The War of the Worlds and Halloween!

 The War of the Worlds and Halloween:
Two great tastes that taste great together!

One of the few things that I love as much  Halloween is H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.

I can't quite remember when I first became aware of those far flung Martian cylinders that were filled to the brim with towering tripods that dealt death and destruction as they spewed heat rays and poison gas across the width and breadth  the Victorian  British country side. But I can honestly tell you that I became aware of the Martian invaders at an extremely young age.

One if my earliest memories is from when we were still living in Newcomers Town Ohio. I clearly remember sitting on the sofa watching that unfortunate trio waving a flour sack that they had tied to a shovel handle in an effort to make friends with the passengers of he crashed Martian carrying meteor.  Watching them get reduced to a pile of human shaped ash scared the living shit out of me. It won't surprise me in the least if I die a few years earlier because of it.

Jump ahead a few years to what must have been Halloween 1969. We were living in Newark Ohio by then and "Nerk" had an odd tradition. Beggars Night was always on the 30th and not on the 31st like you think it would have been.  It could have been that the town's fathers knew something that us kids didn't, and had decided that it was safer for us to be off the streets on that most special night of nights instead of wandering around in our fireproofed nylon costumes with those sweaty masks. The masks that had the too tiny eyeholes and were held on by a fragile rubber band.

These guys are toast!

I told'ya so!

Jump ahead a few years to what must have been Halloween 1969. We were living in Newark Ohio by then and "Nerk" had an odd tradition. Beggars Night was always on the 30th and not on the 31t like you think it would have been.  It could have been that the town's fathers knew something that us kids didn't, and had decided that it was safer for us to be off the streets on that most special night of nights instead of wandering around in our fireproofed nylon costumes with those sweaty masks. The masks that had the too tiny eyeholes and were held on by a fragile rubber band.

It turned out that this odd system wasn't as bad as it sounded. WCLT, one of the local FM radio stations always broadcast a "Halloween Radio Spooktacular". Yes, they actually called it that. And this was a wondrous thing indeed! 5 hours of old time radio horror shows such as "Lights Out" and "The Inner Sanctum" to name a few. And it always culminated with a replay of Orson Wells' Mercury Theater production of "The War of the Worlds".

Now I already understood by then that this was the same story that I had seen on TV with that unfortunate trio cum ash pile. I didn't know about the tripods though! That changed everything!

Hearing that faux reporter describing the massive three legged war machine rising from the pit created by the falling cylinder set my brain of fire.

I was enthralled by the entire episode even though the switch in the middle to a normal radio drama format was a disappointment. I still loved it. The announcer describing the  mass of black poison gas making it's way across Manhattan are it steadily approached the studio almost pushed over the edge in a rush of ecstatic horror. I can still remember running down stairs and looking out onto the front porch to make sure that the poison gas wasn't flowing up the front steps. Even though I knew that the broadcast was decades old and fake, I figured that you couldn't play it too safe with stuff as serious as Martian poison gas.

                               I can still smell the poison gas lapping against our front porch steps!

                                          Ordered from the back of Famous Monsters!

     It wasn't much later when I discovered the "Classics Illustrated" edition of The War of the Worlds.

     I probably read the damn thing to pieces within a few weeks and set about on my quest for to find the actual novel.

Classics Illustrated #124 feed the flames of my Obsession!

I can't remember how long it took, but I began scouring every paperback rack that I came within reach of with a passion. that crossed over into obsession. I couldn't talk about anything else. I must have drawn scores of flame throwing tripods in Mrs. Gerlach's third grade class. This moved her to making the comment to my parents that I was a peculiar child.  It must have taken a few months, but I finally came across the "Berkley Premier" edition of  "The Time Machine & The War of the Worlds".

 This edition was  sold under the banner "Isaac Asimov Presents".  Back then, I hadn't the foggiest notion who or what an Isaac Asimov was.  This edition also sported one of those trademark abstract Paul Lehr covers. A cover that, even after almost 45 years, I have never tired of looking at. 

Anyways, The War of the Worlds is a novel that I return to every few years.  And even though it's Science Fiction with a massive dose of  not so subtle social commentary, I feel that what with  masses of people being burnt, scalded, crushed alive, plus having their blood drained by lipless octopoid Martians, that it qualifies as horror. And this is why it has become an integral part of my Halloween.

I'm going to cut this short. It's the 30th and I need to get my Pumpkins carved!

So take care, thanks for topping by, and don't let those ghosties, ghoulies and long leggedy beasties get you!

Doug

My May 1964 Berkley edition with a nice Paul Lehr cover.

 May 1964 Berkley rear cover.

My 1964 Airmont edition with uncredited cover art. 

This is the only cover that I know of where the Martian flying machines are also included. 

The Airmonts were known for being the editions sold by Captain Company in the ads at the back of Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Aimont 1964 edition rear cover.

Two pages of Paperback ads from the back of Famous monsters with th airmont editions.

 My copy of the 1968 Fawcett Premier edition with another stunning Paul Lehr cover. 

This is it!

This is the first book that I ever purchased with my own money!

I can look at this cover for hours and never get tired of it.

The 1968 Fawcett Premier rear cover.

 My August 1968 Scholastic edition 3rd printing.

I'll never get tired of saying this, but God bless the Scholastic Book club!

The back of the 1968 Scholastic edition.

 My 1964 Whitman Hardback.

 I know, not a paperback. 

But I love this edition dearly and will never ever forgive Mike Franga for not loaning me his copy back in Mrs. Gerlach's third grade class at Johnny Clem Elementary School in 1971! 

An Appreciation of August Derleth on His Birthday

(Here is a piece I wrote last year for "Weird Tales" now defunct website.)

I Wrote to a few authors associated with August Derleth stating  my intention in writing an appreciation of Mr. Derleth in honor of his 106th birthday . I then asked them whether they would be so kind as to make a statement regarding their  own thoughts on the man.

Here is an email reply that  I received from Mr. Brian Lumley regarding August Derleth.

Dear Mr. Draa – in answer to yours of 7 Feb. 2014:

No one would ever reasonably dispute the fact that August Derleth – a wonderful author in his own “write,” not to mention an accomplished editor and a shrewd and immensely knowledgeable publisher of weird fiction – was the most influential member of the original Lovecraft Circle and the greatest “fan” and constant champion of the peerless H. P. Lovecraft. Derleth’s now famous Arkham House publishing concern, whose distinctive black-bound hardcover books would come to be recognized as standing among the most collectible of their like in the English speaking 20th Century world, ensured Lovecraft’s continuity and indeed that of his “Mythos,” in the wake of an era when the authors of strange tales enjoyed few outlets for their work and who, with the demise of the so-called “pulp magazines” where much of it was published, were in the main forgotten…

But due initially (albeit posthumously) entirely to the efforts of his champion, H.P.L. was never in danger of being forgotten; Derleth published not only his entire body of fiction but also five volumes of his letters to fans, devotees and established authors of like talents and persuasions: a huge task for any man, but a labour of love for August Derleth. H.P.L., however, superb author as he was, was not alone in Derleth’s affections; he shared space with an entire panoply of dark stars in the stellar nursery that was Arkham House. Such names as Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, A. E. van Vogt, Ray Bradbury and others: a seemingly endless list of luminaries, were also given additional prominence by Derleth’s publishing genius…

 And a reply from David Drake..

August Derleth read and critiqued my first submitted story. He read my rewrite and critiqued that. Finally he bought my second rewrite, saying it still wasn’t right but he’d edit it himself.

            Mr Derleth wasn’t gentle, but he spent time on me for no reason but basic kindness to a wannabe writer. I may not owe him the fact that I became a successful writer–but there’s no one to whom I owe more.

 Dave Drake

Today, the 24th of February, is August Derleth’s 106th birthday. Now a 106th birthday isn’t nearly s special, as say, a 100th Birthday. It will have to do though, being that I’m five years to late on this. One of the reasons for writing this is naturally Mr. Derleth’s association with the original incarnation of Weird Tales Magazine. That’s not my main reason though.

I’ll explain. A few months ago I stumbled across an online petition to have H. P. Lovecraft’s name removed from the Carroll @ Graff  editions of  The Lurker at the Threshold and The Watchers out of Time.  At first glance I thought that the petition’s creator simply wanted  Lovecraft’s named removed  from the titles simply because  they were some of Mr. Derleth’s infamous “posthumous collaborations” with Mr. Lovecraft. Upon rereading the petition I realized that the petitioner’s ire wasn’t with Mr. Derleth per se, but with Carroll & Graff’s misleading marketing of the two books. The front covers contained Mr. Lovecraft’s name alone, with no mention of Mr. Derleth’s “co-authorship”. I’ll admit that I agree with this wholeheartedly, since it has to be an intentional deception. But I agree only up to a point though. I’ll explain why at the end of the Appreciation. I then went on to read some of the comments made by the petition signers. Sadly, the more I read, the angrier I became. Here are a few comments……

You are dragging Lovecraft’s name in the dirt!

An outrage for all us Lovecraftians….

Slap the marketing weasels and pull Derleth off of Lovecraft’s coattails.

this is bullshit… down with derleth

stop Derleth’s bad influence, and “Cthulhu mythos” falsity!

MUTHA FUCK THEM RAT-BASTARDS TRYING TO REMOVE HOWIE’S NAME OFF THE BOOKS.IF IT WASN’T FOR LOVECRAFT,AUGUST WOULD BE NOTHING AND NEITHER WOULD CARROLL&GRAF.

Derleth is mooching on Lovecraft’s good name!

Those are from the first 10 pages. This stuff then goes on for  another 49!

I honestly understand the confusion and anger, but only to a point. What bothered me was this generalized kind of “hater’s” mentality. It makes me despair that so-called fans and admirers know so little about August Derleth and his contributions to the genre. This goes to show that sometimes those who scream the loudest are the ones who know the least (And for God’s sake! I’m not talking about you Mr. Joshi!)

Now let me say up front that I am neither a scholar nor am I the most deeply insightful of men,  I am simply a fan. I do believe though that only those who are poorly informed about what they claim to love so dearly would try to judge Mr. Derleth’s stature solely based on 15 short stories and one novel. The sum of the man is so much greater than the parts. And some of the parts are pretty damned amazing.

I’ve known for years that Mr. Derleth never considered his genre writing to be his primary or best work. He reserved this opinion for his historical and regional writings. His Sac Prairie Saga was what he believed to be his to be his greatest achievement. Now what I didn't know was that Mr. Derleth was awarded, because of the first volume of his Saga, a highly prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship under the sponsorship of Edgar Lee Masers and Sinclair Lewis.

Now this alone gives the man some serious literary street cred. Another thing that many fans don’t realize is that Mr. Derleth is seriously considered to be a pioneer in Conservationism and Environmentalism.  So you see, we already have a man who is so much more than merely some hack riding upon another author’s coattails.

As an author of weird fiction Mr. Derleth ranged from mediocre at his worst to exceptional at his best. He even once stated that many of his stories that appeared in Weird Tales were simply filler material. He still managed though to write some genuine genre classics with such tales as The House of Magnolias (1932), The Thing that Walked on the Wind (1933), Drifting Snow (1939), The Lonesome Place (1941) and Who Shall I say is Calling? (1952). Now this is purely subjective, but I consider The Drifting Snow and The Lonesome Place to be two of the best horror tales to ever see print.

The greatest debt we owe Mr. Derleth is that he quite likely saved H. P. Lovecraft from obscurity by co-founding Arkham House publishing along side Donald Wandrei for the express purpose of preserving Mr. Lovecraft’s works and to present them to a wider audience. We will never know if anyone else would have done this if Mr. Derleth hadn’t.  The fact is though, that he was the one who did this and helped bring Mr. Lovecraft’s stories to the world at large.

It’s quite possible that without Mr. Derleth’s efforts, Mr. Lovecraft would have been resigned to a foot note in the annals of weird fiction.  Mr. Derleth also championed such writers as Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, to name just a few. Arkham House also published Dark Carnival, Ray Bradbury’s first novel. I’m pretty sure this collection was neither a career breaker or nor maker for Mr. Bradbury. And it was during the 1960s that Mr. Derleth discovered and encouraged the two genre giants, Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley. Through Derleth’s patronage it was Arkham House which introduced these gentlemen to generations of fans. And David Drakes first sale was also to August Derleth.

Not only was August Derleth a publisher and author, he was also a respected anthologist.  He edited 29 anthologies between 1944 and his death in 1971. And it was through such anthologies that the stories of many a talented Horror and Science Fiction author was rescued from complete obscurity.  I own over a dozen of these collections and they are honestly some of the best that I have ever read. I treasure every one of them.

Now lets deal with the touchiest of subjects from Mr. Derleth’s career and what folks love to whine about the most. The posthumous collaborations with H. P. Lovecraft. It’s a known fact that these collaborations are actually tiny morsels of Lovecraft converted into full blown works by Mr. Derleth. Any reader will immediately see that these works are greatly inferior to those that are 100% HPL. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out since Mr. Derleth wasn’t Mr. Lovecraft. Is it correct and fair that Mr. Lovecraft’s name appear in huge text on the covers while Mr. Derleth’s name appears as little more than an afterthought? Not really. That’s an out and out marketing gimmick. I have no idea if Mr. Derleth was capitalizing on HPL’s name or simply honoring a man who he greatly admired. I don’t know and neither does anyone else. It could be a mixture of both.

What I do find very interesting is this statement at the very beginning of the first paperback edition of  The Survivor and Others from Ballantine Books in 1957….

“Among the papers of the late Howard Philips Lovecraft were various notes and/or outlines for stories which he did not live to write. Of these, the most complete was the title story of this collection. These scattered notes were put together by August Derleth, whose finished stories grown from Lovecraft’s suggested plots, are offered here, as a final collaboration, post-mortem.”

Interpret that as you see fit. But I find it somewhat telling that such statements disappeared from editions published after Mr. Derleth’s death.

This leads me to believe that the publishers were/are the actual guilty parties as far as trying  pass off Derleth as Lovecraft. Just look at the well intentioned petition to have Lovecrafts name removed from the two posthumous collaborations published by Carroll & Graff. They didn't deem it necessary to place Mr. Derleth’s name on the covers along side that of HPL’s. Mr. Derleth had nothing to do with this fraudulent practice  since he was long dead when those editions were published. So it appears that the publishers have played a great role in perpetuating the confusion over the collaborations.

Never forget that Mr. Derleth never got rich on any of this and was making most of his money elsewhere. So I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that the authorship issue was just as much an effort to honor HPL as it was a marketing ploy. I will continue to believe this until someone can prove otherwise. and at that time I will be more than willing to eat these words.

It is also clear that many readers, scholars and critics have some serious and understandable issues with Mr. Derleth’s own take on the structure of what himself christened “The Cthulhu Mythos”. I don’t like it either that he broke the deities down into good guys and bad guys. Nor do I like the fact that he attempted to convert them into Elementals.  And it’s also another fact that he never forced this cosmological interpretation onto anyone else. It was his take on things and his alone. And it’s another fact that readers vote with their dollars. The books sold and have been reprinted a few times. So it seems that they did find some resonance with part of the fan base. Mr. Lovecraft’s vision was an open one that wasn’t written in stone. There have been countless writers who have had their own take on the Mythos and they haven’t taken nearly the amount of heat that Mr. Derleth has.  I’m tired of hearing how Derleth damaged the Mythos and Mr. Lovecraft’s stature/reputation. I see no evidence of this. So here is my challenge to the haters. Please show me how any of Mr. Derleth’s collaborations or works under his own name  alone have in any way done harm to Mr. Lovecraft. If you can prove me wrong then I’ll be more than happy to append this piece and eat my own words. Such “fans” should spend more time and effort combating those who are actively trying to harm Mr. Lovecraft’s reputation instead of wasting time tearing down a dead man who spent the greater part of his professional life championing and promoting Mr. Lovecraft! He has earned at least that much of our respect and gratitude!

So please take one last look at the mans achievements ….

Patronized as a young writer by Edgar Lee Masts and Sinclair Lewis.

Pioneer Conservationist and Environmentalist.

Brought HPL to the masses!

Wrote some damn good stories!

Excellent Anthologist!

Never got rich off of HPL!

Gave us many fine new authors!

And did I mention that he brought HPL to the masses?

Happy Birthday Mr. Derleth!

We owe you one.

 Doug

And as always, these are all scans of book I have in my collection.

Henry S. Whitehead: The Forgotten Master of Jumbee and Vodoun

Henry S. Whitehead: The Forgotten Master of Jumbee and Vodoun

And he's back in print!

Although mostly forgotten, the Rev. Henry S. Whitehead was one of Weird Tales most popular writers between 1924 1933. Rev. Whitehead ,who was a Harvard Graduate, spent 8 years as acting archdeacon of the Virgin Islands for the Episcopalian Church. Towards the end of his short life Rev. Whitehead became a personal friend of HPL, who after traveling down to Florida to visit the Reverend described him so.....

"He has nothing of the musty cleric about him; but dresses in sports clothes, swears like a he-man on occasion, and is an utter stranger to bigotry or priggishness of any sort."

It was during his years in the Virgin Islands that Rev. Whitehead gained a knowledge and understanding of the region, it's peoples, their culture and religion that gave his weird tales such a strong note of authenticity. The majority of his tales take place on the Island of St. Thomas and are 2^nd to none when dealing with the region. It is just y opinion but these are some of the finest stories dealing with Voodoo/Voudon that ever appeared in the pulps. Even if the Reverend wasn't a believer, he still took the Islanders and their beliefs seriously and always treated the subject with respect. A major rarity in Rev. Whitehead's stories was the dignity and respect with which he treated the characters in his story. There's nary a cringe inducing moment in his stories dealing with the Islands. He wrote about human beings and portrayed the same way. This wasn't exactly the most common way non-whites were portrayed during the pulp era. The Reverend, was for his time, an extremely progressive man.

The majority of Rev. Whitehead's tales take place in the Virgin Islands and the majority of his stories appeared in the pages of Weird Tales Magazine. Several of which have been heavily reprinted. These are Cassius, The Lips, The Passing of a God and The Trap. All of which have been heavily reprinted during the 1960s and 70s. It's of interest to mention that The Trap was co-written with H. P. Lovecraft.

The tales written by Rev. Whitehead are some of the most eerie, readable and entertaining horror stories out there. And they have also aged extremely well when one considers that the were written over 80 years.

Up until now, if you wanted to get you hands on a collection of Whitehead's tales you needed some fairly deep pockets. Aside from the two (now) expensive and hard to find Arkham House collections and one Ash Tree Press collection.

My copy of the 1976 Mayflower UK Edition with a lovely cover by Peter Jones

 Plus there were only two paper back editions, which printed in the UK back during the 1970s. So these are also now sought after collectors editions.

The newest collection from Wordsworth

Luckily that has been rectified by Wordsworth Books. Last year Wordsworth released the most complete collection of Whitehead's tales that has ever been published. Last year the released Voodoo Tales: The Ghost Stories of Henry S. Whitehead. It contains 37 of the 46 stories that Rev. Whitehead had published. What's even more amazing is the price. This thick, but compact, 691 pages of smallish print trade paperback cost's on $3.60 over at Amazon! The low price is due to all of the stories having fallen into the public domain.

So use this opportunity to discover the weird thrills and joys of the genre's greatest but sadly forgotten masters.

The Contents:

Introduction (by David Stuart Davies)

WEST INDIA LIGHTS
The Black Terror
West India Lights
Williamson
The Shut Room
The Left Eye
Tea Leaves
The Trap
The Napier Limousine
The Ravel Pavane
Sea Change
The People of Pan
The Chadbourne Episode
Scar Tissue
"'—In Case of Disaster Only'"
Bothon
The Great Circle
Obi in the Caribbean

JUMBEE AND OTHER VOODOO TALES
Jumbee
Cassius
Black Tancrède
The Shadows
Sweet Grass
The Tree-Man
Passing of a God
Hill Drums

THE BLACK BEAST AND OTHER VOODOO TALES
The Black Beast
Seven Turns In A Hangman’s Rope
Mrs. Lorriquer
The Projection Of Armand Dubois
The Lips
The Fireplace

OTHER STORIES
The Moon Dial
No Eye-Witnesses
Across the Gulf
The Tabernacle
The Door
Sea-Tiger

This wonderful collection can be purchased by following the links below.

Voodoo Tales at Amazon.com

Voodoo Tales at Amazon.co.uk