Talk:Tales of Magic and Mystery (magazine)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Tales of Magic and Mystery (magazine)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: 23W (talk · contribs) 05:14, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

I'll take this one over a fortnight. 23W 05:14, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose, no copyvios, spelling and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (reference section): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free content have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

First wave

Right off the bat, I notice there's only one source. Is there anything else out there? I've found these excerpt from Google Books:

• From Rivals of Weird Tales: 30 Great Fantasy & Horror Stories from the Weird Fiction Pulps (ISBN 0517693313; page xv):

  At first, however, rivarly was slow to develop. Between 1923 and 1931, Weird Tales ruled the weird fiction roost and only two magazines tried to steal its thunder: the narrowly focuesd Ghost Stories, and Tales of Magic and Mystery. The latter was an unusual combination of "true" occult stories and the occasional weird fiction tale; it lasted for only five issues between 1927 and 1928. However, the magazine could claim one coup: it published a tale by H. P. Lovecraft.

• From Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines (ISBN 031321221X; page 644):

  Tales of Magic and Mystery was a short-lived magazine which specialized in true tales and articles about magic and the occult, mixed in with a number of short stories. It has achieved a certain fame because it published a story by H. P. Lovecraft.

• From page 646 of the same book:

  ... had, in fact, also been reprinted in Weird Tales (October 1925), which implies that Owen had probably kept control of the reprint rights to the story. Whether he sanctioned its publication in [Tales of Magic and Mystery] is questionable. Gibson recalled that most of the fiction "was material that had been offered to Brief Stories or that Bill Kofoed acquired through regular contacts," but Gibson may not have known the full circumstances. Miriam Allen deFord also had a story in the magazine, "Ghostly Hands" (January 1928), but when Sam Moskowitz reprinted that story in Weird Tales fifty years later, it brought this response from the author: Believe me, "Ghostly Hands" is a ...

• From Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature: War–Z, Essays, Index (ISBN 0893564559, page 2452):

  Competition was a fact of life in the pulp market, and the first competitor to Weird Tales appeared in 1927 with Tales of Magic and Mystery. A poorly produced magazine, it featured an equal amount of fiction and nonfiction, much of it dealing with magic and magicians. Distinguished only for publishing H. P. Lovecraft's story "Cool Air," the magazine lasted for only five issues and quietly disappeared.

These may be redundant to whatever is contained in the book source present here, but I think they would help maintain notability. I'll have more to say later; it's a nice little article so far. (pinging Mike Christie) 23W 05:42, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Hi -- thanks for taking this on. The second of the three sources you quote is actually the one I'm using; it's by far the most detailed source out there for this magazine. The other two just have the sentences you quote, as far as I can see, and there are other sources with similar amounts of detail. I did think about the issue of a single source establishing notability, but I think it's OK -- after all, this discussion will be preserved on the talk page so anyone who questions the article's notability can see it.

Is there anything in the second source you think I should include in this article? The comment about Brief Stories I omitted because Ashley casts doubt on whether Gibson knew exactly what was going on, but the article is so short that perhaps I should add that, including Ashley's comment. There are some other minor details that I could include -- for example, Ashley speculates that what brought Lovecraft to submit to Tales of Magic and Mystery was the connection with Houdini; Lovecraft had ghost-written a story for Houdini a couple of years earlier. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 12:14, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

I realized that I'd forgotten to include the bibliographic details of two facsimile reprints that exist, so I've added those. I went back through Ashley and decided I'd been a bit too parsimonious in using the source, so I've added a couple of odds and ends -- the article is really too short not to use all the material there is. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 15:26, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Re: "The second of the three sources ..." Whoops! My bad; seriously don't know how I missed that.

Nicely done with your expansion. I've filled out the checklist above and put it on hold for a fortnight. I do think that detailing the rivalry between the magazine and Weird Tales as detailed in the other sources I gave would help out. I think it would be an easy addition. 23W 18:53, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Yes, I think that's a good addition. Done -- how does that look? Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 20:25, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Prose looks great—forgot to mention though (sorry): I think we'll need some sectioning done, per MOS:LAYOUT. Perhaps the entirety of the first section can be branched off into a "Publication history" section and a short lead can be created from it? 23W 20:32, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

No problem -- done. I didn't quite do what you suggested; I just added a little summary and made that the lead. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 20:57, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Very good; pass! 23W 21:12, 1 September 2014 (UTC)