Contents
COPYRIGHT INFO ...... 2
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER ...... 3 . .
A NICTZIN DYALHIS BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 6 . .
The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series ...... 7. . .
THE SEA-WITCH ...... 17
HEART OF ATLANTAN ...... 54 . .
THE ETERNAL CONFLICT ...... 81 . .
THE RED WITCH ...... 123
THE SAPPHIRE SIREN ...... 155 . .
WHEN THE GREEN STAR WANEDSample . . file...... 190. . .
FOR WOUNDING—RETALIATION ...... 218. . .
Contents | 1 COPYRIGHT INFO
The Golden Age of Weird Fiction MEGAPACK™, Vol. 4: Nictzin Dyalhis is copyright © 2015 by Wildside Press, LLC . All rights re- served . * * * * The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wild- side Press, LLC . All rights reserved .
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COPYRIGHT INFO | 2 A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
Nictzin Wilstone Dyalhis (1873 – 1942) was an American chem- ist and short story writer who specialized in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. He wrote as Nictzin Dyalhis. During his lifetime he attained a measure of celebrity as a writer for the pulp fiction magazine Weird Tales . Firm facts about Dyalhis’s life are few, as he coupled his limited output of fiction with a penchant for personal privacy and an avoid- ance of publicity. His year of birth, usually cited (with a question mark) as 1879, was long uncertain, and he was speculated to have been born in England—or Pima, Arizona . His World War I draft registration card and U. S. Census records establish his birthdate as June 4, 1873, and his state of birth as Massachusetts. His father, reportedly of Welsh extraction, was also born in Massachusetts, and his mother in Guatemala. Even Dyalhis’s name is uncertain; in his stories, Dyalhis played with common spellings, so that “Earth” be- comes Aerth and “Venus,” Venhez, and he was thought to have pos- sibly done the same with Samplehis own name, file turning the prosaic “Dallas” into the exotic Dyalhis. According to L. Sprague de Camp, however, Dyalhis was his actual surname, inherited from his Welsh father, and his given name Nictzin was also authentic, bestowed on him due to his father’s fascination with the Aztecs. His draft card establishes his full name as Nictzin Wilstone Dyalhis. Among the imaginative readers of his stories, Dyalhis acquired a reputation for possessing unusual abilities and an exotic history as an adventurer and world traveller. The known facts of his life are more prosaic. At some time during his youth he lost one eye, as noted on his draft card . He worked as a chemist, and married Harriet Lord; in 1920 the couple was living with her mother in Sugar Grove, Warren County, Pennsylvania. Harriet was an inmate of the Warren
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER | 3 State Hospital in 1930, while Nictzin was living in Maryland in the early 1940s, reportedly in difficult financial circumstances. He died in Salisbury, Maryland on May 8, 1942. Enjoy! —John Betancourt Publisher, Wildside Press LLC www .wildsidepress .com
ABOUT THE SERIES Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One ques- tion we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?” The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah- Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)
RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY? Sample file Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a fa- vorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments) . Note: we only consider stories that have already been profession- ally published. This is not a market for new works.
TYPOS Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER | 4 version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated. If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for every- one. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.
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A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER | 5 A NICTZIN DYALHIS BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Who Keep the Desert Law” (Adventure, October 20, 1922) . “For Wounding—Retaliation” (Adventure, November 20, 1922) . “When the Green Star Waned” (Weird Tales, April 1925; reprint- ed January 1929) “The Eternal Conflict” Weird( Tales, October 1925) “He Refused to Stay Dead” (Ghost Stories, April 1927). “The Dark Lore” (Weird Tales, October 1927) “The Oath of Hul Jok” (Weird Tales, September 1928) “The Red Witch” (Weird Tales, April 1932) “The Whirling Machete” (Underworld Magazine, December 1933) “The Sapphire Goddess” (aka “The Sapphire Siren” — Weird Tales, February 1934) “Gangland’s Judas” (Complete Underworld Novelettes, August 1934) “The Sea-Witch” (Weird Tales, December 1937) “Heart of Atlantan” (WeirdSample Tales, September file 1940)
A NICTZIN DYALHIS BIBLIOGRAPHY | 6