"AT LAST Weird Tales is coming out with a real serial!" writes W. L. Mason, Jr., of St. Louis. "Kline's The Bride of Osiris looks as if it is going to be a whopper."
"My compliments to Otis Adelbert Kline," writes Seabury Quinn. "The Bride of Osiris rings the bell, and no mistake. There is a little of everything which goes to make up a good mystery-thriller in this tale, and a mighty good underlying plot as well."
It is such letters as these that encourage us to continue printing serials, together with the tremendous popularity achieved by some of the recent ones: Across Space, Drome, The Star-Shell, Explorers Into Infinity and The Dark Chrysalis. Some of our readers do not like serials, and they let us know in no uncertain terms what they think of us for making them wait a month to get the second part of a story which they have begun under the impression that the story was complete in one issue. We must consider their likes and dislikes as well, and for that reason the magazine is made up almost entirely of stories and novelettes that are complete in a single issue. But those of you who like serials, who love, the thrill of anticipation that comas; of waiting for the author to solve a dramatic situation in the next number, you will find one corking good weird serial in each issue of Weird Tales, carefully selected to pack as many shivers and thrills as possible into the three or four installments of the story.
We recently had the inestimable privilege of accompanying E. Hoffmann Price on a shopping tour for Oriental rugs. This indefatigable Orientalist is a privileged customer in the rug emporiums, and as he tore down stack after stack of rare fabrics, explained the various knots to us, showed us how to tell an antique from a modern, rhapsodized on the design of a Bokhara, and went into detail over the ornate artistry of a rare old Persian rug, he got us so interested that we suggested that he write a weird tale dealing with his hobby. The suggestion struck fire, and Saladin's Throne-Rug, in this issue, is the result. Though the story takes place in Chicago, it is not of Chicago,
(Continued on page 438)
