Are Coming," if "The Grey One" is the best he can do in the fantasy line. I happen to know it isn't, happily. Gottesman and Keller were fair.
"The Words of Guru" and "The Silence" I've saved for last. The latter I enjoyed tremendously, but thought "The Words of Guru" its superior. Gad! Such magnificent handling of a horror theme I haven't seen since "Fear." This was a superb job of writing. That's the only word for it. Superb. But both tales were beautifully gruesome and it was a genuine achievemen to be able to print both in the same issue.
Your art now surpasses that of any other stf mag on the stand. Very happy to see you return Dold. How about making it a regular appearance, no? It's nice to see that Forte is no longer among those present, and Bok is still Bok. Anything added to that would be more than superfluous. The cover is striking; a splendid color contrast. Keep up the two color arrangement by all means.
Thank you. We intend to use Dold as often as we can. However we fear that his appearance will be limited insofar as he no longer resides in New York and his time is limited. We have an illustration of his coming up next month and trust we shall be able to present a Dold with every succeeding issue. Dold is greeted by Walter A. Carrithers of Fresno, California:—
Congratulations! Stirring Science Stories is now really going somewhere. Thanx-a-million for the biggest scoop this year. Someone has at last brought Elliott Dold back! The greatest illustrator of stf in the market. Let Dold and Bok (He's No. 3 on my list, Finlay's 2) illustrate SSS, the best illustrated stf magazine of all, beating Campbell and the others, too! Thanx again for Dold!
A brief note from A. L. Schwartz of Dorchestre, Mass.:
Ah! A five star issue of Stirring this time. An excellent cover, six good stories ("Pioneer," "Martian Fantasy," "Human Mice of Kordar," "Trail's End, "Mr. Packer," "The Silence"), very good interior pics by Bok, Dolgov,—hmm, tha's about all.
The only things I want are longer stories and smooth edges. (Do I hear a loud editorial "No?")
No, you don't. The question of story lengths depends on our readers. As for smooth edges, our new size has made that a dead issue. About the first however, R. Cornelius Jones of Decatur, Alabama says:—
I've just finished reading the Vortex department. There I noticed that most of your readers are for longer stories. But, I say unto you, keep them as they are. Two novelettes and the rest short stories. Reason: I don't have time to read long stories at one sitting, and if I read just a little at a time, I tend to lose interest. I'm sure there are many more readers like me . . . . .You're doing fine as it is. Don't make any radical changes! I enjoy Lowndes' short stories.
So you see, readers Schwartz and Jones, that there are two sides to every question. At the present time, we feel that we are giving our readers more satisfaction with a larger number of shorter stories than with a lesser number of longer stories.
Writes Marguerite M. Ward of Klamath Falls, Oregon:—
You have a grand little magazine. We all enjoy the "step ahead" stories. The poem "Earthlight on the Moon" in the June number is especially good. Let us have more poetry of this nature with technical perfection and broader vision. May Stirring Science live long and prosper.
Ray Garfield of St. Louis, Mo. writes:—
I found Burks' "Pioneer" to have an interesting style of approach with a quietly pleasant turn to it. "Martian Fantasy" hit some fine moods in the Martian sequence which was balanced neatly by the melodramatic hypnotic interlude. "Forgotten Tongue" was very good—an exceedingly clever idea handled perfectly. "Spokesman for Terra" was a wow. "Human Mice" was a Burroughs adventure yarn that came off nicely for the magazine's balance. "Jitterbug" seemed to have two different moods to it as if written in two distinct installments. "Trail's End" was a gem.
Corwin is always good and "Mr. Packer" is his best. The Grey One" was a weird little tale. "The Words of Guru" is the star of the magazine—a classic for which I predict growing fame as time goes on. "The Silence" was another quietly terrific yarn. "Kazam Collects" had some fine lines in it. "The Moon Artist" is Keller—and that should be enough for anyone. Sorry, if I can't find a thing to knock—for once I've found a magazine in which I liked everything. And now I'm yelling at the top of my lungs for a monthly appearance. How about it?
A letter like the above is the sort of thing editors dream of receiving but get, alas, so rarely. Mr. Garfield's yelling was heard in our offices all right, we've given him that desired monthly appearance. But remember if we are to keep on improving and keep this magazine one which you will be delighted to rush for each month, we've got to have your advice. The editor can do his share and the writers theirs only if the readers continue to keep us informed as to how we I are making out, what are our flaws, and what to do about them. Writing letters to the editor is the one sure way of helping to better the magazine. So, readers, do your share. Write us that letter with your comments on this issue.
