Page:Weird Tales volume 32 number 01.djvu/114



ANY of our readers object to our occasional use of weird stories from the classics of the past, and would have us confine our monthly Weird Story Reprint entirely to old tales from this magazine. Others want serials in the reprint section. Still others ask for translations of weird tales in other languages. We would like to hear from you, the readers, regarding this matter, for it is your likes and dislikes that govern us in the preparation of each issue.

Thunder in the Dawn

John Agnew writes from Philadelphia: "The May issue contained some excellent stories, the best of which was Kuttner's Thunder in the Dawn. I am anxiously awaiting the concluding chapters of this story, and, if it is as good as the first installment, I will be perfectly satisfied. Another darn good story is The Isle of the Sleeper, by Edmond Hamilton. The plot was very ingenious, and the story was well written. Jack Williamson, who, incidentally, is one of my favorites, concluded Dreadful Sleep in fine style. I am looking forward to Eando Binder's From the Beginning."

Smooth Edges

Seymour Kapetansky writes from Detroit: "Finlay deserves orchids for his careful work on the April issue, and for his garishly overwhelming cover. The Devil Deals has a grand start—loathsome, unusual, unworldly—and ends on such a hacky note I could scream. Clark Ashton Smith's tale is up to his exquisite and usual standard. He creates a gem of a word pattern, and a truly weird pattern. Feathertop is not uncommon enough for WT. Reprints should come from sources that can't be tapped by most readers, not from the public repositories of literature.... The House of Ecstasy—sex rears its un-ugly head here, but for a laudable purpose —a new idea in WT. I'm racking my brain for that address all my waking hours now. Max Brod, in translation, reads cleverly diabolic. As I read each WT I bless its continual use of smooth edges. Inherent merit is emphasized, although there is a dictum: Don't judge a book from its cover. If Finlay does all the covers like die one he did for the April issue, I'd be pretty proud to judge WT by its cover. But I suppose lots of nice, full-length nudes are scheduled for coming months."

A Letter from Chicago

G. H. writes from Chicago: "Hm—hm—m—m—mM! Seems that Henry K. has got something to suit my taste just fine—Atlantis—tall blond men—magic—and the overwhelming sense of the immense palm that lifts Elak and Solonala, the faun-girl. Boy oboy—am I ever anxious for the next installment! Sompin else new again—liv'n'learn! This time the late Howard gives zuvembie in Pigeons From Hell. The pigeon theory is still vague to me but the gosh-awfulness of the whole tale is too shuddery—one of those diings that makes some folks have nitemares. Now Goetterdaemmerung has me up a tree somewhat—it's thoroughly exciting—very unusual—but why, oh, why—must writers, in their tales of the future, have a Mongol horde conquer and ruthlessly destroy this land of ours? Why not give a pleasant tale of the future—a work that is odd, entertaining, weird and yet not have some malignant monster lurking in a corner, waiting to play cat and mouse with the hero and his shero? Edmond Hamilton's Isle of the Sleeper was rather amusing. How often in dreams does one walk in delight and suddenly see that which is wholly

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