Category Archives: Farnsworth Wright

Happy Birthday, Farnsworth

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Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940) was born on this date, July 29.

He was the editor of Weird Tales during what is regarded as the best years of the magazine. He was the greatest fantasy editor of the first half of the Twentieth Century, if not the whole century. The only other editor who even came close was John W. Campbell, Jr., who was the editor of Unknown/Unknown Worlds. And  as a general rule, Campbell didn’t publish the same type of fantasy as Wright.

One can argue that Dorothy McIlwraith, who tooks Farnsworth Wright’s place at the helm of Weird Tales was a more significant editor than Campbell. But that’s an argument for another post. Continue reading →

C. L. Moore, Pioneer of Fantasy and Science Fiction

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Catherine Lucille (C. L.) Moore (1911-1987) was born in Indianapolis on this date, January 24. She is the third of three major fantasy writers whose birthdays are every other day in January. The first was A. Merritt, and the second was Robert E. Howard.  She is someone whose work should not be forgotten. If you haven’t read her work, or if it’s been a while, do yourself a favor and do so.

Like Howard, I’ve written about Moore so many times over the years that it’s becoming a challenge to come up with something  new. Work and some travel have kept me from doing much reading for the last week, so there won’t be a review of any particular story.  Forgive me if I rehash things from older posts. Continue reading →

Happy Birthday Farnsworth

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Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940) was born on this date, July 29. Farnsworth, as I’m sure you all know, was editor of Weird Tales during its glory years.

I wanted to give a quick shout-out to him today since I haven’t posted much lately.I’ll post an update soon. The summer hasn’t been dull.

Next year (2023) is the centennial of Weird Tales. I’m in the planning stage for a series of posts that will run next year.

In the meantime, keep your eye out for guest posts by John Bullard and Will Oliver over the next week.

Three by Wellman

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Today, May 21, marks the birth of Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986). Much Wellman’s work incorporated the folklore of the Southern Mountains. Wellman is best remembered for his stories of John the Balladeer, but he wrote a number of stories in mountain settings that weren’t part of that series.

Worse Things Waiting was Wellman’s first non-John the Balladeer collection. It was published by the legendary Carcosa. It’s the only Carcosa title I don’t have in the original edition. Fortunately it has been reprinted in trade paper at a reasonable price, as has Lonely Vigils. The new publisher is Shadowridge Press. For today’s post, I’m going to look at three stories from Worse Things Waiting. Continue reading →

The Weird Tales Covers of C. C. Senf

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Farnsworth Wright (l.) and C. C. Senf, Chicago, late 1920s

Artist C. C. (Curtis Charles) Senf was born in this date, July 30, 1873. He passed away in 1949.  Senf did a number of covers for Weird Tales.  The ISFDB lists 45 covers between 1927 and 1932.  I’m not sure why Senf didn’t do any others.  His last cover was July 1932.  Margaret Brundage’s first cover was September 1932. She had already provided the covers for the Spring and Summer 1932 issues of Oriental Stories.  Maybe Farnsworth liked her covers better.

Or maybe Senf left to pursue other, more lucrative projects.  I don’t know.  I’ll do some checking, and if I find out anything interesting, I’ll report back.

Senf’s covers definitely have what I would call a 1920’s look to them, with Victorian overtones.  For more discussion of Senf’s technique and a more detailed biography, see these three posts at Tellers of Weird Tales.

Now, let’s enjoy some of his covers. Continue reading →

Farnsworth

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Today, July 29, marks the birth of legendary Weird Tales editor, Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940).  Modern fantasy would be very different without his influence.  It’s arguable whether we would have the works of Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, C. L. Moore, Seabury Quinn, Henry S. Whitehead, and many others if he hadn’t bought their stories and encouraged them.

I’ve enough to do for the rest of the day that I’m not sure I’ll be able to read anything he published in Weird Tales, but I’ll raise a glass in his memory sometime before I go to bed.

Happy Birthday, Farnsworth

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Farnsworth Wright, legendary editor of Weird Tales, was born on this date, July 29, in the long-ago year of 1888.  He died in 1940.

We last discussed Mr. Wright a few weeks ago in my post on who was the greatest editor of the 20th Century.  I think it’s a toss-up between Wright and Don Wolheim.

What isn’t up for debate is that Wright published some of the greatest writers of the fantastic in his magazines during his tenure as editor:  H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, C. L. Moore, Henry S. Whitehead, Henry Kuttner, Manley Wade Wellman, Robert Bloch, Seabury Quinn.

Just to name a few.

Granted some, like Kuttner and Bloch, went on to fame for later, more mature work.  But Wright recognized something about their writing and published it.

So if today or tonight you happen to read something published in Weird Tales while Wright was the editor, raise your glass to his memory and his legacy.

Of Editorial Greatness

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Earlier today I was reading a post on a site I don’t normally read these days (I was lured by the temptation of a free ebook).  The post made the argument that John Campbell was the greatest editor the science fiction and fantasy fields have seen.

That got me to thinking, which usually gets me in trouble.  I began wondering who would be the greatest editor, greater being defined as having the most impact over time.  The original post didn’t include fantasy other than a passing reference to Unknown.  So I thought I’d throw the question open to anyone who wanted to voice an opinion.  Below is a list I compiled off the top of my head.  I didn’t include any living editors.  If I had, Ellen Datlow would be on it.  My rationale is that the impact of living editors on the can’t be accurately assessed because they are still having an influence and their greatest influences may still be to come.

 

So in alphabetical order are ten editors.  I’ll provide a brief explanation as to why they have been included.  Some will be quickly eliminated.  Others, not so much. Continue reading →

Robert Bloch at 101

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Today, April 5, is Robert Bloch’s birthday.  He was born in 1917.  For those of you who are poor at math, not sure what day/year it is, or didn’t read the title of the post, that would make him 101 today if he were still alive.

Bloch was one of the most influential writers of horror, crime, and science fiction of the last century. He wrote a number of novels, the most famous being Psycho.  And while the Hitchcock film is deservedly considered a classic, you should give the book a try if you haven’t read it. There are some differences. Bloch’s written sequels have nothing to do with the film sequels.

In my mind, though, Bloch was better as a short story writer.  The reason I think that may be in part because I’ve a fondness for short fiction.  He started writing for Weird Tales when he was just 17, IIRC.  While is early stuff is pretty rough around the edges, it was no worse that what Farnsworth Wright was buying at the time, and soon became better than much of the stuff by authors long forgotten. Bloch was an earlier correspondent of Lovecraft.  Much of his early work was lovecraftian pastiche. He soon developed his own voice and went on to write some great horror and dark fantasy fiction, such as “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper”, “The Man Who Collected Poe”, and the Hugo Award winning “The Hell-Bound Train”. If Bloch had any faults, it was that he couldn’t stand Robert E. Howard’s Conan.  (That’s a pretty big fault, if you ask me, but Bloch’s body of work is sufficiently good that I’m willing to overlook it.)

Over the last few years I’ve gotten into the habit of blogging about an author’s work on their birthday.  At the moment, I’m swamped with the day job and slowly going under.  That’s why it’s been like a ghost town around here lately.  I’ve either not had the time to write (blog posts or fiction) or not had the energy when I had the time.  So, no, I’m not dead.  (Sorry to disappoint some of you.)  I’ve just been dealing with Real Life.

I’m hoping to read something short this evening.  If so, I’ll try to post about it here once I get this mountain of exams graded.  I hope to do that, but I may not be able to pull it off.

But don’t let that stop you from raising a glass is Robert Bloch’s memory and celebrating his work by reading a short story or two.

Happy Brithday, Farnsworth Wright

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Weird Tales editorial office, l. to r., unknown, Farnsworth Wright, Henry Kuttner, Robert Bloch

By the time of his death in 1940, Farnsworth Wright had become one of the most influential editors the field of the fantastic would ever see. Wright was born in 1888 on July, 29.  I would argue his influence on science fiction, fantasy, and horror has been greater than any other editor, including John W. Campbell, Dorothy McIlwraith, Fred Pohl, Ray Palmer, or Hugo Gernsback.

Yes, I realize that last sentence could be controversial, especially the inclusion of Campbell and Gernsback.  So be it.  Farnsworth Wright edited Weird Tales during what is considered to be the magazine’s golden age.  The authors he published have had a greater impact on the literature of the fantastic than those of any other editor at any time in history. Continue reading →