Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS "Valley of the Worm!" Conclusion

We Have Already Witnessed...

James Allison lies on his deathbed, re-living a past life.

A millennia or more ago, he was Niord, a barbarian prince and warrior, defending his people, the Aesir, from all manner of threats, both human and inhuman.

Aided by Gorm, a Pict he defeated in battle but refused to kill, who then became an ally, he guides his people to a new home...

Note: Though Niord says his people are of "Asgard", it's doubtful, even though this tale is now canon in the Marvel Multiverse, that he refers to the mystical Asgard of Norse legend.

Bonus: Here's the title page from the story's first publication in Weird Tales V23N02 (1934), featuring both Niord and the "Worm", illustrated by Hugh Rankin.

Next Week:

A New World of Wonder

Don't Miss It!

Houdini's WEIRD TALES!

In 1924, the one-year-old Weird Tales magazine had not yet achieved the fame (or notoriety) that would make it a best-seller synonymous with fantasy and horror stories...

...so, for a couple of issues, the publisher brought in the famed Harry Houdini to write the cover-feature.

Sales didn't pick up, and the magazine was forced to go from monthly to quarterly.

For the third and final Houdini cover story...

...the publisher had an up-and-coming young author ghost-write the final Houdini entry, doing a first-person mystery-adventure instead of the non-fiction charlatan spiritualist exposes of the previous issues.

The writer was H P Lovecraft.

You can read both the tale and the story behind it (explained in a letter by Lovecraft to fellow author Frank Belknap Long HERE.

It's been reprinted numerous times, ususally under the title "Under the Pyramids", and credited to Lovecraft.

Weird Tales and Lovecraft remained together, each inspiring the other to amazing creative heights.

Lovecraft began work with Houdini and C M Eddy, Jr. on a non-fiction book entitled "Cancer of Superstition", but Houdini's death ended the project which was fully-outlined with several chapters written.

Francesco Francavilla's Kool Tributes to Ray Bradbury!

First, his reimagining of one of Ray's earliest stories...

...comparing it to the published artwork from the story's first appearance in 1943's Weird Tales!

and a second page with art portraying a Bradbury tale adapted on the original Twilight Zone, plus a famous movie based on a Bradbury plot written for the screen (not adapted from a previously-published story)...

Trivia:

The unused alien makeup concept from this movie was used as the Metaluna Mutant in This Island Earth!

Bradbury's original plot for this film, along with several alternative versions, was finally published in the now hard-to-find book It Came from Outer Space from Gauntlet Press in 2004!

Copies go for anywhere from $90-$300 each (and that was before Bradbury passed away)!