Page:Weird Tales Volume 24 Number 06 (1934-12).djvu/126

 sion without reason or reality. Lovecraft puts beauty into some of his creations. He has a charm of wording that produces pleasurable tingles in the reader's mind, but several of his later stories have approached the phantasmics of the hashish dreamer: the creeping, creaking, billowing, bubbling excrescences of the slimy places. You may call them weird, perhaps they are, but they do not conform to my idea of weird. They are shadows, disappearing things that can not be clearly seen by the human eye, or comprehended by the human brain. Several times you, or some one of your readers, has made the statement that the truly weird was the thing suggested, not the thing described. I will go along with this view to a certain point but I can't subscribe to it after it has reached this certain point. To be charming, a story must contain something of the known and knowable, something of our own workaday world. Seabury Quinn gives it to us. We can follow every step of every one of his creations. He leaves no blank spaces at which we must blink. Robert E. Howard goes down into the unknowable at times, but his characters are understandable, beings with whom we can sympathize and feel; real, not shadeand shadows, gibberant mouthings of unseen things. I can, and do, enjoy Quinn and Howard, but, should I see a book on a bookstand bearing the name of C. L. Moore or Clark Ashton Smith, I should pass it by with a glance. I would examine a Lovecraft book before I purchased it. I would buy a Quinn or Howard book 'on faith', feeling that I was going to get my money's worth in pure enjoyment when I got around to the reading of it."

Virginia Kidd, of Catonsville, Maryland, writes: "What an issue! First, take the cover. I suppose you remember as well as I the beautiful girl on an entrancing green background, caressing a skull, on your cover a few months ago. Well, anyhow, it and this latest cover are the main reasons for Brundage taking on the stature of a genius, in my opinion. And the yarns—words could not possibly do them justice. For instance, Jirel of Joiry; what will she do? What can she do to regain her Guillaume? For she must. It's inevitable. Naturally, this in-

STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC., REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912,}}

Of Weird Tales, published monthly at Indianapolis, Indiana, for October 1, 1934.

State of Illinois County of Cook

ss.

Before me, a notary public in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared Wm. R. Sprenger, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the Business Manager of the Weird Tales and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 411, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the reverse of this form, to wit:

1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business manager are:

Publisher—Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 2457 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, Ind.

Editor—Farnsworth Wright, 840 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

Managing Editor—None.

Business Manager—William R. Sprenger, 840 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, 111.

2. That the owner is: (If owned by a corporation, its name and address must be stated and also immediately thereunder the names and addresses of stockholders owning or holding one per cent or more of total amount of stock. If not owned by a corporation, the names and addresses of the Individual owners must be given. If owned by a firm, company, or other unincorporated concern, its name and address, as well as those of each individual member must be given.)

Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 2457 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, Ind.

Wm. R. Sprenger, 840 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

Farnsworth Wright, 840 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

George M. Cornelius, 2457 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, Indiana.

George H. Cornelius, 2457 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, Indiana.

P. W. Cornelius, 2457 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, Indiana.

3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: (If there are none, so state).

None.

4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the owners, stockholders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company, but also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiant’s full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any interest, direct or indirect, in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him.

5. That the average number of copies of each issue of this publication sold or distributed, through the mails or otherwise, to paid subscribers during the twelve months preceding the date shown above is ________ (This information is required from daily publications only.)

WM. R. SPRENGER, Business Manager.

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 29th day of September, 1934. M. C. TRAVERS,

[SEAL]

My commission expires February 8, 1937.