4/23/26

If you subscribed to the zine and your first name begins with A through C then your copy should have either already arrived or is on the way. Over the next two days, I’ll work on folks whose first names begin with D and E.

Keeping this short because today is a busy day — I have to move a couch and a recliner for my wife, mow a yard for my ex-wife, work on two different writing projects, make a post office run, and prep Vortex orders and more copies of the zine for shipping tomorrow.

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You may remember that last year I edited an anthology called FOUR PAST MEAT NIGHT which featured four novella by Gemma Amor, Laurel Hightower, R.J. Joseph, and Hailey Piper. After fulfilling all of the orders, pandi press has a few copies left — like, less than a dozen — available for just $18. Click here to snag one while supplies last.

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Women In Horror Year: Day 20

The Women of Weird Tales compiled by Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger

Hardcover - Paperback - eBook - Audiobook

Launched in 1923, the pulp magazine Weird Tales quickly became one of the most important outlets for horror and fantasy fiction and is often associated with writers like H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert Bloch, all of whose work appeared in its pages. But often overlooked is the fact that much of Weird Tales' content was by women writers, some of whom numbered among the magazine's most popular contributors.

This volume includes thirteen fantastic tales originally published between 1925 and 1949, written by four of Weird Tales' most prolific female contributors: Greye La Spina, Everil Worrell, Mary Elizabeth Counselman and Eli Colter. Ranging from science fiction to fantasy to horror, these classic tales of mad scientists, deadly curses, ghosts, vampires, and the risen dead remain as thrilling and sensational as when first published.

I had intended to write about Mary Elizabeth Counselman’s Half In Shadow this week, but it’s out of print, so I’m going to save it for later and instead, move this anthology, which I intended to write about next week, to the forefront for today.

When readers think of Weird Tales, they probably first think of H.P. Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard. Some might think of Robert Bloch. Those with a taste for the antiquarian or, as John Pelan used to call it, “that cool old stuff” might think of Otis Adelbert Kline, Seabury Quinn, Frank Belknap Long, or E. Hoffman Price. They might remember that Tennesee Williams sold his first story to the magazine. But what often gets forgotten is that a lot of women graced those pulp pages, including the aforementioned Mary Elizabeth Counselman.

This book is the first volume in the Moster She Wrote imprint at Valancourt Books. The imprint is selected and edited by Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger. Melanie and Lisa have become my go-to pairing for discussion and writing of the history of horror fiction. The two do a wonderful job of filling the hole left by scholars such as Karl Edward Wagner, J.F. Gonzalez, and the aforementioned John Pelan. And that’s no shade against any other academic currently writing about such fare. But Melanie and Lisa have a knack for focusing on authors who still haven’t gotten their deserved accolades or retrospective — particularly women — and writing about them in a way that’s fresh and vibrant and engaging. This isn’t your mother’s academia, in other words. (I deeply wish J.F. Gonzalez had lived long enough to meet the two of them, because I speak with some authority when I say he would have been their number one fan).

The Women of Weird Tales is exactly what it says in the title — a sampling of some of the best stories by some of the best female writers to have ever graced the pages of the venerable magazine. Highly recommended, as is the entire Monster She Wrote imprint. Available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook from Valancourt Books.