The first two issues of Weird Tales are of a piece. Both are pulp-sized, or approximately 6 by 9 inches. Both contain 192 interior pages. Each has its own unique main title logo (although the logo for issues beginning in August 1925 are similar to that of the April 1923 issue). Neither has interior illustrations, only decorations used as fillers. (The first issue also has a map in Hamilton Craigie's story "The Chain.") The cover of the second issue, like that of the first, is a two-color image. The cover art for the first issue was created by Richard R. Epperly. It was his only cover for "The Unique Magazine." The cover artist for the second, R.M. Mally, returned for several more issues. In fact, half of the covers published in 1923--four out of eight--were his.
There are twenty-one stories, plus seven non-fiction fillers, plus "The Eyrie" in the issue of April 1923. Returning authors were Hamilton Craigie, Harold Ward, Farnsworth Wright, Anthony M. Rud, Julian Kilman, and, with the conclusion of the first serial in Weird Tales, Otis Adelbert Kline. Rud actually had two stories in the second issue, "A Square of Canvas" under his own byline and "The Forty Jars" as by Ray McGillivray. There was one woman author in the second issue. She was Myrtle Levy Gaylord. There was also an author named Laurie McClintock, but that person might have been a man. For some reason, I guess because of its brevity, Myrtle Levy Gaylord's story is not listed in the table of contents. No, that's not an instance of men's trying to erase or silence women, so don't even start.
As far as I can tell, there were two pseudonymous authors in the second issue, Anthony M. Rud writing as Ray McGillivray and Seymour Cunningham Chunn writing as Culpeper Chunn. There weren't any anonymous authors except for in the non-fiction fillers. It's probably still safe to assume that Otis Adelbert Kline wrote those items. The identities of most of the authors are known. The identities of certain others are questionable, but I have what I think are good candidates for each. Those authors will appear in part three of this miniseries.
I have written before about many of the authors who were in the second issue. They are, in order of their appearance in the magazine:
- Anton M. Oliver (1888-1977?)
- Hamilton Craigie (1880-1956)
- Harold Ward (1879-1950)
- Artemus Calloway (1883-1948)
- Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940)
- Anthony M. Rud aka Ray McGillivray (1893-1942)
- Julian Kilman (1878-1954)
- Myrtle Levy Gaylord (1895-1960)
- Francis D. Grierson (1888-1972)
- Otis Adelbert Kline (1891-1946)
- Harry Irving Shumway (1883-1974)
Click on their names for links.
Next: New Authors.
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Weird Tales, April 1923, with cover art by R.M. Mally and a cover story, "The Whispering Thing," by Laurie McClintock and Culpeper Chunn. |
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