Frank Belknap Long – Part One: 1920-1939

Frank Belknap Long (1901-1994) had a career that spanned seven decades. He began in the pages of Weird Tales, and was actually H. P. Lovecraft’s closest friend. Decades later he would write an affectionate biography of HPL, Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side (1975).

After Weird Tales, Frank branched out from terror tales to straight Science Fiction, first for Hugo Gernsback but more for F. Orlin Tremaine at Astounding. Later when John W. Campbell took over, Frank was able to make the transition to Campbell’s new form of SF. But Frank didn’t restrict himself to any market. He was a working writer and wrote for Thrilling Wonder, Startling Stories, as well as Campbell’s Astounding and Unknown.

 

1920

“Dr. Whitlock’s Price”

1921

“The Eye Above the Mantle”

“In the Tomb of Semenses”

1924

“The Desert Lich” (Weird Tales, November 1924)

“Death Waters” (Weird Tales, December 1924)

1925

“The Ocean Leech” (Weird Tales, January 1925) (reprinted Weird Tales, June 1937)

“Men Who Walked Upon the Air” (Weird Tales, May 1925)

“The Devil-God” (Weird Tales, June 1925)

“The Were-Snake” (Weird Tales, September 1925)(reprinted in Avon Fantasy Reader 7, 1948)

“The Sea Thing” (Weird Tales, December 1925)

1926

“The Dog-Eared God” (Weird Tales, November 1926)

A Man from Genoa and Other Poems (1926)

“The Man Who Died Twice” (Ghost Stories, January 1927)

1927

“Advice” (poem)(Weird Tales, June 1927)

“The Man With a Thousand Legs” (Weird Tales, August 1927) (reprinted in Avon Fantasy Reader 8, 1948)

“The White People” (poem) (Weird Tales, November 1927)

1928

“The Space-Eaters” (Weird Tales, July 1928)

“You Can’t Kill a Ghost” (Weird Tales, August 1928)

1929

“The Hounds of Tindalos” (Weird Tales, March 1929)

1930

“The Red Fetish” (Weird Tales, January 1930)

“The Horror on Dagoth World” (poem) (Weird Tales, February 1930)

“On Icy Kinarth” (poem) (Weird Tales, April 1930)

“The Thought Materializer” (Science Wonder Quarterly, Spring 1930)

“The Black Druid” (Weird Tales, July 1930)

“A Visit From Egypt” (Weird Tales, September 1930)

1931

“The Horror From the Hills” (Weird Tales, January–March 1931)
“The Rajah’s Grandmother” (Oriental Stories, February-March 1931)
“The Pearl Robber” (Oriental Stories, April-May-June 1931)

1932

“The Malignant Invader” (Weird Tales, January 1932)
“The Horror in the Hold” (Weird Tales, February 1932)

“The Brain-Eaters” (Weird Tales, June 1932)

“In the Lair of the Space Monsters” (Strange Tales, October 1932)

1933

“The Black, Dead Thing” (Weird Tales, October 1933)(aka “Second Night Out”)

1934

“Murder For Three” (Detective Story, January 25, 1934)

“Cigarette Characterization #4” (Fantasy Magazine, July 1934)

“The Dark Beasts” (Marvel Tales, July-August 1934)

“The Beast-Helper” (Weird Tales, August 1934)

“The Last Men” (Astounding Stories, August 1934)

“The Vapor Death” (Astounding Stories, October 1934)(reprinted as “The Robot Empire” in Avon Science Fiction Reader 3, 1952)

“The Lost Planet” (Astounding Stories, November 1934)

1935

“The Challenge From Beyond” (Fantasy Magazine, 1935) (with H. P. Lovecraft, C. L. Moore, A. Merritt and Robert E. Howard)

“Green Glory” (Astounding Stories, January 1935)(reprinted in Avon Science Fiction Reader 1, 1951)

“The Body Masters” (Weird Tales, February 1935)(reprinted as “The Love Slave and the Scientists” in Avon Fantasy Reader 13, 1950)

“The Great Cold” (Astounding Stories, February 1935)

“The Blue Earthman” (Astounding Stories, April 1935)

“Exiles of the Stratosphere” (Astounding Stories, July 1935)

“Sky Rock” (Astounding Stories, September 1935)

“The Lichen From Eros” (Astounding Stories, November 1935)

The Goblin Tower (1935)

1936

“Cones” (Astounding Stories, February 1936)

“Black Demons Dance” (Thrilling Mystery, February 1936)

“The Roaring Blot” (Astounding Stories, March 1936)

“Harvest of Death” (Thrilling Mystery, May 1936)

“Red Storm on Jupiter” (Astounding Stories, May 1936)

“Horror at Cut-Off Cove” (Thrilling Mystery, October 1936)

“The Flame Midget” (Astounding Stories, December 1936)

1937

“Invaders from the Outer Suns” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1937)

“The Infants From Hell” (Thrilling Mystery, March 1937)

“Spawn of the Red Giants” (Astounding Stories, May 1937)

“The Snake God Kills” (Thrilling Mystery, May 1937)

“The Black Vortex” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1937)

“Temporary Warp” (Astounding Stories, August 1937)

“Carnival of Crawling Doom” (Thrilling Mystery, November 1937)

1938

“We, the Invisible” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1938)

“Mind Out of Time” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1938)

1939

“Dark Vision” (Unknown, March 1939)

“The Creeper in Darkness” (Strange Stories, April 1939)

“White Barrier” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1939)

“The Elemental” (Unknown, July 1939)

“Giants in the Sky” (Weird Tales, August 1939)

“The Dweller in Outer Darkness” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1939)

“Flame of Life” (Science Fiction, October 1939)
“The Corpse’s Alibi” (Detective and Murder Mysteries, November 1939)

“Escape From Tomorrow” (Weird Tales, December 1939)

“Johnny On the Spot” (Unknown, December 1939)

“The Courtship of the Vampire” (Mystery Novels and Short Stories, December 1939)

 

Next Time: Part Two: The 1940s