Rural Publshing
In the late 19th century, popular magazines typically did not print fiction to the exclusion of other content; they would include nonfiction articles and poetry, as well. In October 1896, Frank A. Munsey Company's Argosy magazine was the first to switch to printing only fiction, and in December of that year, it changed to using cheap wood-pulp paper. This is now regarded by magazine historians as having been the start of the pulp magazine era. For years, pulp magazines were successful without restricting their fiction content to any specific genre, but in 1906, Munsey launched Railroad Man's Magazine, the first title that focused on a particular niche. Other titles that specialized in particular fiction genres followed, starting in 1915 with Detective Story Magazine, with Western Story Magazine following in 1919.[6] Weird fiction, science fiction, and fantasy all appeared frequently in the pulps of the day, but by the early 1920s, still no single magazine was focused on any of these genres, though The Thrill Book, launched in 1919 by Street & Smith with the intention of printing “different”, or unusual, stories, was a near miss.[6][7]
In 1922, J. C. Henneberger, the publisher of College Humor and The Magazine of Fun, formed Rural Publishing Corporation of Chicago, in partnership with his former fraternity brother, J. M. Lansinger.[8] Their first venture was Detective Tales, a pulp magazine that appeared twice a month, starting with the October 1, 1922 issue. It was initially unsuccessful, and as part of a refinancing plan, Henneberger decided to publish another magazine that would allow him to split some of his costs between the two titles. Henneberger had long been an admirer of Edgar Allan Poe, so he created a fiction magazine that would focus on horror, and titled it Weird Tales.[9][10]