The most prolific authors in Weird Tales are names you know. You don’t appear a hundred times and not get noticed. Still, the question remains, who was the most prolific? Why does this matter? Isn’t quality more important? Wait and see if quality and quantity don’t somehow come together here.
I should explain my counting system because I know there will be complaints. What I have included is stories, novels and poems. I have not included illustrations or letters of comment. If a story was cut into five segments in a serial, I counted that as five appearances. If an author appeared twice in an issue that counts as two. Reprints count as their own number, but Canadian and UK editions are not counted. I have restricted myself to the original WT, 1923 to 1954. I have not included Oriental Tales/Magic Carpet stories.
Ten – Otis Adelbert Kline
Otis Adelbert Kline appeared 37 times with “The Thing of Thousand Shapes (March 1923) to “Return of the Undead” with Frank Belknap Long (July 1943). Kline had the advantage of being a sub-editor at the magazine during Edwin Baird’s initial run. He penned the classic “Why Weird Tales?” explaining the magazine’s policy on SF?F/H. His Dr. Dorp was one of the first ghostbreakers in WT. In the late 1930s he became more of an agent than a writer though he did do occasional pieces.
Nine – Frank Belknap Long
Frank Belknap Long appeared 42 times with “The Desert Lich” (November 1924) to “The Mississippi Saucer” (March 1951). Long sold exclusively to Weird Tales at first but later became a Science Fiction writer selling to F. Orlin Tremaine and even John W. Campbell. He later edited Fantastic Universe. His last piece for WT was a funny UFO tale. Long is best-remembered as H. P. Lovecraft best friend but he was so much more, including a writer of Horror comics.
Eight – Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman appeared 55 times with “Back to the Beast” (November 1927) to “Parthenope” (September 1953). Manly sold to WT regularly through most of the magazine’s run but really became prominent in the later issues under Dorothy McIlwraith. His John Thunstone stories appear in WT. Along with Seabury Quinn, the two formed a second circle of writers outside Lovecraft’s influence. He latter wrote the Silver John stories for F&SF. Like Frank Belknap Long, Wellman wrote SF for other magazines as well as comics.
Seven – Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch wrote 70 pieces starting with “The Feast in the Abbey” (January 1935) to “Lucy Comes to Stay” (January 1952). Bloch is the latest on this list, starting in 1935. The others began ten years earlier. Robert Bloch sold to WT exclusively until 1938 when he branched off into Science Fiction and humorous Fantasy. He hung around until the final years despite having a successful career as a novelist and Hollywood writer.
Six – Edmond Hamilton
Edmond Hamilton appeared 92 times with “The Monster-God of Mamurth” (August 1926) to “The Isle of the Sleeper” (May 1951). Hamilton was WT’s Science Fiction guy for many years but the 1940s saw him move more into Fantasy. For decades he wrote Wells’ style invasion stories that got him a reputation as a one-plot writer. Hamilton inspired many other writers including H. P. Lovecraft. Ed bragged that WT never rejected one of his stories. He later wrote comics for Superman at DC as well as the popular Captain Future for another publisher. He married Leigh Brackett in 1946.
Five – Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith started with “A Fable” (July 1927) and finished in September 1953 with “An Offering to the Moon” He appeared 103 times. You can argue that Smith actually had more appearances than the next entry if you include the illustrations he did for his own stories. Smith has the advantage of being a poet as well as a story writer. Most of the top five do, which makes Number One all that more impressive because he did not… Some consider Smith the best quality writer in WT’s run. He had a reputation as a California poet before writing his many Fantasy stories.
Four – Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard began with “Spear and Fang” (July 1925) and finished with a reprint of “Pigeons from Hell” (November 1951) with a total of 108 appearances. Howard wrote poetry as well as popular series of Conan, King Kull and well as Horror tales. Howard wished to write for the adventure magazines. When one of those stories was rejected, he added a supernatural element and sold it to Farnsworth Wright. In this way he invented Sword & Sorcery. Howard could have won this contest, being very prolific, had he not committed suicide in 1936.
Three – H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft had 116 appearances with “Dagon” (October 1923) to “The Survivor” (with August Derleth) July 1954. Lovecraft appeared in every year from 1923 to 1944 without a break. Having been offered the editorship of the magazine (refused) he was always considered the epitomy of the WT writer. Lovecraft is perhaps the only writer here to be the subject of several poems, tributes written after his death. Lovecraft influenced most of the people on this list and has been hailed the best weird writer of the 2oth Century by critics like S. T. Joshi.
Two – August Derleth
August Derleth began with “Bat’s Belfry” (May 1926) and had 132 appearances to “The Survivor” (July 1954) with H. P. Lovecraft. They are listed here. Derleth did not write poetry but he did have a writing partner in Mark R. Schorer, which didn’t hurt. He wrote stories as Stephen Grendan as well. Some think Derleth would have not been in Weird Tales without Lovecraft but that isn’t true. Augie appeared many times before his first Cthulhu Mythos pastiche. His early work is in imitation of British ghost story writers. His very first story “Bat’s Belfry” reads like a Mythos story without the Necronomicon references. His love of British fiction had him approach the heirs of A. Conan Doyle about continuing the Holmes series. When rejected, he created Solar Pons and wrote them anyway.
One – Seabury Quinn
Seabury Quinn appeared 171 times beginning with “The Phantom Farmhouse” (October 1923) and finished with a reprint of “The Chapel of Mystic Horror” (November 1952). Quinn wins by sheer numbers. He got the most covers, the highest pay and was loved by readers. The Jules de Grandin series number 93 on its own and he wrote so much more than that. (In later years, his own kin would parody de Grandin in another magazine.) He started early, writing both fiction and non-fiction pieces. His story “Roads” is a Christmas classic. He did not pad out his numbers with poetry. When people say Seabury Quinn was the most popular writer in WT there are correct. His fame after the magazine folded has not been equal to what it was when WT was in circulation.
Conclusion
The Top Ten Most Prolific Authors in Weird Tales probably surprised no one but I think it is interesting how many of them created sub-genres of Fantasy or became the top writer of old ones. To go back to my original questions: are these high production writers of poor quality? Robert E. Howard gave us Sword & Sorcery. Edmond Hamilton created Space Opera with his Interstellar Patrol. Lovecraft has been hailed the best Horror writer of the 20th Century, while Bloch later give us Psycho (1959), another game changer. Quinn and Wellman defined the ghostbreaker tale in the Pulp years. Kline and Derleth made their contributions, though they are not always appreciated. Kline as editor and agent, Derleth (along with Donald Wandrei) as publisher and champion of H. P. Lovecraft. Despite the fact that they wrote a lot for WT, their work is often the stories that have been anthologized and imitated since 1954.
There are so many names that didn’t quite reach this mark: Henry Kuttner, Frank Owen, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, C. L. Moore, Carl Jacobi, Leah Bodine Drake, Artlton Eadie, G. G. Pendarves, Fritz Leiber, Greye La Spina, etc. Sometimes it was because they did not write as fast, but more often, like in the case of Kuttner and Moore, they had better paying markets elsewhere. Others, like Eadie, died young. Perhaps it is the next top ten writers that is actually more intriguing?
