weird adj.

Weird Tales.

An outstanding author of the weird story steps into science-fiction with a tale that is highly imaginative and disturbingly different. The Bright Illusion, by C. L. Moore, reveals a planet of indescribable beauty—and horror. You will remember it.

I noticed a letter by Robert Lowndes headed as ‘Absolute Freedom of Thought’. He states that science-fiction is the one field where there should be that freedom. I believe he has slightly misunderstood it. Weird fiction is the place for absolute freedom. Science-fiction must have some, but not all or it would degenerate into weird fiction.

The only story not liked by the majority was ‘Woman Out of Time,’ which most characterized as a readable weird story, but out of place in a science fiction magazine.

There is always the question, of course, as to just where the dividing line lies between stf, fantasy, and weird fiction.

Incidentally RETURN impressed me as more in the weird story line than scientific, but it makes an excellent transitional story from a fan of horror and ghost stories to one of science fiction.

One of the current series that looks least promising turns out to be almost good and certainly worth a look by anyone who likes fantasy of the weird sort. [Ibid. 158/2] Generally, it’s a rather good weird story.

To this day, writers pay tribute, by writing stories ‘in the style’ of Lovecraft or extending Lovecraftian themes to modern contexts. This is all the more amazing when one learns that Lovecraft’s fiction follows a rather nontraditional approach to horror, fitting more appropriately into the subgenre of weird fiction. Specifically, Lovecraft was primarily interested in creating an appropriate mood to inspire in the reader a sense of cosmic horror: that the hopes, dreams, and philosophies of humankind are inconsequential to the larger universe, and that as a result the chaotic forces of nature could wipe out human existence in the blink of an eye without anyone even noticing.