Whispers: An anthology of Fantasy and Horror

INTRODUCTION

This anthology is both a best of my Whispers magazine and an original anthology (with original art as well). I welcome the opportunity to place between hardcovers the choicest tales that Whispers has produced and, additionally, create another new outlet for fantasy and horror material. This was my reason for concocting my journal in the first place, and I have succeeded far beyond the dreams any little magazine editor is entitled to have.

People refer to me as the editor of Whispers magazine, but I like to think of myself as an alchemist, selecting from my unwholesome stores the proper ingredients to conjure up an irresistible volume of fantasy, terror, and horror. Whispers is a true little magazine, dedicated to the task of stimulating new and quality additions to the art and literature of our genre. I would like to think that the World Fantasy Award I recently won told me the recipe for the publication has borne fruit. It seemed quite appropriate that the trophy signifying that achievement was a bust of Howard Phillips Lovecraft whose story “The Unnameable” created a fictitious horror magazine titled Whispers, an entity I magicked to unholy life. But even an alchemist must start from somewhere and early 1973 saw my witches’ brew begin to bubble . . .

Whispers began with the premise that the fantasy and horror field lacked adequate outlets to induce talented writers and artists to make efforts toward the field. I came to the conclusion that offering money for material was the best way to draw qualified people’s attention to the genre and, thankfully, this spell was the proper one. By the time the first issue of the magazine appeared in July 1973, I had purchased original material by Brian Lumley, Joseph Payne Brennan, L. Sprague de Camp, Henry Hasse, Tim Kirk, Steve Fabian, Lee Brown Coye, and others, all of them noted talents who had created new gems for the field. Whispers was off to a great start.

Just as scary, though, as the terrors and horrors in the tales I published, were the incredible logistics of editing, publishing, and distributing a little magazine. Until one is actually forced to do it, it is difficult to comprehend the entire process of producing a “simple” magazine; it includes soliciting material, evaluating submissions, perfect typing for offset reproduction, paste-up, composition, proofreading, and the very careful packing of the irreplaceable manuscript for shipment to the printer. When that is accomplished, your immediate problem is selling the journal. There are many long hours of producing ads, addressing envelopes for direct mailings, and trying to sell your magazine to the seemingly uninterested dealers. When these tasks are accomplished and the magazine arrives back from the printer, it is time to mail out everything and perform all the physical tasks that entails. When I exhaustedly finished the first issue of Whispers, I paused briefly to rest, but then realized I was already behind on the next issue and began anew. Since that time, a dozen issues of Whispers have seen print, and I have yet to pause again.

While the magazine is basically a one-man operation, the eventual brew is the result of the efforts and talents of many people. Above all others, Dave Drake towers high. His professional expertise as a writer has made him invaluable as my assistant editor. Without his aid, the magazine just would not be as good. Other major ingredients in the Whispers concoction include: Don Grant, Lee Brown Coye, Willis Conover, Tim Kirk, Karl Edward Wagner, Fritz Leiber, Steve Fabian, Kirby McCauley, Manly Wade Wellman, and Dave Sutton. And let us not forget Dave Hartwell, Gahan Wilson, Jim Pitts, Alan Hunter, Hugh B. Cave, Robert Bloch, Henry Hasse, David Campton, John Linton, Charles Collins, Jon Lellenberg, William Nolan, Vincent DiFate, and Frank Utpatel. All of these gentlemen made vital contributions to the magazine that were above and beyond their duty as a contributor or supporter. I would like to personally thank them all for adding their individual spells to the Whispers magic. They certainly made this alchemist’s job an easier one.

Stuart David Schiff

Box 904

Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514