Weird Tales Magazine: A Must Have for Horror Fiction Lovers

Sometimes regarded as the first "pulp fiction" rag, Weird Tales Magazine got its start in 1923, and has been an on-again, off-again publication ever since. For a variety of reasons, Weird Tales Magazine stopped production a couple times in its long history, but as of 2010 is still going strong.

Writers such as Ray Bradbury and H.P. Lovecraft got their start in Weird Tales, along with myriad others. Robert Bloch, Joyce Carol Oates, Tanith Lee and Thomas Ligotti are just a few other popular names who have published with Weird Tales. Stephen King has called Weird Tales a major influence throughout the years, and it has surely given inspiration to countless other writers.

Weird Tales is a short-story publication, specializing in the macabre, the "weird", and dark science-fiction. I recently began collecting the rag, and have quite a few, in three different sizes. The regular magazine measures about 6 ½" x 9 ¼" and showcases about 120 pages of disturbing short-fiction. I have a few magazines that are bigger dimensionally at 8 1/2" x 11" and are good for about 80 pages of tales, and then there are the compilation books, which are hardback and span hundreds of pages.

Subscriptions can be purchased at http://weirdtales.net/wordpress/ and cost about $20.00 a year, and will put you back ten more bucks if you want the Lovecraft bonus. Weird Tales pays pretty well for the short-story submissions it purchases, so twenty smackers a year is a pretty fair price, in my opinion. If you are a twisted tale lover like myself, you can't beat Weird Tales for pure reading entertainment. If you are a twisted tales author, also like myself, Weird Tales is a great venue to consider for publication.

If you are interested in collecting back issues, there are several places on the Internet that deal in old Weird Tales publications. Amazon.com always has a wide selection, and I love to purchase from there because the price is the price; no auctions to win or haggling to be done. Barnes and Noble seems to always have a few on their website, as well. And of course, eBay is a great place to find Weird Tales, but winning the auctions can sometimes be problematic. There is always someone who comes along and outbids you by a dime when there are two seconds left.

In my opinion, Weird Tales cannot be beat when it comes to short, macabre fiction collections. They offer a wide variety of authors who write in completely different styles, offering the reader something new and exciting in every story. And, as I said, if you are an aspiring author who likes to write dark short-stories, Weird Tales should be considered when deciding where to publish.