Page:Weird Tales volume 28 number 03.djvu/114

380 after, a great hue and cry arises, a clamorous howl of derision is sent up by the readers, telling the writer to remember this is America and to speak United States. (I've had experience in the above matter after introducing German into a manuscript during high schooldays.) So!!! Now for the benefit of the readers who are ignorant of Français, either by choice or otherwise (or am I the only one who does not know the language?), is it too much to ask the writers to pen a few words extra of translation? For instance— ' Wie gehts— How goes it?' 'Taint so much work now—is it? And if I see much more of that French rubbish, I'm gonna hie me down to your editorial offices and rub those writers' noses in a few German verbs and tenses! And now for a placid comment on the bizarre and unusual: I am getting to like Clark Ashton Smith better 'n' better—his stories are acquiring a strangeness new to his former tales; e. g.—Necromancy in Naat. A new land, a new fate to befall victims of the wizards, braving a similarity to Zombie—but so utterly different—more repellent. And the ending pleased me—the hero didn't vanquish the villain, nor did he escape his doom and save his fair lady. Yessir, Mr. Smith, you are pleasing me mightily of late. The verse, Hagar, by Edgar Daniel Kramer, wasn't half bad. He completes in a few breathless lines a story that is deeply imbedded within us all—fear of dark forests—fear of lurking, nameless unknown horrors, fear of natural phenomena that assume the grotesqueness of fearsome legendary spawns of other worlds. Ah me—I am so happy! Conan is grand, recalling former tales of men and dragons—Siegfried of the Nibelungenlied (now I s'pose someone wants to know what that means!)—St. George and his dragon—countless others—every nation has such a hero. I dunno as yet where the Red Nails come in, but my! it's exciting already; strange, possibly unexplored places. Goody—I'm just so-o-o happy, I could gurgle! Robert E. Howard gave the readers of WT one of the finest, most lovable brutes of a hero anyone could want. Conan is the embodiment of the kind of man everyone admires: strength and nerve to please the men; physique—wunderbar! to please the ladies. Enough rawness to be yet a barbarian and still experience enough to be better educated than the majority of those he encounters. He has a mind strong enough to throw off the spells of wizards. He is a fighter, adventurer, explorer and lover—a real he-man. Mr. Howard is indeed a clever man!... Loot of the Vampire certainly put a new angle on vampires. I was well-satisfied with the whole story.... I note you stated my letter in the July issue was entertaining. I am complimented and trust that all my letters may be even more so. Auf wiederschreiben."

John V. Baltadonis, of Philadelphia, writes: "Well—I wasn't disappointed in the least bit; Loot of the Vampire certainly had a swell ending. That was a peach of a yarn. However, it didn't quite take the cake, so to speak, Ronal Kayser's story, The Unborn, nosing it out. The Unborn certainly had a new idea. For that reason and because it was well written, I give it first place in the July issue. This story is certainly a great step from The Albino Deaths. Clark Ashton Smith's yarn, Necromancy in Naat, took third place, with Hamilton's and Moore's tales following. Virgil Finlay's art work is without a doubt superb. I often find myself wondering how he would be on the cover, De Lay's illustration for Hamilton's yarn, When the World Slept, is certainly a humdinger. I'll close with an appeal for that plucky, inimitable Frenchman, Jules de Grandin."

Arel Rusl, of Mount Vernon, Illinois, writes: "Here goes the first letter that I have written to this department in ten years of reading your most excellent magazine. I think it's about time one of your old fans got into the swing of things by telling what he thinks of old WT in general and the July issue in particular. Vampires are my particular dish and I like short shorts; so two of your fairly recent yarns stick in my mind, namely, The Horror Undying and The Amulet of Hell. Both were swell and I think we should see more from those authors. The best tale in the July issue seemed to me to be The Kelpie. For sheer horror and originality it has few peers. The Unborn and When the World Slept tie for second place, but all the stories were up to standard, which is tantamount to the highest raise Well, I suppose this is enough for the first letter. And are you surprized to note the lack of