Page:Weird Tales volume 32 number 05.djvu/116

636 masterful short, The Tree. Clark Ashton Smith was of course masterful in Mother of Toads, but I definitely didn't like Spawn of Dagon or The Fire Princess. The former somehow didn't seem to belong in WT, and the latter would be much better as a movie serial for ten-year-olds. The Black Drama is my idea of what a weird story should be, and I only wish I hadn't missed the first part. Finlay is a fine artist, and the July cover wasn't too bad, but heaven forbid that we get any more like the August one! Your poetry is uniformly good, except for The Messenger which stands out heads and shoulders above the rest, and I read the Eyrie before anything else. Keep up reprinting old stories and try to use more by Lovecraft and Howard, won't you? I think that they can be safety classed along with Poe, judging from what I've read of them. I have just one request to make—try to keep the magazine devoted exclusively to weird material. Science-fiction I enjoy tremendously, and a certain amount of it, as in He that Hath Wings, is all right, but when I buy I expect something weird, and nothing more like Invaders from Outside, although that story would have been perfectly all right in a science-fiction magazine."

B. M. Reynolds writes from North Adams, Massachusetts: "Many thanks for printing that superb tale, The Fire Princess, by Edmond Hamilton. His work seems finer than ever of late. This new novel from his pen is a veritable gem of sheer fantasy, comparing favorably with his Child of the Winds, Lake of Life and Isle of the Sleeper. More power to you, Mr. Hamilton; may your work appear often in our magazine. A Thunder of Trumpets, by Robert E. Howard and his co-author is, likewise, a splendid contribution, well-written and compelling throughout. The character Ranjit embodies within himself the mysticism and witchery of the real India, which ever lurks brooding behind its civilized sham, to a greater degree than any other fiction character I have ever contacted. Other yarns of note were: The Cavern, A Witch's Curse and The White Rat."

Osmond Robb writes from Edinburgh, Scotland: "Just a short appreciation of your magazine, which has given me many hours of delightfully blood-curdling enjoyment. My first acquaintance with the work of your star authors was made not through the medium of WT itself but via the famous Not at Night series of carefully selected reprint shockers, published in England, many of which were from your magazine. Eli Colter—Seabury Quinn—H. P. Lovecraft—these names were strange to me when I encountered them in the pages of the little red books with the gruesome titles, By Daylight Only, Not at Night, Grim Death, etc. I must confess that then, as now, the unvarnished blood-and-thunders which sought to revolt the reader by nauseous details of putrefaction and slimy abomination left me cold. I wanted other-worldly horror, the chill dread of what may lie beyond the farthest outposts of our cognizance, not the cheap revulsion of rotting cadavers. This eery, authentic thrill the late lamented H. P. L. provided, and the first story I ever read by this exquisite literary craftsman established me as one of his fans. The Horror at Red Hook, with its muttering crones, its vile incantations and its final glimpse into the shadows of an all-too-realistic inferno sent shivers up and down my spine. Since that date I have never been disappointed by a Lovecraft story. Your magazine today is well-nigh perfect Congratulations to Gertrude Hemken on her consistently amusing monthly letter; the slang she uses is so richly expressive that it recalls Elizabethan times. In this age of polite, stereotyped literary styles it is refreshing to find somebody who can invent words and phrases as she goes along. I imagine Drury would make an A-1 correspondence-friend. I will close with an invitation to your authors. Why not read up the folklore of my home town, Edinburgh? I assure you it is replete with spooky legends that could be worked into shivery stories. 'Nuff said."