Page:Weird Tales volume 30 number 01.djvu/128

 lutely free copies to die first one thousand readers of who write and ask for them. Our magazine will be a printed affair with twenty-four pages including a cover with a real weird illustration. All requests for these free copies must be mailed to 4522 15th St., N. W., Washington, D. C."

Gertrude Hemken, of Chicago, writes: "Shux now—I just been a-wonderin' if you couldn't be the eagle and we readers all the funny li'l eaglets—this department being the Eyrie. This sudden brain wave just occurred to me Duar the Accursed—Do I detect a slight resemblance to Conan the Barbarian? Mr. Ball is agonna be a pal of mine if he keeps up that type of tale. Aw gorsh—I was figgerin' on the Monster being real and not a nit-wit butcher in The Mark of the Monster, It was exciting up to the unmasking of the Devil-spawned twin brother (Personal to Editor:—Why don't authors use ordinary names for a change—I'm tired of reading odd names and suddenly realizing I've been reading them wrong. In this issue I find Valyne, Leocadie, Lavinia—ugh! I don't mind odd names when used in odd tales of old forgotten ages—or of lives on spheres beyond our ken. Course, I'm not expecting anyone to do anything about it, but I like to get it off my chest.) I have not been disappointed in Hazel Heald's story of The Horror in the Burying-Ground. The lady knows how to keep one's interest brimming. Her method of relating the circumstances as told by the general store council has a touch of humor. Any hard-fisted citizen would condemn them for a bunch of crackpots. As for me—I'd listen, git werry uncomfy and. when the tale is done, run like heck for home How strange—how utterly stupefying this Valtisneria Madness! It was beautiful—one of those times when words fail me again. I only can say, 'Thank you, Mr. Farley.

H. W. Morian, of Fort Knox, Tennessee, writes: "Those two comment-provokers, The Last Archer and Guardian of the Book, are indeed different. To me, they are a welcome reversion to the type of story seen in earlier years. The weird motif is stressed and carried out to a thought-provoking climax. Common adventure stories have no place in our magazine. I join Mr. Bloch in calling for more reprints by H. P. Lovecraft. Those stories are jeweled bits of artistry and I would particularly like to request The Strange High House in the Mist. My files fail to show the copy containing the original."

Charles H. Bert, of Philadelphia, writes: "I would like to speak of the stories that impressed me most favorably during the last six months, and a few things in general. I was indeed surprized to find in the May that The Dark Star by G. G. Pendarves didn't receive first place in the March number. It was a remarkable yarn. The translation of the hero into the picture, and his struggles with the evil entity and his subsequent escape, was really weird and shivery. This is the kind of story I always look for, something new and different! Equally as good but in another way, was The Last Archer, by Earl Peirce, Jr. Nothing new about a curse haunting the descendants of a family for generations and killing them off; your authors have used plots like this many times. But The Last Archer was a story in which the curse harmed no one but the one whom it was pronounced against; and it hounded Farquhar through the centuries in his search of 'the greatest archer,' until he finally killed himself on an island! The curse did not kill anyone except Farquhar, and that was a unique ending for a fine tale Symphony of the Damned by John Speer is a yarn I will long remember. It is worthy to stand in the company of Satan's Fiddle, published a decade ago. Speer's story was Faustian in character, a man sells his soul to the devil for power and fame. The best story in recent months was The Globe of Memories by Seabury Quinn. Lady Fulvia was so real and likable a character, that one cannot help sympathizing and loving her, and pitying the fate that overtook her. Quinn's story was one of the best reincarnation stories I have ever read in your fine magazine. I am certainly glad that The Globe of Memories did not end in tragedy as most of your stories do. When I first read the yarn, so powerfully was I affected by it, that within a few days I read it again! That story is not easily forgotten Another story I enjoyed was The Poppy Pearl