Masters of the Weird Tale

[Dan]

Centipede Press has a series called "Masters of the Weird Tale." Every year, or three, they publish a large hardcover book, sometimes as short as 450 pages long, other times 1,220 pages long. They are not cheap. Prices for a single volume run anywhere from $275 to $495. What I think is most interesting is whose work they published a volume of. They have recognized 15 authors in the years 2006 to 2023.

Algernon Blackwood (2006)
William Hope Hodgson (2008)
H. P. Lovecraft (2008)
Edgar Allan Poe (2009)
Frank Belknap Long (2010)
Henry Kuttner (2011)
Karl Edward Wagner (2011)
Arthur Machen (2012)
Ambrose Bierce (2012)
Carl Jacobi (2014)
David Case (2014)
Fred Chappell (2015)
Fritz Leiber (2016)
Ramsey Campbell (2020)
Robert W. Chambers (2023)

Three of these I have to question: Karl Edward Wagner, Carl Jacobi , Fred Chappell. I have heard next to nothing about them. And two more, I don't consider to be true weird fiction writers: Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce. The others unquestionably belong.

Five more that really need to be on here in my opinion: Robert E. Howard, Jeff VanderMeer, China Mieville, Thomas Ligotti, Michael Cisco.

Oh my goodness! I just noticed how male-centric this list is. Why is that the case? My top female weird fiction writers, and it's hard to think of any of equally lofty stature, but if I had to name five: C.L. Moore, Tanith Lee, Kathe Koja, Margaret St. Clair, Angela Carter.

[Sachin]

There are a total of 21 Volumes in the series. Outside of this canon (Masters of Weird Tale), there are a couple of other author-centric collections that can also fall into the series with the same production quality (Oversized, Illustrated):

- Autopsy and Other Tales (Michael Shea)
- Ecstasy of Fear; Tangled Muse -- Wilum Pugmire
- Houses under the Sea (Caitlin Kiernan)
- Out of the Dark (Steve Resnic Tem)
- Dramas from the Depth (Reggie Oliver)

There are also a couple of anthologies:
- A Mountain Walked
- Best of Weird Tales 1920s (two more planned to cover 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s).

The following are the ones that are planned:

- J Sheridan Le Fanu
- Clark Ashton Smith
- M. R. James
- E. F. Benson

I hope this is helpful.

I agree that women's representation in Weird Fiction is low here. I've mentioned this to the press. Let's see if anything shows up.

[Nicolai Alexander]

Wonderful! Thank you for letting us know :)