Weird Murmur

  Clark Ashton Smith, "The Last Incantation" in  Weird Tales , June 1930. Read the story here at The Internet Archive Readers of genre fiction are used to encountering the dangers of necromancy. Time and time again, protagonists give in to the strong temptation to bring back a long-dead loved one, only to find “they’ve come back wrong.” From Stephen King’s Pet Sematary , and W. W. Jacobs' “The Monkey’s Paw” to John Langan’s The Fisherman , grief brings out some of the most powerful human emotions. The fantasy/horror fiction of Clark Ashton Smith is filled with necromancers, diabolists, and all types that are into raising the dead. Smith’s short story “The Last Incantation” features an aging sorcerer thinking back to a long-lost love of his youth, but Smith flips the script. The change, the off-ness that is sensed, not only comes from the object of the raising. Particularly if the long years of time and experience have passed, the mourner too has changed, and that change c...

  Clark Ashton Smith, "The Seven Geases" in  Weird Tales , Vol. 24 No. 4, October 1934. Read the story here on the Internet Archive The themes of this myth are at one with Ligotti’s philosophical pessimism. Humankind, distilled into the character of Ralibar Vooz, begins a senseless quest to kill for sport (to hunt the Voormis). He is soon made a diplomatic pawn (a useless one as it turns out), an offered sacrifice, beginning a repetitious cycle of the human being used as a mere means. Paradoxically, it is humanity that uses itself as a mere means and brings about the vicious cycle that results in its own doom, for it is actually a human who sets Ralibar off under the control of the first geas. Under the geases, the paradox of freedom without freedom is borne out as humans are exposed as living puppets. As it turns out Ralibar, in virtue of his humanity, is an outsider, always out of place, an abomination to all he meets, useless and ultimately a kind of failure destined to fa...

Robert E. Howard, "The Man on the Ground" in Weird Tales , Vol. 22 No. 1, July 1933.   Read the story here on the Internet Archive Listen to a reading here Illustration by Greg Staples Not an oft-read story of Howard's, this gem is about the power of hatred, and its ability to overcome death itself. "The Man on the Ground" highlights the things that Howard is good at: thrilling action, violence, and the American West!   Incidentally, the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales is spectacular. Along with Howard's short story, the issue contains H. P. Lovecraft's "The Dreams in the Witch-House," Hazel Heald's "The Horror in the Museum, and Clark Ashton Smith's "Ubbo-Sathla."

  Justin Dowling, "The Arm" in Weird Tales , Vol. 6 No. 1, March 1954. Read the story here on the Internet Archive To compensate for losing an arm in an accident, a man dedicates himself to making "his left arm the strongest arm in the world." Sound pulp enough? It gets wild, and things don't go well! The flawed story explores themes of control, obsession, and guilt. It is told from the perspective of a friend of the injured man, and it is just as much a story about the narrator as it is about the arm-obsessed accident victim. Despite its flawed presentation, there are things worth exploring here. What redeeming qualities did you find in this forgotten story?