Page:Weird Tales volume 28 number 02.djvu/116

254 suffer in any respect because the figures were not complete; you had this style of cover in 1931, I recall; why not effect a joyful return? Think also of the many readers who save WT covers; what a boon a picture, neatly blocked off, devoid of all lettering, is to them! They must either take the cover, besprinkled with ads which do not in any way add to the languorous charms of Mrs. Brundage's beauties, as is, or must cut out the figures. And the lettering below the picture on the May cover is conspicuous enough, yea, even more than the mass effect on the June cover. Again, there is the script heading, 'The Unique Magazine,' truly a parr of WT's personality. Can we not have that, at least? One hopes that sufficient letters pour in from other readers similarly minded to show that there is a real majority of feeling on this score. Allow me to pan Mr. Paul Ernst, before going any farther, for his remarkable sub-villain, Girse. Of course, it is not uncommon for WT characters to die several times before making their final exit, but this one had a truly unique demise, He was utterly consumed in The Consuming Flame (quite appropriately) and Satan vowed vengeance. The doctor must have found enough remnants of his departed henchman to revive him, because Girse is well and healthy in Horror Insured until Keane again sends him to a fiery doom. And again Doctor Satan vows vengeance; I looked for Girse to appear in The Devil's Double but evidently Satan decided that Girse was too vulnerable for further resurrections. Perhaps Bostiff, now dead for the first time, can outdo Girse's record. Outside of this one amusing boner, the series have been fine."

Charles H. Bert, of Philadelphia, writes: "I liked the June issue. For the first time in months you have a real weird cover. Count Woerz, who holds the fragile morsel of humanity in his hands, is certainly evil-looking and would raise the hair on a bald spot. M. Brundage has just the right mixture of the pastel crayons, green and yellow, on the Count's face, giving the expression of a dead-alive corpse. The cover is commendable and in the spirit of the magazine. I have not read Loot of the Vampire, but I am sure it will come up to expectations. Without a doubt the best story in the issue is Black Canaan by Robert E. Howard. He shows a knowledge of the southern Cajuns and displays it pridefully. If I may say so, I consider Black Canaan superior to The Hour of the Dragon, and weirder. The Conan stories are generally spoiled by excessive slaughter. I cannot be weirdly thrilled month after month, year after year, in which the hero is always slaughtering his enemies with a two-fisted sword. The first few tales were splendid with a primitive power and fired the imagination. But the ones that followed consist of practically the same thing with not much variation in plots. The main thing in those stories was the excessive slaughter. 'Red battles' and 'mighty deeds' don't inspire one with a weird feeling; perhaps to others they do, but not to me. Here's hoping Red Nails, the new Conan serial, pleases me. The description sounds good. I like Hugh Davidson's House of the Evil Eye very much, although I know that Davidson is the nom de plume of Edmond Hamilton. You see, the style of writing betrays him. Hamilton is turning out some very good yarns lately, and I rate House of the Evil Eye among his best. The story's not as impossible as it sounds. I have a clipping somewhere in my file of strange facts which states that the eye emanates a ray which affects certain forms of vegetable growths. Incredible, but true. It was a recent discovery of modern science. Hamilton is very good when he turns out stories like Child of the Winds, In the World's Dusk, and Murder in the Grave, and quite otherwise when he turns out such junk as The Six Sleepers, with its warped misguided future civilization, and The Great Brain of Kaldar with its lifeless stock characters, impossible happenings, and brainless entities. I was surprized to find The Brain In the Jar as a reprint. I gave up hope years ago of ever seeing that splendid story once more in. If I remember correctly, the story was requested by a reader in 1929. I enjoyed it very much and it still stands out as one of the 'eye of prophecy' stories; one of those stories upon which the fame of the magazine was built. It is still unique and different. I don't consider the story impossible. A few months ago Russian scientists discovered a means of preserving living human blood for three months, and you know how complex blood is. Those admirable Russians are going ahead with the