An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

cent per word for the story. (WT generally paid HPL 1 to 1½ cents per word, the latter being its highest rate.) He submitted several stories to Strange Tales(1931–33), edited by Harry Bates, but all were rejected as the magazine wanted “action” stories quite unlike HPL’s average product. Carl Swanson’s Galaxy,contemplated in 1932, never got off the ground. HPL’s two late sales to Astounding Storiesmay have contributed to Wright’s quick acceptance of “The Thing on the Doorstep” and “The Haunter of the Dark” in July 1936, although they were just the sort he would have liked in any case.

After HPL’s death Wright accepted many HPL stories and poems that he had formerly rejected, when they were submitted by August Derleth. This policy continued with WT’s third and final editor, Dorothy McIlwraith, who took over in 1940. It was, however, her decision to abridge some of HPL’s longer works (“The Mound” [November 1940]; The Case of Charles Dexter Ward[May and July 1941]; “The Shadow over Innsmouth” [January 1942]), although these had appeared or were about to appear in collections of HPL’s tales published by Arkham House.

For a complete list of HPL’s contributions to WT,see S.T.Joshi, “Lovecraft in Weird Tales” New Lovecraft Collector10 (Spring 1995): 3–4. H.P.Lovecraft in “The Eyrie,”ed. S.T.Joshi and Marc A.Michaud (Necronomicon Press, 1979), contains letters by or about HPL in the letter column of WT. See Robert Weinberg, The Weird Tales Story(West Linn, Ore.: FAX Collector’s Editions, 1977); Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines,ed. Marshall B.Tymn and Mike Ashley (Greenwood Press, 1985); Frank H.Parnell and Mike Ashley, Monthly Terrors(Greenwood Press, 1985) (contains complete issue-by-issue index to WT).

Weiss, Henry George (1898–1946),

Canadian-born poet and essayist who wrote weird and science fiction tales under the pseudonym Francis Flagg. Weiss corresponded with HPL sporadically during the period 1930–37; at this time he had communist leanings and may have contributed to HPL’s gradual shift toward socialism. He wrote an HPL-influenced story, “The Distortion out of Space” (WT, August 1934); also a poem, “To Howard Phillips Lovecraft” (WT, March 1938; rpt. Marginalia). See also The Night People(1947), a science fiction novel.

West, Herbert.

In “Herbert West—Reanimator,” the medical student who hopes to learn the secret of reanimating the dead. The story follows his exploits through his college days and post-graduate work, to service during World War I and his own medical practice, as he comes closer and closer, but never fully succeeding, in his attempts at reanimation. Ultimately, the specimens he reanimates band together and destroy him.

“What Belongs in Verse.”

Essay (730 words); probably written in early 1935. First published in Perspective Review(Spring 1935); rpt. MW

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This important essay reflects HPL’s later views on poetry, in which he is shown to have modified his earlier rigidly classicist stance; he now maintains that good poetry must be a matter of images and symbols rather than plain statement.

“What the Moon Brings.”

Prose poem (740 words); written on June 5, 1922. First published in the National Amateur(May 1923); first collected in BWS;corrected text in MW

The narrator professes at the outset, “I hate the moon—I am afraid of it” because he once saw the moon shining on an old garden near a shallow stream. Various strange sights greet the narrator’s eye, including dead faces in the river. Then the waters ebb, and the narrator sees an appalling sight: the vast basalt crown of a “shocking eikon” whose forehead was beginning to appear from under the waves, and whose feet must be an incalculable distance below. The narrator flees in terror. The vignette suffers from vagueness and from a certain hysterical tone that makes the entire work seem flamboyant and unmotivated.

Whateley, Wilbur (1913–1928).