Weird Tales at Eighty-Five

By 2003, Weird Tales seems to have become aware of its own history. In every five-year period since then there has been an observance of an anniversary, except in 2018 when the magazine wasn't in print. And now I find that there's a word for a five-year period. It's called a quinquennial.

From the sixty-fifth anniversary issue of Spring 1988 until the spring of 2007, Darrell Schweitzer served as editor or co-editor of Weird Tales. Sometimes John Gregory Betancourt and George H. Scithers were involved, too. The last issue for their crew was dated February-March 2007. That was also the last issue for a while with the classic Weird Tales main title logo.

With the April-May issue of 2007, Stephen H. Segal took over as editor. With him came a new main title design and a new aesthetic in terms of the design, illustration, themes, mood, and general look of the cover. I think that was a tipoff that things had changed with the formerly unique magazine.

In March 2008, Weird Tales published its eighty-fifth anniversary issue. The cover feature is "The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years," written by numerous authors. There is also an introductory essay by the new editor, Ann VanderMeer, called "Onward to the Next 85 Years." She had taken over as editor with the November-December issue of 2007, so Mr. Segal was not the editor for very many issues after all.

There are also closing essays in the eighty-fifth-anniversary issue. These are "Old Weird," by Stephen H. Segal, and "New Weird," by an unnamed author. In another essay, representing the "old weird" I guess, is an essay on H.P. Lovecraft by Kenneth Hite. And I guess China Miéville, in an interview with Jeff VanderMeer, represented what people back in the old days called "the new weird." The interview is entitled "China Miéville: Capitalizing Weird." I think the title is supposed to be ironic considering that Mr. Miéville is a Marxist, or plays at being a Marxist, depending on how you look at it.

The cover art (below) is by Newel Anderson.

Text copyright 2024 Terence E. Hanley