Page:Weird Tales Volume 02 Number 2 (1937-02).djvu/126

 Black Forest type. Your authors do not seem to realize that there are vampires of a far more insidious type that they could talk about, and one of your stories illustrates this: The Portrait of a Murderer; also The Album."

Gertrude Hemken, of Chicago, writes: "Well—I must admit your new cover designs are mighty interesting. Mr. St. John is very realistic in his portrayals. Guess we all like a bit of variety. It's a grand change from Mrs. Brundage's beauties. Of course, I hope you won't forget her either. The whole of the December issue was good. I was glad to see Otis Adelbert Kline again. Conan is gone—but Robert E. Howard turned out a good yarn in his Fire of Asshurbanipal. Somehow he always incorporates a marvelous jewel of stupendous proportions in his yarns—and don't I just eat it up! The illustration for the tale is perfectly horrid—there is just enough shadow to make the other world entity vague and frightening. A good picture. Well, well, well—Out of the Sun was quite different. Virgil Finlay sketched the beauty as quite a modern—even to the current fashion of full lips. As for the story itself, I can add nothing further other than I enjoyed it muchly. Edgar Daniel Kramer proves a philosopher with his verse, Vespers. I felt much better after I read it. Lovecraft is always good for an exciting yarn. The Haunter of the Dark was all of that and more. The suspense was terrible—my eyes just about popped out of their sockets at the awful being that could bear only the dark. Now Fearn gives us a tale of hypnotism in a strange form. One of those affairs that makes you sit tight until the climax—wondering what's gonna happen next—and then it does happen and ya relax all in one heap. Iss O. K, Mr. Fearn. An'nen lil Robert Bloch gives us voodoo—very primitive—very skeery—very—well—I found Mother of Serpents darn good! I've mentioned Kline before—E. Hoffmann Price and he worked out a squirmy, gaspy story. Imagine a cyclops in these days—my, my! Uh—Virgil has again proved himself a good illustrator for The Woman at Loon Point. He has captured the transition from man to wolf marvelously—the horror-stricken faces of the other two characters makes a most pitiful scene. Derleth comes up to standard with his collaborator, and I was well satisfied. Well—the strangest of all ghost stories (or is it a ghost story?) is The Album by Amelia Reynolds Long. It was a well-written piece—leaving much to the imagination—something to be studied—food for thought—something unanswered—yet I do not want to know the answer. 'The Theater Upstairs was a ghost story—or am I wrong again? It's—a—a—spooky! An' it's leading me to believe that if the narrator would keep searching for that theater upstairs, he will eventually lose his mind. I liked it. Gosh—I—uh—um—this Henry Kuttner is a man after me own heart—he writes the oogiest tales—and invariably has the characters or settings German. It Walks by Night was grand, coupled with gruesome unnamable things that move and are dead and the German—ja he is a good Landsmann. Pussonlly, I'm inclined to believe he likes graveyards. But then, they are the scariest things when one is walking by alone at night."

Van Rosicruis, of Sioux City, Iowa, writes: "Some time ago I asked when you intended to give us tales of reincarnation. Do you mind if I repeat the question? Why not pass it on to the talented authors who contribute to ? Among them there surely must be one or more fully capable of delving into that phase of the mysteries of life and emerging with something worth while." [How about The Globe of Memories, by Seabury Quinn, in this issue?—]

Charles H. Deems, of Batesville, Arkansas, writes: "Genuine ghost stories seem to have made a comeback with the October and November issues. In the former number, The Lost Door by Dorothy Quick (always liked that name) is a beautifully told and fascinating ghost story. Also in this issue was C. L. Moore's The Tree of Life, I found this story more interesting than any of Moore's previous stories. Most of this author's stories are practically non-conversational, which is difficult for me to digest. In the latter number, two more ghost stories appear; both were fine It is becoming more difficult every month to pick the best