Weird Tales  

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“Dear sir,

Having a habit of writing weird, macabre and fantastic stories for my own amusement, I have largely been simultaneously hounded by nearly a dozen wellmeaning friends into deciding to submit a few of these Gothic horrors to your newly founded periodical. Enclosed are five tales written between 1917 and 1923.

Of these the first two are probably the best. If they be unsatisfactory, the rest need not be read…

[…]

I have no idea that these things will be found suitable for I pay no attention to the demands of commercial writing. My object is such pleasure as I can obtain from the creation of certain bizarre pictures, situations, or atmospheric effects; and the only reader I hold in mind is myself. My models are invariably the older writers, especially Poe, who has been my favourite literary figure since early childhood. Should any miracle impel you to consider the publication of my tales, I have but one condition to offer and that is that no excisions be made. If the tale cannot be printed as written, down to the very last semicolon and comma, it must gracefully accept rejection. Excision by others is probably one reason why no living American author has a real prose style… but I am probably safe for my MSS are not likely to win your consideration. ‘Dagon’ has been rejected by Black Mask to which I sent it under external compulsion—much as I am sending you the enclosed.”

--manuscript submission by H. P. Lovecraft to Weird Tales in 1923

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Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J.C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre. Edwin Baird was the first editor of the monthly, assisted by Farnsworth Wright.

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