duel of the Sorcerers,' by Paul Ernst.

148 pages, Paperback

First published November 23, 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

[C. John Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange Tales was published by Clayton Magazines as a weird fiction companion to their science fiction title Astounding Stories. Unfortunately it was somewhat short lived. However if the contents of this issue is any indication its demise was not due to lack of effort. The authors whose work is contained herein are names that would have been well-known to writers of weird and science fiction at that time, though may not be so today.
As a reader who enjoys the old pulp magazines I found this to be an enjoyable book. The main story, Duel of the Sorcerers by Paul Ernst, is considered by many to be a classic of this genre. Certainly it was a gripping story. At times I wondered if the villain would win out in the end. The rest of the stories were also entertaining.
One nice touch is that this edition is a reprinting of the original magazine, albeit on better paper. As such it contains all the original ads, thus giving us a flavour of the times. A pity we can no longer get a subscription to this magazine, or any other magazine for that matter, for $1.25.
In short, anyone who is a connoisseur of weird fiction should definitely consider adding this item to their library, as should anyone interested in the old pulp magazines.