World Fantasy Convention 1983 WORLD FANTASY 1983 Sixty Years of Weird Tales October 28 - 30, 1983 Marriott O’Hare Hotel - Chicago, Illinois Guests Gene Wolfe Manly Wade Wellman Rowena Morrill Toastmaster Robert Bloch CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 2 APPRECIATIONS: ABOUT MANLY WADE WELLMAN by Karl Edward Wagner.......................................... 3 GENE WOLFE by Algis Budrys............................................................................................ 7 ROWENA MORRILL by Robert Weinberg............................................................................ 9 A PROFILE OF ROBERT BLOCH by Stephen King.............................................................. 11 SPECIAL WEIRD TALES ARTICLES: THE SEARCHER AFTER HORROR by Robert Bloch...........................................................15 WORLD OF WEIRD, 1931 - 1932 by Jack Williamson.........................................................23 THE MOST POPULAR STORIES IN WEIRD TALES 1924 TO 1940 by Sam Moskowitz . 27 ALL NEW EANTA SY FICTION: THE CAT by Gene Wolfe...................................................................................................... 39 WILLOW HE WALK by Manly Wade Wellman.................................................................... 43 INCARNATE by Ramsey Campbell........................................................................................ 51 ONE TO CHICAGO by Hugh B. Cave.................................................................................... 57 THE MONSTER ON HOLD by Philip Jose Farmer .............................................................. 61 THE BLACK RECALLED by Brian Lumley.............................................................................73 NEITHER BRUTE NOR HUMAN by Karl Edward Wagner.................................................. 79 Edited by Robert Weinberg Front & Back Cover art by Rowena Morrill Typesetting, Design & Layout by Pendragon Graphics Published by: Weird Tales Ltd. P.O. Box 423 Oak Forest, Illinois 60452 (in cooperation with Pulp Press] Additional copies $8.95 npr conv available from the publisher. INTRODUCTION Sixty years ago, a magazine was born that became a incest, topics never seen in the most liberal publications legend. Weird Tales, “The Unique Magazine” was of the day. Stories of madness and psychological aber­ created by J. C. Henneberger as a vehicle for stories by ration were sandwiched between space opera and major writers of that day that, because of their unusual psychic detective mysteries. This was not to claim that content, could not be placed in conventional magazines. every story published was a classic. There were numer­ Henneberger never did succeed in attracting those ous mediocre stories published as well. But the average authors who had originally voiced such concerns. How­ level of quality was extremely high for a magazine that ever, he did provide a suitable home for the works of rarely paid more than a penny a word, on publication. H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith The 1983 World Fantasy Convention is dedicated to and nearly all of the other major fantasy writers from Weird Tales and the people that made it great. This 1923 through 1954. He also created a market for the Souvenir Book is a new anthology of tributes to our unique graphics of Virgil Finlay, Hannes Bok, Margaret guests, articles on Weird Tales, and new fiction. All of Brundage, Lee Brown Coye and other greats in the our contributors would have been right at home in “The fantasy illustration field. And it was all done on a shoe­ Unique Magazine.” Some were. All of them share an string budget. exceptional talent for art or writing that would have Calling Weird Tales unique was an understatement. placed them among the forefront of the magazine’s con­ During its golden age, under the editorial guidance of tributors. In a sense, they all are contributors to that great Farnsworth Wright, the magazine published some of the pulp. For Weird Tales is not dead. A state of mind can finest short weird fiction ever set down on paper. It was never die and as long as there are people who enjoy a magazine where the unthinkable was thought. Taboos stories of the strange, the unusual, and the bizarre, “The were few —not only for a pulp magazine but for any Unique Magazine” will remain alive. magazine of the time when the puritan ethic still ruled. In nearly half the stories published during Wright’s Robert Weinberg tenure as editor, evil triumphed over good. Grotesque Chairman horror was commonplace. Sex, while not overly graphic, World Fantasy 1983 was permissable and even included necrophilia and World Fantasy 1983 copyright © 1983 by Weird Tales Ltd. ISBN: 0-934498-09-1 Published by Weird Tales Ltd. (in cooperation with Pulp Press) About Manly Wade Wellman copyright © 1983 by Karl Edward The Cat copyright © 1983 by Gene Wolfe. Wagner. Incorporating material copyright © 1973, 1976 and Willow He Walk copyright © 1983 by Manly Wade Wellman. 1979 by Karl Edward Wagner. Incarnate copyright © 1983 by Ramsey Campbell. Gene Wolfe copyright © 1983 by Algis Budrys. One To Chicago copyright © 1983 by Hugh B. Cave. Rowena Morrill copyright © 1983 by Robert Weinberg The Monster On Hold copyright © 1983 by Philip Jose Farmer. A Profile of Robert Bloch copyright © 1983 by Stephen King. The Black Recalled copyright © 1983 by Brian Lumley. The Searcher After Horror copyright © 1983 by Robert Bloch. Neither Brute Nor Human copyright © 1983 by Karl Edward World of Weird, 1931 -1932 copyright © 1983 by Jack Williamson. Wagner. The Most Popular Stories in Weird Tales 1924 to 1940 copyright © 1983 by Sam Moskowitz. 2 1983 FANTASY CON GUEST OF HONOR ABOUT MANLY WADE WELLMAN by Karl Edward Wagner Manly Wade Wellman was born May 21, 1903 in the From his earliest school years, Wellman had wanted village of Kamundongo in Portuguese West Africa (now to be a writer. Very much a fan of the Dime Novels of known as Angola), where his father was a medical the day, he wrote similar stories of his own and swapped missionary. The second white child born in the area, them with boyhood pals for their old magazines. As is Wellman spoke the native dialect before he learned usually the case, teachers, family and friends did all they English and was adopted as a son by the most powerful could to discourage him. Juvenile efforts were laughed chief of the region. Two childhood visits to Edwardian at and destroyed. Classmates refused to believe that a London may have had some civilizing influence; to be big dumb jock could write and insisted that Wellman sure, they instilled an abiding love of that country, from merely was plagiarizing his stories. Despite their best which his Devonshire ancestors had emigrated to James­ efforts, Wellman met with early success; by 1925 his town in 1630. Wellman’s parents returned to the United poetry was being published, and his stories began to States in time for his sixth birthday, which he celebrated appear in various obscure pulps and magazines, such not long after having watched President Taft’s inaugu­ as Ozark Stories. One of his first sales was the African ration. story, “When the Lion Roared,” which appeared in the When his parents separated, Wellman grew to man­ May 1927 issue of Thrilling Tales. The magazine billed hood living in many parts of the country— Utah, Wellman as “The King of Jungle Fiction” —a phrase his Virginia, Arkansas, Kansas —never staying very long in Columbia classmates turned to “The King of Bungled any one place. He travelled a lot on his own —hopping Diction.” Across another story, written as a prep school freights, on horseback, by car, often just on foot. During assignment, his teacher wrote: “Your work is impossi­ the summers of his school years Wellman scraped along ble!” Farnsworth Wright later thought otherwise, and at various temporary jobs: harvest hand, house painter, bought this story, “Back to the Beast,” for Weird Tales, lumber stacker, cowboy, soda bottler, newspaper work. where it appeared in the November 1927 issue —the first His favorite job was as bouncer in a tough Prohibition- of some fifty stories Wellman was to sell to that Era roadhouse. At a Utah prep school Wellman played magazine. center on the football team; his family felt he lacked In those early years, Wellman relates; “I’d write a piece promise and had no plans to send him to college, but of copy for anybody for anything.” This included articles Wichita University (today Wichita State) wanted him for and filler, often uncredited, for the Macfadden chain of their team and gave Wellman a football scholarship. magazines (Master Detective, True Detective Mysteries, Minus a few teeth, Wellman graduated with a B.A. in etc.), as well as poetry (often used as filler for newspaper 1926; feeling that this small school degree was of little columns), radio scripts, historical pageants, gags for use, he then attended Columbia University in New York, humor magazines, movie reviews, and lyrics for sheet where he received a B. Lit. in 1927. From there Wellman music. All of this was in addition to his newspaper work, returned to Wichita, Kansas to work as a reporter for the which came to an abrupt end in 1930, when a hungover Beacon and later for the Eagle. editor started to cuss out Wellman and Wellman quit on 3 This year Del Rey has got it all... Over 26 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List I8MCASIM0V FOUNDATION’S EDGE fiotfc Four of the classic,