Page:Weird Tales Volume 5 Number 5 (1925-05).djvu/135

326 some of the most vivid bits of Haitian legend in a remarkable series of short stories beginning in next month's issue. Voodoo is the basis of West Indian belief; and we sincerely hope that the Virgin Islands, our country's outpost in the West Indies, will shortly yield some of their wild beliefs to the scholarly pen of the Reverend Henry S. Whitehead, who has just returned from there. In the West Indies magic is the one touchstone to the character of the people. The obeah doctor still flourishes; the jumbie roams the canefields at night on the watch for unwary negroes; and two of Mr. Whitehead's personal friends are popularly believed to be werewolves!

"I wish I could get a story of the Virgin Islands published in the local dialect, in which I can preach," writes Mr. Whitehead, "but it would be virtually unintelligible to the reading public:

Mon, yo' lated!'

A-wee ca' cuke tell a-wee ca' done yett, mon!'

"I don't suppose there’s anything quite like it on top of the earth."

The votes of the readers for favorite story in the March issue were more evenly distributed than in any previous poll. The favorites seem to be Radio V-Rays, by Jan Dirk; The Flaming Eyes, by Fletcher R. Milton; and The Death Bottle, by Volney G. Mathison. What is YOUR favorite story in the present issue? We want to know what stories you like best, so that we may give you more of the same type. Tell us which story you prefer in this issue; and if there is any story that displeases you, tell us about that, too. This is your magazine, and it is you who determine the type of stories in it. Address your letter to The Eyrie,, 317 Baldwin Building, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Paul Shaffer, of Windber, Pennsylvania, sends in to The Eyrie a crossword puzzle, writing: "It is not my purpose to make a crossword puzzle of Weird Tales, but I am in this way expressing my favorite magazine, also the two best authors in this issue: March, 1925. 1 Vert, and 8 Vert, are first and second choice respectively, while 1 Hor., 5 Hor., 20 Vert, and 22 Hor. express the way I feel toward the magazine itself."

The crosswordings mentioned read: "WEIRD TALES IS GREAT" and the puzzle-constructor's two favorite authors in the March issue are WHITEHEAD (author of The Thin Match) and STRATTON (author of A Pair of Mummies). Such words as "weird", "eery" and "eyrie" are used in the construction of this ingenious expression of approval.

Dawn Good, of Los Angeles, writes: "There is no other magazine in the world that comes through with such good all-around satisfaction as yours. There is one fault I have to find, however, and that is that you publish only once a month. Can't you publish at least twice a month?"

P. M. De Leon, of Chicago, specially praises "the unusual stories created by Arthur Thatcher: The Valley of Teeheemen and The Last of the Teeheemen;" and B. Travis, of Portland, Oregon, expresses the wish that Leo A. Borah would write some more stories like The House of Dust.

Warren A. Gregory, of Lynn, Massachusetts, writes: "I have just read Radio V-Rays and do absolutely pronounce it to be one peach of a story. But what is the best story in the issue it is hardly possible for anyone to tell—the yarns are all so good."

J. Wasso, Jr., writes from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania: "I like to have my 'weird tales' in your magazine strong in both horror and terror, without being repulsive and disgusting. Good stories give the readers thrills, without being nauseating. My real favorites, however, are neither horror nor terror