When the history of fantasy and horror fiction is being discussed, the pulp magazine Weird Tales is inevitably mentioned. Published on low-grade “pulp” paper, Weird Tales was the first newsstand magazine devoted exclusively to weird and fantastic fiction. It ran for 279 issues, from March 1923 to September 1954.

The three most important and influential writers to have their work published in the title were Rhode Island horror writer H.P. Lovecraft; the Texan creator of Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard; and the California poet, short story writer, illustrator and sculptor, Clark Ashton Smith.

“The Complete Poems from Weird Tales” series collects their verse in the order that it originally appeared in the pages of “The Unique Magazine”.

You might remember back in December the news of PS Publishing announcing a trio of poetry collections by Howard, Lovecraft and Smith. Well, here’s an update: PS Publishing has released the contents, including some brief biographies by Stephen Jones, and tantalizingly small pictures of the covers.

Howard’s collection is titled The Singer in the Mist & Others:

“ROBERT E. HOWARD (1906-1936) is best known for his series of stories about Conan the Barbarian. However, Howard was also a prolific writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, Westerns, detective, sports stories, true confessions and other genre fiction, including poetry.”
-Stephen Jones

The Song of the Bats
The Ride of Falume
The Riders of Babylon
Remembrance
The Gates of Nineveh
The Harp of Alfred
Easter Island
Crete
Moon Mockery
Forbidden Magic
The Moor Ghost
Dead Man’s Hate
A Song Out of Midian
Shadows on the Road
Black Chant Imperial
The Song of a Mad Minstrel
The Last Day
Arkham
An Open Window
Autumn
The Soul-Eater
The Dream and the Shadow
Which Will Scarcely Be Understood
Futility
Fragment
Haunting Columns
The Poets
The Singer in the Mist
The Last Hour
Ships
Lines Written in the Realization That I Must Die
Recompense
The Ghost Kings
The King and the Oak
Desert Dawn

Lovecraft’s Hallowe’en in a Suburb & Others:

“H.P. Lovercraft (1890-1937) is probably the most important and influential author of supernatural fiction in the twentieth century. A life-long resident of Providence, Rhode Island, many of his tales are set in the fear-haunted towns of an imaginary area of Massachusetts, or in the cosmic vistas that exist beyond space and time.”
-Stephen Jones

Nemesis
To a Dreamer
Yule Horror
The Ancient Track
Recapture
The Courtyard
Star-Winds
Hesperia
Antarktos
The Bells
Nyarlathotep
Azathoth
Mirage
The Elder Pharos
Alienation
To Virgil Finlay, Upon His Drawing for Mr. Bloch’s Tale, ‘The Faceless God’
Psychopompos
The Canal
To Klarkash-Ton, Lord of Averoigne
Where Once Poe Walked
The Messenger
The Wood
The Lamp
Zaman’s Hill
Harbour Whistles
The Howler

Smith’s Song of the Necromancer & Others:

“CLARK ASHTON SMITH(1893-1961) was a poet, short story writer, illustrator and sculptor. One of the “big three” authors to appear in the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales-alongside H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard-his fiction and artwork was published in a wide variety of magazines, anthologies and collections. For most of his sixty-eight years, Smith lived in a small cabin in the woods near Auburn, California, and during his lifetime he published nearly twice as many books of poetry than he did short stories.”
-Stephen Jones

The Garden of Evil
The Red Moon
Solution
The Melancholy Pool
A Fable
Interrogation
The Saturnienne
Warning
Sonnet
Nyctalops
The Nightmare Tarn
Fantaisie d’Antan
Ougabalya
Shadows
Fellowship
In Slumber
Dominion
In Thessaly
Ennui
Song of the Necromancer
To Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Outlanders
Farewell to Eros
The Prophet Speaks
Bacchante
The Phoenix
Witch Dance
Necromancy
Dialogue
Desert Dweller
The Sorcerer to His Love
Resurrection
To the Chimera
Do You Forget, Enchantress?
Luna Aeternalia
“Not Altogether Sleep”
Sonnet for the Psychoanalysts
“O Golden-Tongued Romance”
Don Quixote on Market StreetThe Garden of Evil
The Red Moon
Solution
The Melancholy Pool
A Fable
Interrogation
The Saturnienne
Warning
Sonnet
Nyctalops
The Nightmare Tarn
Fantaisie d’Antan
Ougabalya
Shadows
Fellowship
In Slumber
Dominion
In Thessaly
Ennui
Song of the Necromancer
To Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Outlanders
Farewell to Eros
The Prophet Speaks
Bacchante
The Phoenix
Witch Dance
Necromancy
Dialogue
Desert Dweller
The Sorcerer to His Love
Resurrection
To the Chimera
Do You Forget, Enchantress?
Luna Aeternalia
“Not Altogether Sleep”
Sonnet for the Psychoanalysts
“O Golden-Tongued Romance”
Don Quixote on Market Street

Stephen Jones’ introductions are solid, the covers are appealing, the price tag looks reasonable, and there’s plenty of great poetry therein. If nothing else, it looks like they’d make lovely shelf decorations, or great introductions to new fans.