Weird Tales, April 1925

One hundred years ago this month, the enigmatic Nictzin Dyalhis made his debut in the pages of Weird Tales magazine. His story, "When the Green Star Waned," was both the cover story and the lead story. The cover art was by Andrew Brosnatch.

"When the Green Star Waned" is an unusual story. Set in the far future, it tells of men of Venus--or Venhez--who save the men of Earth--or Aerth by their spelling of it--from slavery and oppression at the hands--or tentacles--of alien invaders. This isn't really science fiction but science fantasy, or maybe it should be called weird science. It wasn't the first story of its type: in January 1925, Weird Tales published J. Schlossel's science fantasy or outer space fantasy "Invaders from Outside." But "When the Green Star Waned" struck a nerve in readers. It became the most popular story of 1925 in Weird Tales and the fifth most popular of the period November 1924 to January 1940, with 63 votes in total. As an example of the readers' positive responses, James Godfrey Osgood, Jr., of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, wrote: 

I do not think you have overstated the case one bit when you say that When the Green Star Waned, by Nictzin Dyalhis, is one of the most remarkable stories of its kind which have yet appeared. Indeed, of its peculiar genre it is the best, I have no doubt, and, needless to say, is my choice for the best story in the April number. (From "The Eyrie," June 1925)

Other authors who had their first stories for Weird Tales in the April issue were: Joel Martin Nichols, Jr., James W. Bennett, Donald E. Keyhoe, H. Thompson Rich, Robert E. Ulmer, and Walter G. Detrick. Several other authors had their one and only story in that same issue.

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There are two items from "The Eyrie" that I would like to point out. First is a long quote in the form of a screen shot of the scanned page. I hope you can read it.

For emphasis: "WEIRD TALES plays no favorites." But that was 1925. Things were different ninety-eight years later when the Cosmic Horror Issue, Number 367, was published, for the authors in that issue are friends of the editor. I'll just say, publishing a magazine is not like an Andy Hardy movie. You don't get your friends together to put on a show. It's something more serious than that, and you owe your readers--and the 100-year reputation of your magazine--more than what amounts to just an APAzine.

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The second item was a preview of the May 1925 issue of Weird Tales. The editor wrote: "In addition to Burks, Owen and Quinn, you will have stories by the four big L's--La Spina, Leahy, Long and Lovecraft." We have all heard of the big three in Weird Tales--H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith. This is the first I have heard of the four big L's.

To be continued . . .

Original text copyright 2025 Terence E. Hanley