Page:Weird Tales Volume 4 Number 4 (1924-12).djvu/178

Rh talers and Cro-Magnons existed side by side, and waged relentless and savage warfare against each other.

Our learned friends among the anthropologists tell us that the legend of ogres dates from cavemen times. The Neandertalers were so terrible and primitive and brutish, they tell us, that the Cro-Magnon cavemen never interbred with them, but killed them without mercy. And when a Cro-Magnon child strayed alone from its cave, and a cannibalistic Neandertaler stalked it, that was the end of the child; but the memory of those brutish and half-human people remains in our legends of ogres; for the Cro-Magnons were not exterminated by the nomadic tribes that afterwards entered Europe and peopled it, but intermarried with them, and retained some of their legends. Abraham Lincoln, some of the anthropologists say, had Cro-Magnon features, and was therefore a descendant of the cavemen who have left their art on the walls of the caves of Altamira and Cro-Magron (mere speculation, this, but interesting).

How would you like a tale of the warfare between a Cro-Magnon (say one of the artists who painted the pictures of reindeer and mammoths which still amaze the tourist) and one of those brutish ogres, perhaps over a girl who has taken the fancy of the Neandertaler; and the Cro-Magnon artist follows the Neandertal man to his den, and—. But we have no room to tell the story in The Eyrie. We wish one of our author friends would write it for us.

We want to hear your opinion of the stories in this issue. Which story do you like best of all? Do you prefer horror stories, mystery stories, crime stories? Or do you like astronomical tales, or stories dealing with the possibilities of inventive ingenuity and scientific research? Let us know your likes and dislikes. Write to The Eyrie,, and tell us what type of stories you think this magazine should carry.

This magazine wants to print the best weird tales that are obtainable. It specializes in tales of the bizarre and unusual. Occult and mystic tales, and tales of the supernatural, which are taboo in most editorial offices, are welcomed here, but they must be unusually well done. Tales of thrills and mystery; unusual tales of crime; tales of terror and horror (but nothing sickening or disgusting); pseudo-scientifie tales; tales of science, invention and surgery—these are the types that have gained its title of "The Unique Magazine" and built up our strong following of readers. Those who have followed the stories in this magazme feel that in its pages they can break away, for the time, from the matter-of-fact world about them and enter a land of fantasy and imagination. A solemn responsibility rests upon us to live up to your faith in the magazine, and we will not shirk that responsibility.

Letters are received each week asking for the August-September-October issue of. Because of the change in ownership and consequent reorganization of the magazine, the August-September-October number was not issued. Instead of that, in response to requests from all parts of the country, we have changed back again ta a monthly magazine, so that you, the readers, will not have to wait so long between issues. The first number of the reborn magazine was last month's issue (November, 1924, which was Volume IV, Number 3 of ).

So you did not get the quarterly issue for August-September-October because there was none printed; but the good things that were scheduled for that issue will be given you month by month—and there are a lot of fascinating stories in prospect for you.