SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE DEAD MAN'S TALE

 "The Dead Man's Tale" by Willard E. Hawkins  (from Weird Tales, March 1923; reprinted as a 
"Weird Story Reprint" in Weird Tales, July 1934; reprinted in Fantastic and Weird Classics #1, April 2023, which reprinted the entire contents of the March 1923 issue of Weird Tales)

A curiosity.  The very first story from the very first issue of Weird Tales.

The narrator is a ghost calling himself Richard Devaney, a man who died in the second battle of the Marne on July 24, 1918.  Seconds before Devaney was killed he was about to murder his bitter enemy and fellow soldier Louis Winston; just as he was about to pull the trigger of his rifle to end Winston's life, a German bullet ended his.  When Devaney became aware again he spotted his arch enemy Winston kneeling over the body of a soldier and weeping incoherently.  Devaney aimed his rifle at Winston and...nothing happened.  He then swung his rifle to bludgeon his foe and... nothing happened.  then he recognized that the body Winston was weeping over was his own.  Winston lived and Devaney was dead.

Winston had been a rival for the affections of Velma Ross. and. to Devaney's mind, had won, thus the hatred and thus the attempt on Winston's life.  Winston was also wounded by a German bullet, which had pierced his leg.  He spent time in a military hospital watched over by Delaney, who remained desperate to find a way to avenge himself on his living rival.  It turned out that Winston truly believed the Delany had the upper hand for Velma's love.  With Devaney's death, Winston's path to Velma was cleared.  Over the weeks of observing Winston in  the hospital Delaney realized that he had some -- a very little -- psychic control of Winston.  Perhaps, then, there was a way to get his vengeance on Winston.  And perhaps there was a way he could get Velma  if she died and also became a ghost...

One interesting part of this story is the framing device -- a short paragraph stating that the tale was found in the papers of "psychical investigator" Dr. John  Pendric, who presumably received the story through automatic writing.  Weird Tales historian Terence E. Henley notes that this makes "The Dead Man's Tale" the first of many stories of occult investigators to be published in the magazine.  Henley also mentions that the author has written he based the story on Stevenson's Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

This was the only story Hawkins (1887-1970) published in Weird Tales.  Hawkins was an author who is credited with 61 story and one novel in the FictionMags index, the vast majority of them in the wesstern field.  His most popular short story appears to have been "The Dwindling Sphere" (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1940), which has been reprinted in anthologies by Laurence Janifer, Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg, and Hank Davis.  Hawkins was also a newspaper editor and, with David Raffelock, the editor of The Author and Journalist;  Hawkins and Raffelock also offered "a simplified training course in short story writing," leading Henley to wonder whether Weird Tales editor Edwin Baird  had contacted various writing school around the country, seeking submissions from their students.

Weird Tales billed itself a "the unique magazine," and has lately been called "the magazine that would not die."  Perhaps a better phrase would be "the magazine that kept on dying."  From March 1923 to May 1924, it was published by The Rural Publishing Corp of Chicago and was edited by Edwin Baird (well, almost -- Baird may or may not have edited Rural's final issue).  Six months later it started again, and from November 1924 to October 1938, it was published by Popular Fiction and was edited by Farnsworth Wright   It was then published by Weird Tales, Inc,, a subsidiary of Short Stories, Inc., from November 1938 to September 1934, with Wright remaining as editor through March 1940, then replaced by Dorothy McIlwraith.  Then  it died a second and much longer death.

The magazine shifted its focus over the 279 issues published over this period.  At first it covered, supernatural, horror and science fiction stories, occasionally touching on other genres, and slowly it became the premiere magazine of supernatural tales.  (I say the premiere magazine, but it was basically the only game in town for a number of years, outside of the terror pulps, which were an entirely different kettle of fish.  The magazine had a reputation for low and slow pay for its authors, but it was a receptive market and many authors could not overlook that,

Weird Tales sprang to life many times since then, beginning in 1973.  Reknown Publications, under the editorship of science fiction historian Dam Moskowitz, put out four issues ending with the Summer 1974 issue.  Then it died.  Again.  In the Spring of 1981, Kensington Publications brought out four issues in paperback from through the summer of 1984 under the editorship of author, editor, and fanboy Lin Carter.  Then it died.  This time its demise lasted just over a year, because it arose again in the Fall of 1984 under the editorship of Gil Lamont & Gordon Garb and lasted until the Winter of 1985, but lasted only two issues from their Belleraphon Network, Inc. publishing company.  I believe there had been some question of the ownership of the title.  After that, Terminus Publishing began issuing their version of Weird Tales, which ran from issue #290 (Spring, 1988) to issue #308 (Spring 1994) before Terminus lost claim to the title Weird Tales and changed the name of the magazine to Worlds of Fantasy and Horror for four issues (ending with Winter 1996-1997) before dying, once again.  DNA Publications took over the title and reclaimed the Weird Tales name with the Summer 1998 issue and ran it until December 2004.  Then the magazine fell to Wildside Press, which published it from May 2005 to Summer 2011.  Darryl Schweitzer was the magazine's editor over several of these incarnations, from Winter 1985 until December 2006; Stephen H. Segal took over as editor in 2007; and Ann VanderMeer edited the magazine from January 2008 to the Fall 2012 issue.  Nth Dimension media became the publisher from the 'winter 2012 to the Spring 2014 issues,, with Marvin Kaye as editor.  And then it died. AGAIN!  Kaye was the first editor (for one issue only) when the magazine was revived by Weird Tales, Inc. in August 2019, after which Jonathan Maberry became the editor.  This incarnation may still be ongoing.  The last dated issue was for January 2025, but the magazine's publication has been spotty, to say the least.  (Please note that this details were culled the best I could from the FictionMags Index, which has provided some contradictory information.)