mind that Almuric is the best story in the May issue—for a great many issues, in fact. I hope the story is long and takes up about six installments (every one thirty pages)! With the absence of Howard's action stories from the pages of Weird Tales, one almost begins to believe that such authors as Ball, Kuttner, etc., are capable of taking the place of the author of Conan; however, upon reading Almuric, one realizes that such as they cannot even begin to compare with the great Howard. Needless to say, the stirring tale of Esau Cairn is super-excellent. Cross of Fire, by Lester del Rey, was an interesting short tale. Unusual treatment of the vampire element, to say the least. I welcomed The Phantom Island, a really good story. The Hollow Moon, Everil Worrell's contribution, is another 'different' vampire yarn. Very good. The Dark Isle, Washington Nocturne, The Face at Death Corner, were all good. It seems that since Weird Tales has changed publishers, it has been getting better all along. Weird Tales, at present, is better than it has been for a long, long time. The best illustrations for the issue are those by Finlay for Almuric. As usual, the poem interpretation is excellent. Harry Ferman, your newest artist, is also very good; I expect to see some very good work by him in your future issues."
Keep WT Weird
Arthur S. Doan writes from Fort Wayne, Indiana: "After a four years' silence I am again writing to the Eyrie. I have read all the issues of Weird Tales and can say truthfully that there have not been any issues that were not worth the money. Some issues, of course, are much superior to others. I have seen many changes in WT since the first issue and think that they have all been for the best with the exception of the few bi-monthly issues put out several years ago. Now that we have the new larger magazine I should be satisfied, but I believe there is still room for improvement in the covers. . . . I see that the contributors to the Eyrie are becoming more international than ever. That is all to the good, as they all seem to be genuine weird tale fans. The biggest asset WT has is that the stories are weird. Let's keep it that way. Some stories well written and entertaining find their way into 'our' magazine which have no business there. One of these is Seabury Quinn's Washington Nocturne in the May issue. It suffers much in comparison with such a story as The Hollow Moon, which I vote the outstanding story in this issue. . . . You have so many good authors that it would be unfair to try and pick favorites. I like all of them. I think that Clark Ashton Smith writes the 'weirdest' weird tales."
What a Story!
Dale Lehner writes from Youngstown, Ohio: "I have just finished reading the May issue of WT and I can truthfully say it is one of the finest issues you have ever produced. The best story is The Hollow Moon. This story was all you claimed for it and a good deal more besides. What a story! One to read and reread. It really was different. Please give us more by this splendid author soon. Washington Nocturne by Quinn was my second choice. A splendid story. Quinn can al- ways be depended on to produce something unusual."
Too Much Lettering
Harry Warner, Jr. writes from Hagerstown, Maryland: "The cover on the July WT is pretty good, but spoiled by all that lettering. Can't you remove some of it? I really think that it would attract more attention if left without any distractions at all. Poetry excepionally fine this time, especially Lovecraft and They Run Again. Such gruesomeness! Seems to me that Seabury Quinn slipped up just a wee mite on a point in Mansions in the Sky. The thing that leaves fingerprints is a very thin coating of oil on the fingertips. Yet, there was no way for this oil to be on the synthetic fingerprints on the gloves, so how in the world did they find them? Celephais is exquisitely beautiful; its only rival is The Quest of Iranon. The Willow Landscape certainly is intriguing, no doubt about it. The Stroke of Twelve produced a chilly feeling in the nether regions of my vertebræ; first time that's happened since Up Under the Roof. And last but not least, Far Below had more of
