April 16, 2013

Weinberg, Robert E

Tagged: Author | Editor | Fan | Critic

(1946-    ) US editor, publisher, bookseller and author of Fanzines focusing on his main interest, the Pulp-magazine world. Much of his task as an editor and publisher has been to rediscover and reprint magazine stories from the pulps which would otherwise have disappeared utterly. Though he began to publish fiction of genre interest with "Destroyer" in If for May 1969, his professional fiction was infrequent until much later; his earliest work seems to have been bibliographical – e.g., An Index to Analog (January 1960 to June 1965) (circa 1965 chap) – and privately printed; other untraced titles have almost certainly survived. (A sign of his interest in ongoing bibliographical projects is the much later publication, through his Robert Weinberg Publications, of Mike Ashley's The Complete Index to Astounding/Analog [1981].) Further bibliographical and critical guides include The Robert E. Howard Fantasy Biblio (1969 chap) and its sequel, The Annotated Guide to Robert E. Howard's Sword & Sorcery (1976), the valuable Reader's Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos (1969 chap; rev 1973 chap) with Edward P Berglund (> Cthulhu Mythos), The Hero-Pulp Index (1971 chap) with Lohr McKinstry, and The Louis L'Amour Companion (1993). The climax of his bibliographical work is almost certainly A Biographical Dictionary of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (1988), whose 279 entries cover the field very amply; though marred by some inaccuracies, it remains the central resource for researchers in the field. Associated with this work, though mainly occupied with a presentation of actual Illustrations, is Horror of the 20th Century: An Illustrated History (graph 2000).

As the 1970s began, Weinberg moved from privately produced pamphlets and fanzines into Small-Press publishing proper, becoming associated with T E Dikty, who founded in 1972 both Starmont House, for which Weinberg worked for about a year (long before it actually began to issue books), and FAX Collector's Editions, in which Weinberg's involvement was late and short-lived, though he issued three anthologies through the firm: Famous Fantastic Classics #1, 1974 (anth 1974) and #2, 1975 (anth 1975), and Far Below and Other Horrors (anth 1974; republished 1987 by Starmont). He also part-wrote and edited The Weird Tales Story (anth 1977), but by then he had left, purchasing Weird Tales in 1976 from Cylvia Margulies, and remaining its owner, though he has leased the title out to various publishers over the years.

Robert Weinberg Publications (1974-1981) concentrated on the reprinting of weird and fantasy fiction. Series included the Pulp Classics, reprint booklets edited by Weinberg; out of the twenty-two published, most were of direct genre interest, beginning with Pulp Classics #1: Gangland's Doom (1973 chap) by Frank Eisgruber Jr and ending with Pulp Classics #20: Phantom Detective (coll 1979 chap). The Lost Fantasies series republished work by Otis Adelbert Kline and Jack Williamson as well as several Weinberg anthologies, beginning with Lost Fantasies #4: Lost Fantasies (anth 1976 chap) and ending with Lost Fantasies #9: The Sin Eater (anth 1979 chap) (for details see Checklist below). The Weird Menace Classics series comprised several Weinberg anthologies, beginning with Weird Menace Classics #1: The Corpse Factory (anth 1977 chap) and ending with Weird Menace Classics #6: The Dance of the Skeletons (anth 1980 chap). (For all relevant titles for Pulp Classics, Lost Fantasies and Weird Menace Classics see Checklist below). In homage to Lester Dent Weinberg edited The Man behind Doc Savage (anth 1974). WT50 (anth 1974) was a homage to Weird Tales, the rights to which he owned, eventually forming Weird Tales Limited to protect and licence the name. It was through Weinberg that George H Scithers arranged to continue Weird Tales. Some of the contents of WT50 reappeared as The Weird Tales Story (noted above).

Other small presses in which Weinberg has been involved include Science Fiction Graphics (1977) and Pulp Press (1979-1982); but as the 1980s advanced he became less directly involved in publishing activities, concentrating for some time on a mail-order book business. He has edited one anthology with Martin H Greenberg alone, Lovecraft's Legacy (anth 1990), plus a number with Greenberg and other collaborators, usually Stefan R Dziemianowicz alone or teamed, beginning with Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors (anth 1988) and ending with 100 Wild Little Weird Tales (anth 1994); many of these titles comprised the 100 sequence (for details see Checklist below). Solo Weinberg edited The Eighth Green Man & Other Strange Folk (anth 1989).

Since the later 1980s, Weinberg has concentrated on horror and fantasy fiction. Series include the Alex Warner sequence comprising The Devil's Auction (1988) and The Armageddon Box (1991) and the Kaufman and Lane sequence comprising The Black Lodge (1991) and The Dead Man's Kiss (1992); further series followed, including the Today's Sorcery sequence of fantasies comprising A Logical Magician (1994; vt A Modern Magician 1995) and A Calculated Magic (1995) (for details of further series see Checklist below). All of this work shows a vast knowledge of generic tricks and baggage, and considerable wit. His interest in sf seems solely archival, however; The Termination Node (1999) with Lois H Gresh, a Technothriller, had little impact. [JC]

Robert Edward Weinberg

born Newark, New Jersey: 29 August 1946

died

works

series

Alex Warner

Kaufman and Lane

  • The Black Lodge (New York: Pocket Books, 1991) [Kaufman and Lane: pb/DAvid Fishman]
  • The Dead Man's Kiss (New York: Pocket Books, 1992) [Kaufman and Lane: pb/DAvid Fishman]

Today's Sorcery

Masquerade of the Red Death

  • Bloodway (Clarkson, Georgia: White Wolf Publishing, 1995) [Masquerade of the Red Death: pb/Brom]
  • Unholy Allies (Clarkson, Georgia: White Wolf Publishing, 1995) [Masquerade of the Red Death: pb/Brom]
  • The Unbeholden (Clarkson, Georgia: White Wolf Publishing, 1996) [Masquerade of the Red Death: pb/Brom]

The Horizon War

  • The Road to Hell (Clarkson, Georgia: White Wolf Publishing, 1997) [Horizon War: pb/Jason Felix]
  • The Ascension Warrior (Clarkson, Georgia: White Wolf Publishing, 1997) [Horizon War: pb/Jason Felix]
  • War in Heaven (Clarkson, Georgia: White Wolf Publishing, 1998) [Horizon War: pb/Jason Felix]

individual titles

collections and stories

works as editor

series

Famous Fantastic Classics

Pulp Classics

Only those of some sf interest are listed.

Lost Fantasies

Only anthologies edited by Weinberg in this series are listed.

Weird Menace Classics

100

individual titles

nonfiction

links

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