When Strange Tales first appeared, it was clearly something new. Edited by Harry Bates, it combined the supernatural horror and fantasy of Weird Tales with vigorous action plots. Strange Tales rapidly attracted the most imaginative and capable writers of the day, including Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Henry S. Whitehead, Hugh B. Cave, Ray Cummings, and numerous others. Had the Great Depression not intervened and killed it after seven issues, the whole history of fantastic fiction might have been different.

Issue #5 issue features work by Hugh B. Cave, Clark Ashton Smith, Paul Ernst, Henry S. Whitehead, Robert E. Howard, and many more.