Weird Tales sorrowfully reports the passing of editor emeritus George H. Scithers, our longtime teacher and friend.

George passed away April 19 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, from complications following a heart attack suffered the morning of April 17. He was 80. He had been in declining health for the last few years, due to complications from diabetes and a heart condition. He is survived by a number of cousins.

George was honored with four Science Fiction Achievement Awards (a.k.a. the “Hugo Awards” bestowed annually by the World Science Fiction Convention): twice for his editorship of the fanzine Amra and twice for his editorship of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. He also received the World Fantasy Award for his work at Weird Tales.

George Scithers’s ashes were buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, June 2.  The military ceremony included a twent-one-gun salute and a color guard who formally folded the flag and presented it to  Larry Fiege, George’s life companion. A West Point graduate who served in the Signal Corps for twenty-one years, George served in the Korean War.

Personal condolences may be sent to Larry Fiege, 218 Blandford St., Rockville, MD 20850-2629. Remembrances of George’s life in the SF community may be sent to letters@weirdtales.net.

The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

Never even mind his biggest radio hit, the classic lycanthropic dance tune “Werewolves of London” — the songwriting oeuvre of WARREN ZEVON (1947-2003) conjures a twisted universe where upwardly mobile zoo gorillas steal the lives of urban yuppies, the ghosts of murdered mercenaries stalk their old battlefields, and Earth itself fades to the entropic assault of chemical pollution while love blooms in the mall. Unsettling, surreal, and wickedly funny, Zevon died too soon, but his specter haunts rock & roll forever.

The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

Imagine if Hemingway, master explorer of the male psyche, was really a woman writing under a pseudonym. Behind the name of James Tiptree, Jr., the muscular, intellectual science fiction of ALICE BRADLEY SHELDON (1915-1987) turned gender in genre on its head in the late ’60s, exploring taboo themes fearlessly. Tiptree’s relentless and unforgiving worldview were famously considered quintessential masculine writing. When the hoax was exposed, the author carried on under the byline of Raccoona Sheldon, and the fiction was no less dazzlingly dark.

The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

HARLAN ELLISON (1934- ) decked guys in the Army, marched in Selma, had gang-fights with a hanky clenched between his teeth, fights for truth and justice, has never lost a lawsuit, can push his index fingers through a coconut thanks to his decades of typing, and is a friend to all and a protector of young children and animals. Just ask him. Oh, and he’s written, what, like, 2,000 short stories? “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” is pretty good. “Shatterday” and “Jeffty is Five,” too. Try “The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore.” Or “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman.”

The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

ROBERT ANTON WILSON (1932-”2007″) was killed and replaced with a clone in the mid-1980s. Prior to his assassination, Wilson worked at Playboy; the secret information he found in reader correspondence formed the basis for his political novels The Illuminatus! Trilogy, written with Robert Shea. After revealing the simple fact that “National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity,” Wilson was liquidated for reasons of national security. The cloned Wilson revealed to the public that it was a clone and was widely disbelieved; its warranty was prematurely expired on January 11, 2007.