Thanks for recommending these - I have some of their works in my epub backlog but have yet to start them. Any specific stories you like for an afternoon read? I’ve read “The Golgotha Dancers” before.
The Terror is an all-absorbing novel. You might get on an Arctic exploration kick during and after reading it. I did. Hyperion is one of those books I have started about six times but can never get very far into (but that’s outside the proper scope of horror).
Both have extensive bibliographies. Kuttner died suddenly in '58. He's pretty well-rounded, but I'd probably recommend his Cthulu Mythos stuff he did. I vaguely remember one about Rats. Kuttner had been working since the '30s and was married to fellow writer, C. L. Moore (also known for being a Lovecraft Circle member). They collaborated on tons of works after their marriage, under many shared pennames. I'd honestly say you can't go wrong with Kuttner (and his wife). Check out all their work, a decent portion of it is horror.
Wellman was, if I recall, one of the big Weird Tales writers who helmed the pulp mag after the big trio's era (Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith. Lovecraft/Howard died. Smith kinda just stopped writing for the pulps after a point). Wellman's best known for John the Balladeer, the inspiration for DND's Druid/Bard classes. He's also been described as "The American Tolkein" because he studied and preserved American folktale traditions (specifically Appalachia). He's capable of spinning good horror just as much as he's able to spin a fine adventure.
There's a John the Balladeer story that Wellman wrote that was certainly strange and mystical. "
On the Hills and Everywhere". The story isn't really horror, but it captures the country "weirdness" very well. I certainly didn't expect that twist.
Wellman was writing almost until the day he died. His last work was a historical adventure novel, "Cahena". You can still find some of his public domain stuff if you look. "John the Balladeer" is in print from Valancourt books, if you want an affordable modern copy of that short fiction collection. Haffner Press, a small press, has a really luxurious set of the complete John the Balladeer stories in two volumes, but it's a c-note for that.
There's also the John Thunstone, Judge Pursuivant, and other Wellman characters. His heroes are usually the kind of good heroic men. His villains are scumbags who get in over their heads. Wellman was one of those guys that used occult detectives often. Judge Pursuivant was one, but Thunstone was probably his second most used one. John the Balladeer and John Thunstone were two series characters that Wellman would return to in his old age in the '80s.
Anyways, speaking of Horror, I gotta recommend you go check out the old Weird Tales pulp magazine. It started in the 1920s and was home to so many great writers (Ray Bradbury, Tennesee Williams, etc.) and characters and has somehow returned in some form repeatedly. There's like 4-5 different omnibus collections of famous stories from the magazine. The first run from the 20s-50s is easily findable on archives.
Also, go check out Seabury Quinn. He wrote an occult detective series about Jules de Grandin from the 20s-50s. It's not the absolute greatest, but they're fun tales. Quinn also wrote "Roads" and a bunch of other work. This writer got lambasted by people for being a tad formulaic, but I can easily tell you that he's enjoyable. All of the Jules de Grandin works are collected in a big 5 volume set.
