compared with Merritt's works. By all means, H. K., write more about Elak and his friends. In an ordinary issue Jack Williamson's great novel would easily have taken first place, but Dreadful Sleep, Williamson's best since Golden Blood, must be content with second. Goetterdaemmerung, Seabury Quinn's novelette, took third place. The rest of the stories were all good. . . . I don't like short short-stories and I seriously condemn you for reprinting the classics. Short short-stories are nearly always based on the ghost or spirit entity plot and they are usually very poorly developed. My main objection to stories by Hawthorne or Poe being used is that nearly everyone has read them before. I might add that there are scores of good stories from old issues of WT that are now eligible for reprinting (Bimini, The Skeleton Under the Lamp, The Copper Bowl, The Cult of the Skull, The Tinkle of the Camel's Bell, The Silver Key, etc.) Weird Tales is showing constant improvement. Keep it up!"
| NEXT MONTH |
| The Fire Princess |
| By Edmond Hamilton |
| The author of "The Lake of Life" A outdoes himself in this new story of intrigue and adventures in the weird Valley of Koom and the eery mountains of fire that surrounded it. This fascinating and compelling thrill-tale will hold your absorbed interest from first to last. |
| Four spies from four different nations—Japan, Russia, England and the United States—enter the forbidden valley, and the saga of their adventures makes a tale to look forward to—a tale of the Place of Power that was the tomb of the Ancient Ones—a tale of the terrible doom that menaced the world with destruction. This powerful novel will begin |
| in the August issue of |
| WEIRD TALES |
| on sale July 1st |
| To avoid missing your copy, clip and mail this coupon today for SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION OFFER. (You Save 25c) |
| WEIRD TALES
840 BT. Michigan Ave. Chicago, 111. Enclosed find 351.00. for which send me the next five Issues of WEIRD TALES, to begin with the August Issue. (Special offer void unless remittance is accompanied by coupon.) Name Address City State. |
Jam-up
H. Sivia writes from Palestine, Texas: "Thanks for a swell May issue. Everything in it is jam-up. Only one complaint: the lack of short-shorts. We must have variety, you know. My vote for first place is split between Quinn's Goetterdaemmerung and Hamilton's The Isle of the Sleeper. Especially do I like the idea back of the latter. Always glad to see one of Howard's yarns in print. The background for his piny woods stories is always authentic."
Finlay's Illustrations
Henry Kuttner writes from Beverly Hills, California: "Virgil Finlay's grease-pencil work, in the current WT, is as excellent as his pen-and-ink sketches, and seems to reproduce somewhat better on pulp paper. I was particularly struck, in the April issue, with Starrett's Cordelia's Song, which succeeded admirably in capturing the outré insane horror of The King in Yellow. Why not reprint that classic yarn, and Chambers' even more ghastly The Yellow Sign? Clark Ashton Smith's tale, The Garden of Adompha, was swell, and Virgil's pictorial inter-
