Page:Weird Tales volume 24 number 03.djvu/120



ROM time to time we are importuned by our readers to devote several pages of each month to a forum in which the lovers of fantastic fiction can exchange views. We are asked to have articles on weird fiction generally, information about our authors, debates between the fans. It has been suggested that we expand the Eyrie for this purpose, and make it a battleground for the conflicts of the weird fiction fans. This we have stedfastly refused to do, for, after all, is a magazine of fiction, and undue expansion of the Eyrie, or the opening of a new department to satisfy the fans, would take just that much space away from weird stories, which are our primary interest. So, instead of reducing our story space to make room for such a department, we suggest to those of you who are interested that you write to Charles D. Hornig, editor of The Fantasy Fan, whose home address is 137 West Grand Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey. We have been receiving The Fantasy Fan for several months, and we think it is just the forum you want—that is, those of you who make weird fiction your hobby. The Fantasy Fan does not appear on the news stands, but Mr. Hornig can supply you with detailed information about it.

Joseph T. Ryerson, of Muskegon Heights, Michigan, writes to the Eyrie: "Having been a constant reader of WT ever since its conception, I feel it's about time I aired my thoughts. I just read in the July issue the reprint from your first issue, The Dead Man's Tale, and feel that your present authors will have to keep on their toes in order to maintain the standard of that story. But for sheer pathos and beauty, One Christmas Eve stands out above the rest. It was a very fortunate circumstance that Robert E. Howard did not have a hand in writing Through the Gates of the Silver Key, for it is a humdinger as it is No biographies of authors, please."

B. M. Reynolds, of North Adams, Massachusetts, writes: "Congratulations on your July issue. It was a knockout and then some. I don't believe you have ever put out an issue containing so many stories of superb quality and high standard. You have certainly set a new high mark. Through the Gates of the Silver Key was a classic, and positively the best piece of work those incomparable artists Lovecraft and Price have ever done. Its cosmic scope and imaginative brilliance certainly give one plenty of food for thought. By all means give us a sequel to this story, and get Randolph Carter or one of his 'facets' back to earth again. Arlton Eadie takes second honors with his new mystery serial, The Trail of the Cloven Hoof. This is the best serial since Golden Blood and the best work I have ever seen by Eadie. If he can sustain the present high mark of eery mystery and nameless horror throughout the forthcoming chapters, he will have written a masterpiece. The Master of Souls by Harold Ward was also a very entertaining and unusual story, having a most bizarre and original theme. Ward's work has been steadily improving, and I am surprized he does not receive more comment."

Edgar Hurd, of Crescent City, California, writes: "I have been reading for about four years and I think it has

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