Weird Sisters: Tales from the Queens of the Pulp Era

by Mike Ashley (Editor)

It is natural, especially at her age, that she should crave, need meat. When I am a little better I will go out and set traps, as I used to do as a boy... We must give her meat; she has done a great deal for us. Springing forth from the heyday of Weird Tales magazine and its contemporaries comes a new anthology of fifteen uncanny tales—classics and rarities penned by the women writers whose weird imaginings defined the pulp era. Featuring an introduction and biographical notes by veteran editor Mike Ashley, this collection offers ghostly thrills, shapeshifting horrors and monstrous coming-of-age narratives from Weird Tales stalwarts such as Mary Elizabeth Counselman alongside more surprising authors such as Lucy M. Montgomery. This new selection also includes a 1990s classic by Tanith Lee, the queen of Weird Tales magazine’s revival era, and a recently rediscovered gem of mythical horror by Evangeline Walton.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Fiction, Weird Fiction, Short Stories, Ghosts

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2025

About the author

Michael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.

Reviews

[p. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5☆

Lowkey hit after hit. Though I will have to trust in the editor that there really is a common theme of writing about / from the point of view of children as, yes, this is evident in the works presented but I am not familiar with the full oeuvre of each author.

Favourite entries: "The Withered Heart" by G. G. Pendarves, "Leonora" by Everil Worrell, "Daemon" by C. L. Moore, "Forbidden Cupboard" by Frances Garfield, "The Underbody" by Allison V. Harding, "The Crying Child" by Dorothea Gibbons

[Chiara Rizzarda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a collection of short stories, they're dishomogeneous in tone and quality, as you might expect, and things didn't start off very well with La Spina's Rat Master, because it's one of those horror stories that grab you and shake you and claim you should be scared by telling how scared you should be and shoving supposedly scary stuff under your nose, except I'm not eight years old anymore. Luckily, it was literally the only story of the collection with this attitude.

"The Withered Heart" by G.G. Pendarves and "Foxy's Hollow" by L.B. Drake were very nice for their endings (particularly the plot twist in the latter), and I enjoyed the unusual setting of E. Walton's "They That Have Wings". The main character of M. St.Clair's "Brenda" was absolutely adorable, right down to the final plot twist, and A.V. Hardin's "The Underbody" was chilly as hell. But the first place goes to C.L. Moore's "Daemon", I think: it's more fantasy than horror, it has a devilish Captain and works marvellously around the idea of woodland spirits being unable to co-exist with people as long as they have a soul, stuffing Pan and his well-earned panic into the picture.

[Tom De Ville · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of so-so stories in this collection, but also a handful of absolute crackers - particularly The Underbody by Allison V. Harding and Brenda by Margaret St. Clair.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having already read the slightly disappointing Queens of the Abyss, I'd lowered my expectations for this one - but joyfully it offered everything the previous women of the weird anthology lacked.

There are some truly excellent authors and original stories in this one. The big stand out is C.L Moore's Daemon - which felt to me like the inspiration behind Pullman's whole Daemon concept in Northern lights - while the protagonist here isn't a child, he is an innocent.

Other really good stories: Greye La Spina's 'The Rat Master', G.G. Pendarves' 'The withered heart', Dorothy Quick's 'More than Shadow', Allison V. Harding's take on the Pied Piper trope 'The Underbody' with it's mysterious 'Mole man', Margaret St' Clair's 'Brenda' and Evangeline Walton's take on harpies with 'They that have wings;

Anne of Green Gables author L.M Montgomery gives us a simple but effective ghost story 'The House Party on Smoky Island', and there's a nice sting in the tale were-fox tale with Leah Bodine Drake's 'Foxy's Hollow'

While it's not one of her best, I should also mention Tanith Lee's lesbian vampire tale 'Mirror, Mirror' - Lee's descriptive prose is second to none, and even her middling stories still manage to delight and surprise:

'Her lips were the pale pink of a faded sugared almond kept in the dark'

What I particularly liked about this anthology was the variety - there's ghosts, vampires, harpies, were-rats and were-foxes, evil sorcerers, fairy folk and even what may be an alien. Being tales from the pulp era was nice as well, it's refreshing to step out of the Victorian mindset for once and look at some later weird fiction.

[LayDownYourSoul · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It is natural, especially at her age, that she should crave, need meat... We must give her meat; she has done a great deal for us"

Spooky and very very fun.

Really enjoyed this read, probably my favourite of the more recent BL Tales of the Weird. This did seem to capture a very pulpy energy to me in a great way. And I think all or most of these authors may be new to me, a lot of them I'll be checking out more of (especially keen to read more Tanith Lee!).

Favourite stories were probably:
- The Underbody (verrry creepy story, "Mr Mole" was a great character)
- Mirror, Mirror (fun and powerful story with an emotional ending and great characters)
- The Withered Heart (really cool weird horror, loved the image of the carved warning that has faded and become unreadable)
- They That Have Wings (cool plot and format with an occasionally unreliable narrator)
- The Crying Child (loved the ending)
- Foxy's Hollow (really fun, dark fairy-tale with a super fun twist)
- Leonora (very compulsively readable with a nice frame narrative)
- The Rat Master (great start, a very fun atmospheric adventure story)

Also enjoyed the biographic information and the mystery around the identity of several of these authors - possible connections to other pen names, potentially being multiple people etc.

"I've never wanted to believe these sorts of tales but the war taught me something - about things you can't account for"

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possibly the best, most well-rounded of the British Library tales of the weird I’ve read so far. Showcasing the work of 15 women writers from the early to late 20th century, all of which published in the classic pulp magazines (something I’d love the collect physical copies of as they look awesome). The stories have such an interesting range to them but my favourites were ‘Daemon’ by C L Moore, a tale involving Ancient Greek gods and nymphs, supplanted by the onset of Christianity, ‘they that have wings’ by Evangeline Walton, a tale considered too gory at the time for weird tales, and ‘the withered heart’ by G G Pendarves which is a classic cautionary tale of witchcraft and necromancy. I’d rate all the stories as at least 3 stars, with most being 4, and some reaching the heights of 5. Excellent stuff and a perfect holiday read.

[Lily Worfolk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend reading weird fairytales and folklore as an adult, especially before falling asleep because you have some wild dreams..
To be honest i can’t really remember the plots of half of these stories but they get you in a trance like state and then the next day when you’re going about your life something from them will fleetingly pop into your head.
So if you want deep, perspective shifting stories.. maybe not? But if you want some escapism and to keep your imagination alive then id give it a go.

[Michael John Paul McManus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant anthology of weird tales edited by Mike Ashley for the British Library of the Weird. Great stories that will keep you reading, fave story amongst them all was They That Have Wings by Evangeline Walton, quite gory in places but an excellent story. Weird Sisters: Tales from the Queens of the Pulp Era is well worth reading. 10/10 rating.

[Denny · Rating 3 out of 5]

C l moore, tanith lee the two best.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A curious and creepy selection of stories that are reasonably consistent in their quality - unsettling and weird, if not entirely horrific.