I Won't Live in a World Without Weird!

Scary Books, Kiddies!

Worlds of Weird.  Edited by Stan Margulies.  Third Jove printing, 1978.  Copyright 1965.  Cover art by Virgil Finlay.

 Who’s that girl? Va-va-voom! Who’d’ve thought a batwoman could look so ... alluring?

Ahemm .... the contents are ...

• · “The Forgotten Creator of Weird Tales” · Sam Moskowitz
• · Roads · Seabury Quinn · Weird Tales Jan 1938
• · The Sapphire Goddess · Nictzin Dyalhis · Weird Tales Feb 1934
• · The Valley of the Worm [James Allison] · Robert E. Howard · Weird Tales Feb 1934
• · He That Hath Wings · Edmond Hamilton · Weird Tales Jul 1938
• · Mother of Toads · Clark Ashton Smith · Weird Tales Jul 1938
• · The Thing in the Cellar · David H. Keller, M.D. · Weird Tales Mar 1932
• · Giants in the Sky · Frank Belknap Long · Weird Tales Aug 1939

The first tale, “Roads,” is an unexpected narration of an important event. “He that Hath Wings” is, some might say, a parable about creativity.

Keller’s “The Thing in the Cellar” is a simple, and simply astounding, little tale. It means a lot to me both because, as precocious youngster, I felt ignored and mistreated. Secondly, the house of family friends, the O’Garas, had just an entrance-to-downstairs from their kitchen. After reading this story at about age ten, I could easily locate this scenario at their house, and when visiting for parents’ bridge night, I was definitely uneasy at times.

Typing from memory: “Didn’t you tell me there was nothing there? Down there? In the cellar?”

See you next time, kiddies!