It’s easy to discuss authors for their contributions are evident. You just have to read the stories. The great editors are harder to corral, for the editor’s job is one of selection, guidance, subjective acts that may be hard to understand in hindsight. (For instance, all those men and women who rejected Dune by Frank Herbert, a Science Fiction series that broke best-selling records for genre fiction. In the end it was Chilton, a publisher of car repair manuals that took a chance.) Editors are human, but they are also key players in the success of individual authors and emerging genres.
Sword & Sorcery is no exception. A short list of editors were champions of heroic fantasy, helping to shape it, to keep it alive when trends would dash it against the rocks of fashion and caprice. The first, and perhaps more by happenstance than design, was Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940), editor of Weird Tales from 1924 to 1940. He held the post at “The Unique Magazine” for 17 years. He would be the man-at-the-helm in January 1929 when that first S&S tale, “The Shadow Kingdom” would appear with little fanfare. Wright’s tastes were varied, recognizing classic writers such as Poe, Balzac, Gaston Leroux, H. G. Wells and even Lucian of Samosata, the 2nd century Greek writer, while publishing rising stars such as H. P. Lovecraft (who had been offered Wright’s job in 1924), Robert Bloch, Edmond Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, Fritz Leiber, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, etc. And of course, a young Texan named Robert E. Howard.
Read the rest:
