Seabury Quinn, the most popular author in the history of Weird Tales, died on this date in 1969. I wrote a post in memory of ol’ Seabury on this date back in 2017. One of my very first posts for this blog, as it so happens.

Time and critics have not been kind to Quinn. His tales of Jules de Grandin never quite made the leap to paperbacks—or hardbacks—the way that the works of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft did. He was, and remains, essentially a pulp writer. However, being a “pulp writer” certainly isn’t a perjorative here at DMR Books. Quinn wrote short, fast-paced stories. Stories, I might add, that his readership at Weird Tales very much wanted to read. That was reaffirmed again and again by reader polls.

Ol’ Seabury gave his readers—and the editors of Weird Tales—what they wanted for thirty years. If those tales don’t hold up quite as well today, I will say that I consider them pretty good fodder for an author or Game Master looking for interesting plot elements. In fact, I think one of the early de Grandin stories may have provided some slight inspiration for an REH Conan yarn. Two-Gun Bob wasn’t afraid to appropriate story elements, albeit making them his own in the process. Be like Bob.

Some of Quinn’s tales have stood the test of time. “The Phantom Farmhouse” is quality horror. I’ll admit to a fondness for Seabury’s de Grandin story, “The Chapel of Mystic Horror”. As I stated two years ago, Quinn’s “Roads” is excellent heroic fantasy and a great Christmas story to boot.

My old post on “Roads” was prompted by the edition recently published—at the time—by Shadowridge Press. However, it was a reprint of the edition originally published by August Derleth at Arkham House. As it turns out, the mighty Don Herron wrote a post several months ago regarding a very special copy of that original Arkham edition. Check it out here:

Rediscovered: Seabury Quinn, Virgil Finlay and Jack Palance, Oh My!

For the TL;DR crowd, here’s the gist of it: Don Herron managed to acquire a copy of the Arkham House edition signed by both Quinn and Virgil Finlay. The kicker that kicks like a mule is that it was the personal copy of Jack Palance.

If “Roads” is manly enough for Jack Palance—he kept it and never sold it for nearly six decades—then it’s manly enough for you, pilgrim.

Merry Christmas!