a realistic fashion, but The Woman at Loon Point is just another werewolf yarn, much as Four Wooden Stakes was just another vampire skit. The cover ought to have a lot of news-stand appeal, but for the high literary standard of our mag' I think it's too trashy. Maybe some of these comments sound like knocks. They're not meant to be. What appears to me as time-worn or uninteresting may intrigue plenty of other readers. And what I like most of them probably avoid. Even those stories I list as mediocre, I read with interest because they come under the category of 'weird'. I would delight in a Weird Tales that appeared every month with a plain cover void of picture but bearing a weird design and the usual masthead. But I realize that this would not appeal to the general public who pore over the news stands and pick out the gaudiest (and sexiest) appearing offerings. If something like that could be worked out, however, a concession might be made to those whose imaginations have to be stimulated by pictures with the inclusion of a frontispiece. By the way, a couple of months ago young Earl Peirce, Jr., dropped into my office with a yarn called The Last Archer. I read it and thought it one of the finest weird tales I have ever read. I understand you have accepted it, and he's told me of the amplification of the old curse you suggested and which he made; so believe me I'm looking forward to its publication with a lot of interest."
In Praise of H. P. Lovecraft
Henry Kuttner, of Beverly Hills, California, writes: "Congrats on several counts: the forthcoming Finlay cover; the December cover, unusual and attractive; the Lovecraft story. As usual, the Lovecraftian tale tops all others in the issue, and the only wonder is why HPL doesn't write, and you don't run, more stories of this nature. Lovecraft remains, as always, supreme in his ability to write of the utterly unearthly in a disturbingly convincing manner. The Dweller in Providence avenged himself effectually on Bloch for his double demise in The Dark Demon and The Shambler from the Stars!"
Ladies in the Raw
Walter A. Thorne, of Riverdale, Maryland, writes: "Congratulations on your December issue of Weird Tales, the best in over two years, which was almost a hundred per cent weird! The lone exception to this group of excellent tales was A Passion in the Desert. I can't for the life of me see anything supernatural about a dumb brute's attachment for one of the human species, although in this instance the beast's taste can be questioned since I think that of the two actors in the desert drama the panther had the more admirable character. Maybe the beastie was suffering from a 'fixation', as the psychologists so adeptly put it. The title, I don't care a hoot if Balzac did conceive it, was certainly out of place in your magazine, being far more appropriate for those publications that peddle sensational cheap tales of true love and romance. Or was that the impression that the author intended to convey by this literary attempt? . . . One more word. Why do the ladies customarily run about in the raw in Weird Tales? I mean in the stories, of course. They may be slightly exposed to the elements in the illustrations, but what does that matter? Most of the Weird Tales fanciers purchase the magazine for reading purposes, not to look at the pictures. However, I would like to know why an undraped lady is considered to be more weird than one with three or four ounces of clothing? All the ladies at the bathing-beaches look either comely or grotesque, certainly not supernatural, unless they have warts on their toes or something."
St. John and Brundage
John V. Baltadonis, of Philadelphia, writes: "I must compliment St. John again upon his excellent cover design. His last two illustrations are a great improvement over some of his earlier work. I for one favor the alternating of those two celebrated artists, Brundage and St. John. I am very glad to notice that Finlay will do a cover in the near future. I am all agog wondering what it will look like. I hope that it is as good as his past interior illustrating. The best story in the issue was Howard's epical tale, The Fire of Asshurbanipal. It seems indeed a pity that Howard left the world at the height of his career. Closely tagging upon Howard's tale was Lovecraft's story, The Haunter of the Dark. The Cyclops of Xoatl seemed to me out of place in Weird Tales. It reads like an ordinary thriller instead of the weird tale it's supposed to be. The rest of the stories were all good."
