Page:Weird Tales Volume 5 Number 4 (1925-04).djvu/165



ETTERS are still coming in to The Eyrie begging the editors of not to heed the advice of those readers who want the magazine to cease printing horror stories. Though the objections were in most cases directed against extreme tales of disgusting topics such as blood-drinking and body-eating, nevertheless some of our readers were insistent, that we should absolutely eliminate all stories that might be considered gruesome by even the most fastidious. To those who want to cease being weird, we arc forced to say that this magazine is printed for the benefit of its readers, and the great majority of you, so far as we can judge, want  to remain weird.

When the new owners of this magazine came into possession last autumn, their first act was to put the question squarely up to the readers as to what kind of stories they wanted. The response was overwhelming: "Give us stories that are in accord with the title of the magazine; give us bizarre, uncanny tales that will make us lie awake at night, tales such as we cannot get in any other magazine." At the same time, there were many letters protesting against "nauseating" stories; and we have kept the magazine free from such tales.

A theme can be unpleasant, and yet handled well. As a test of reader sentiment, we printed in our February issue the vampire story, Four Wooden Stakes, by Victor Rowan. It was highly praised by many of our readers, and not one letter has been received condemning it because of its themes (As a sign of the times, it might be mentioned that Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, which is without doubt the most gruesome, horrifying and fascinating vampire tale ever printed, went into two new editions in this country during 1924.)

M. H. Wender, of Oak Hill, West Virginia, states the case for those who want truly weird tales. He writes to The Eyrie: "I am writing this in fear of losing the only magazine that can really be called unusual. I have noticed in several issues lately where some of your readers are requesting a discontinuance of the stories bordering on the ghastly to extremes, and some even go so far as to request (or almost) a stop to any story that appears to be weird. Haven't we enough Blue-Noses in this country trying to stop everything and anything that pretends to give pleasure to us poor humans, without their trying to bust up the only real magazine ever printed? I say, give us the real scary kind, the kind you lie awake until midnight reading, and stay awake the rest of the night because you cannot sleep. And for those who want