The Moon Terror (Weird Tales Library)

The Moon Terror is a facsimile reprint of two classic stories from the earliest days of the famous pulp magazine Weird Tales. Included are "The Moon Terror" by A.G. Birch and "Ooze," by Anthony M. Rud.

"The Moon Terror" is an example of the pulp "yellow peril" subgenre, which features sinister Asians who intend the West only ill (a subgenre that has transmuted in modern times into the far more lucrative, but often as pulpy, techno-thriller). In A.G. Birch's story, a series of powerful, regularly occurring earthquakes proves to be the work of a secret cult of Chinese sorcerer-scientists bent on fulfilling a religious prophecy by tearing a chunk out of the Earth to form a second moon. This is a nifty idea, but the means of sundering the Earth in two--with electrical generators--is pretty dated.

The scientific extrapolation in Anthony M. Rud's "Ooze" is also a pulp oldie, but it has remained plausible: a gentleman scientist uses radium to cause genetic mutation, and creates a murderous monster. Despite its less dated concept, "Ooze" is the volume's weaker story; it has rather purple prose, a passive narrator, and not nearly as much action.

Both A.G. Birch and Anthony M. Rud are obscure authors; even John Clute and John Grant's massive, thorough Encyclopedia of Fantasy contains no entries for either. This isn't surprising; the authors were competent tale-spinners, but not nearly as talented or imaginative as Weird Tales regulars like Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, C.L. Moore, or Clark Ashton Smith. --Cynthia Ward