This special edition of Strange Tales #9 is presented in the original magazine's dimensions. In addition to great work by Hugh B. Cave, L. Sprague de Camp, and many more, this edition adds "The Devil's Crypt," a novelet by E. Hoffmann Price.

The tenth issue of STRANGE TALES OF MYSTERY AND TERROR features dazzling contributions by Adrian Cole ("Blood of the Moon God," a new Elak of Atlantis story); Kevin L. O'Brien ("In an Octopus's Garden" -- tentacular horror!); Richard A. Lupoff ("Petroglyphs," in which a young newsboy, an attractive academic, and an archaeological mystery collide); Andrew Kelley ("The Third Sister" -- in which not all winged beauties are angels!); and Charles Ensminger ("Missing" -- what terrible truth lies within the Gospel of the Twins?). Cover by Edward Miller. Interior illustrations by David Grilla, Alex McVey, Michael Ryan, and Billy Tackett.

When Strange Tales first appeared in 1931 as a pulp magazine, it was clearly something new. Edited by Harry Bates as a companion to Astounding Stories, it combined the supernatural horror and fantasy of Weird Tales with vigorous action plots. Strange Tales rapidly attracted the most imaginative and capable writers of the day, including such Weird Tales regulars as Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Henry S. Whitehead, Hugh B. Cave, Ray Cummings, and numerous others. Had the Great Depression not intervened and killed it after seven issues, the whole history of fantastic fiction might have been different. The October 1932 issue features work by Clark Ashton Smith ("The Hunters from Beyond"), Victor Rousseau, Henry S. Whitehead, Hugh B. Cave, Frank Belknap Long, Jr, and many more.

STRANGE TALES OF MYSTERY AND TERROR . . . When Strange Tales first appeared in 1931 as a pulp magazine, it was clearly something new. Edited by Harry Bates as a companion to Astounding Stories, it combined the supernatural horror and fantasy of Weird Tales with vigorous action plots. Had the Great Depression not intervened and killed it after seven issues, the whole history of fantastic fiction might have been different. Strange Tales rapidly attracted the most imaginative and capable writers of the day, including such Weird Tales regulars as Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Henry S. Whitehead, Hugh B. Cave, Ray Cummings, and numerous others. Certainly Strange Tales gave Weird Tales a serious run for its money. The March 1932 issue features work by Paul Ernst, Henry S. Whitehead, Gordon MacCreagh, and more. The fine cover by H.W. Wesso illustrates "The Duel of the Sorcerers," by Paul Ernst.

"The Thrill Book" is a legendary magazine, one of the holy grails of pulp collecting. Original copies sell for thousands of dollars -- if you can find them. Running for sixteen issues in 1919, it was a magazine of "strange, bizzare, occult, mysterious tales," but not quite a fantastic-fiction magazine, mixing various types of adventure stories with often outstanding fantasy, horror, and science fiction by Murray Leinster, Seabury Quinn, Francis Stevens, Perley Moore Sheehan, Tod Robbins, Edward Lucas White, Greye La Spina, and other giants of the pulp era. While sheer scarcity may have once added something to the lustre of "The Thrill Book," now that an issue is finally made available at an affordable price, the reader may appreciate that this truly was a pioneering -- and supremely entertaining -- publication.

This biography of the creator of Conan the Barbarian is “deep dive work,” in which “this ‘mysterious’ Texas scribe gets his most complete story arc told” (Houston Press). Robert E Howard’s most famous creation, Conan the Barbarian, is an icon of popular culture. In hundreds of tales detailing the exploits of Conan, King Kull, and others, Howard helped to invent the sword and sorcery genre. Todd B. Vick delves into newly available archives and probes Howard’s relationships, particularly with schoolteacher Novalyne Price, to bring a fresh, objective perspective to Howard's life. Like his many characters, Howard was an enigma and an outsider. He spent his formative years visiting the four corners of Texas, experiences that left a mark on his stories. He was intensely devoted to his mother, whom he nursed in her final days, and whose impending death contributed to his suicide in 1936 when he was just thirty years old. Renegades & Rogues is an unequivocal journalistic account that situates Howard within the broader context of pulp literature. More than a realistic fantasist, he wrote westerns and horror stories as well, and engaged in avid correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft and other pulp writers of his day. Vick investigates Howard’s twelve-year writing career, analyzes the influences that underlay his celebrated characters, and assesses the afterlife of Conan, the figure in whom Howard’s fervent imagination achieved its most durable expression. “A tour de force.” ―Modern Age “A compelling read.” —S. T. Joshi, author of I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft

The birth of modern fantasy in 1930s Britain and America saw the development of new literary and film genres. J.R.R. Tolkien created modern fantasy with The Lord of the Rings, set in a fictional world based upon his life in the early 20th century British Empire, and his love of language and medieval literature. In small-town Texas, Robert E. Howard pounded out his own fantasy realm in his Conan stories, published serially in the ephemeral pulp magazines he loved. Jerry Siegel created Superman with Joe Shuster, and laid the foundation for perhaps the most far-reaching fantasy worlds: the universe of DC and Marvel comics. The work of extraordinary people who lived in an extraordinary decade, this modern fantasy canon still provides source material for the most successful literary and film franchises of the 21st century. Modern fantasy speaks to the human experience and still shows its origins from the lives and times of its creators.