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Weird Tales September 1923
Facsimile reprint of the sixth issue of Weird Tales pulp magazine from September 1923, containing 14 stories, two serial chapters, poetry, and editorial material.
- GenresHorror
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1923
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 18, 2023
For once, we get an issue that isn't made primarily of crime stories. Unfortunately, the average quality hasn't really improved, but at least it's something.
The People of the Comet - First part of a serial. A scientist encounters a pair of people who are apparently the last survivors of a prehistoric, technologically advanced civilization. You can tell that the author was paid by the word by the way it takes forever to get anywhere and constantly restates the same information over and over again. So dull that I'm dreading having to read the next part.
The Black Patch - A man travels to a remote town to deliver part of an inheritance to a cousin he has never met. While at the man's house, he hears strange cries in the night and hears of how the cousin lost an eye during an experiment. Unfortunately, the mad science aspects are essentially a red herring and the story comes to a rather weak and mundane conclusion.
The Soul of Peter Andrus - A man studies the occult while traveling in India. When he returns, he uses what he learned to take revenge on a man who seduced (and possibly murdered/drove to suicide? I'm not really sure what that part was supposed to imply) the woman he was engaged to. Despite the supernatural element, this is more of a melodrama than a horror story.
The Case of Doctor Johnstone - A doctor, in an attempt to prove the existence of the soul, swaps bodies with an ape. Amusing for reasons likely not intended by the author.
The Dead-Naming of Lukapehu - A fisherman in Hawaii refuses to give a portion of his catch to a man reputed to be a sorcerer, so the sorcerer puts a curse on him. More of an anecdote than a story.
The Cup of Blood - Two men on a walking tour of Scotland spend the night in a haunted castle, where they uncover a secret chamber and solve the mystery of what really happened there centuries before. Nothing outstanding, but at least its somewhat more interesting in its subject matter than the stories preceding it.
Black Magic - An article on Gilles de Rais.
The Devil's Cabin - A cabin in the jungle is believed to be haunted by a devil. A man spends the night there, where he is attacked by something in the dark. The explanation given in the end is weak.
The Old Burying Ground - A railroad construction crew is plagued by odd incidents after disturbing a Native American graveyard. Unremarkable.
Sunfire - Second half of a serial about a lost pyramid inhabited by a giant centipede. Weaker than the first part, with some disappointingly mundane resolutions to some of its mysteries, but still the highlight of the issue.
The Gorilla - A terrified man, a collector of exotic animals, takes refuge in the narrator's house, claiming to be pursued by a vengeful gorilla. There are a lot of stories about apes in this issue.
The Talisman - A woman visiting Japan is gifted a talisman that later seems to save her from an accident.
The Autobiography of a Blue Ghost - After dying, a man has various misadventures that are presumably meant to be humorous. Terrible and entirely devoid of comedy, no matter how hard it tries to be funny; probably the worst thing in the issue.
The Damned Thing - Classic reprint about an invisible monster.
The Teak-Wood Shrine - An intricately carved box holds a dark secret within, one which drives anyone who opens it mad. The box is passed from owner to owner, most of whom succumb to what lurks within. Basically filler, but slightly more interesting filler than most.
The Money Lender - A short, non-weird piece about a debt-ridden man and a money-lender. Pointless filler.
The Bloodstained Parasol - A vivisectionist goes mad and is confined to an asylum. As far as the numerous stories of asylum inmates the magazine has published go, this is one of the stronger ones.
The People of the Comet - First part of a serial. A scientist encounters a pair of people who are apparently the last survivors of a prehistoric, technologically advanced civilization. You can tell that the author was paid by the word by the way it takes forever to get anywhere and constantly restates the same information over and over again. So dull that I'm dreading having to read the next part.
The Black Patch - A man travels to a remote town to deliver part of an inheritance to a cousin he has never met. While at the man's house, he hears strange cries in the night and hears of how the cousin lost an eye during an experiment. Unfortunately, the mad science aspects are essentially a red herring and the story comes to a rather weak and mundane conclusion.
The Soul of Peter Andrus - A man studies the occult while traveling in India. When he returns, he uses what he learned to take revenge on a man who seduced (and possibly murdered/drove to suicide? I'm not really sure what that part was supposed to imply) the woman he was engaged to. Despite the supernatural element, this is more of a melodrama than a horror story.
The Case of Doctor Johnstone - A doctor, in an attempt to prove the existence of the soul, swaps bodies with an ape. Amusing for reasons likely not intended by the author.
The Dead-Naming of Lukapehu - A fisherman in Hawaii refuses to give a portion of his catch to a man reputed to be a sorcerer, so the sorcerer puts a curse on him. More of an anecdote than a story.
The Cup of Blood - Two men on a walking tour of Scotland spend the night in a haunted castle, where they uncover a secret chamber and solve the mystery of what really happened there centuries before. Nothing outstanding, but at least its somewhat more interesting in its subject matter than the stories preceding it.
Black Magic - An article on Gilles de Rais.
The Devil's Cabin - A cabin in the jungle is believed to be haunted by a devil. A man spends the night there, where he is attacked by something in the dark. The explanation given in the end is weak.
The Old Burying Ground - A railroad construction crew is plagued by odd incidents after disturbing a Native American graveyard. Unremarkable.
Sunfire - Second half of a serial about a lost pyramid inhabited by a giant centipede. Weaker than the first part, with some disappointingly mundane resolutions to some of its mysteries, but still the highlight of the issue.
The Gorilla - A terrified man, a collector of exotic animals, takes refuge in the narrator's house, claiming to be pursued by a vengeful gorilla. There are a lot of stories about apes in this issue.
The Talisman - A woman visiting Japan is gifted a talisman that later seems to save her from an accident.
The Autobiography of a Blue Ghost - After dying, a man has various misadventures that are presumably meant to be humorous. Terrible and entirely devoid of comedy, no matter how hard it tries to be funny; probably the worst thing in the issue.
The Damned Thing - Classic reprint about an invisible monster.
The Teak-Wood Shrine - An intricately carved box holds a dark secret within, one which drives anyone who opens it mad. The box is passed from owner to owner, most of whom succumb to what lurks within. Basically filler, but slightly more interesting filler than most.
The Money Lender - A short, non-weird piece about a debt-ridden man and a money-lender. Pointless filler.
The Bloodstained Parasol - A vivisectionist goes mad and is confined to an asylum. As far as the numerous stories of asylum inmates the magazine has published go, this is one of the stronger ones.
March 19, 2017
I underestimated what a struggle it would be to read all these early issues of The Unique Magazine. This one may be the worst yet, with one story after another that is in no sense of the word "weird." The highlights, such as they are, are the second half of the serial "Sunfire," spoiled by the denouement when we find that the diaphonously clad priestess tangoing with the giant centipede is actually a dazed aviatrix, and a genuinely uneasy story by James Ravenscroft called "The Bloody Parasol," about a man who loses his lover and his sanity when she finds him vivisecting a dog. that one is plenty weird. Hope rises in the letters column though where reader H.P. Lovecraft humbly asks for consideration of his stories and editor Baird assures us one will be printed the very next issue!
Awful stories aside, the facsimile presentation is excellent.
Awful stories aside, the facsimile presentation is excellent.
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December 24, 2024"The Dead-Naming of Lukapehu" by R.D. Gog: ⭐️⭐️⭐️: Dead naming wasn't a hate crime in 1923. In fact, it had a whole different meaning.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews