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VARIETY in weird fiction and unusualness of plot—these have been the guiding aims of the editors of Weird Tales in selecting the stories that make up this magazine. Even the best stories will surfeit the readers' appetite if these are all of one kind, and it has ever been the purpose of this magazine to give the utmost variety—a well-balanced feast of weird fiction, that does not contain too much of one type of literary food, but provides the best of all kinds, yet keeps the menu in strict accord with the classification "weird" tales.
This issue is an example of the care that is taken to insure variety—and that this policy is appreciated is shown by the constantly rising popularity of the magazine. The Wolf-Woman is a vampire-tale, and moreover it is a vampire-tale with a distinctly new and original plot. The Moon Menace is an excellent example of the weird-scientific stories for which this magazine has become noted—an invasion of earth from outside, and the terrifying prospect facing mankind of a lightless earth spinning blindly through space, the moon men its masters from pole to pole. The Beast of the Yungas is a tale of fear—killing, overwhelming fear—and a prehistoric beast known to science as a diplodocus. Sax Rohmer's story, Lord of the Jackals, is a tale of the Egyptian desert, and weird magic. The Bride of Osiris is an intriguing mystery-tale of the underground city of Karneter. The White Lady of the Orphanage is a strong tale of horror, calculated to pale the cheek and send shudders up the reader's spine. The Adventure of the Pipe is a fantastic story, and The Blue City is one of those bizarre and exquisitely beautiful gems that are so frequently found in the pages of Weird Tales—a Chinese tale of sweetness and light and tender loveliness.
Even in the two ghost-stories there is plenty of contrast, for The Turret Room is a ghost-tale of the old-fashioned kind, whereas The Dead Wagon is a ghost-story of distinctly new plot, with an original twist that makes it refreshingly different. This story illustrates what we mean by originality:
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