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this: A man goes to sleep in a room that is supposed to be haunted. Awaking in the middle of the night he imagines he sees a ghostly hand at the foot of the bed. Opening fire at the hand, he feels a stinging pain, and realizes that the supposed hand is his own foot, and that he has blown off two of his toes. This theme has appeared at least fifty times in manuscripts submitted to Weird Tales. That is why the story is always returned to its author.
"Why not publish more Chinese stories?" queries Donald Culhane, of Butte, Montana, in a letter to The Eyrie, and adds: "I can hardly stand the suspense of waiting for the October issue so that I can finish The Bride of Osiris. It is thrilling."
"Every issue of Weird Tales continues to amaze me," writes Charles Fingerman, of Camden, New Jersey. "The stories, always fine, improve each month to such an extent that readers are lost in conjecture, wondering how standards, like records, can be broken so often, for Weird Tales is always so full of good stories, splendidly told, that no special standard can stand up for any length of time, as new ones in point of themes, styles, and denouements are being created as fast as the old standards are toppled over."
Lutie Keith, of Philadelphia, expresses her reactions to this magazine in verse. We have not room to print the entire poem, but give the first strophe:
"I lie awake far into the wee small hours and read Weird Tales,
While out in the shrouding gloom of the night, I hear weird wails;
I know it is only the wind, that moans in the tree-tops tall,
But to me it sounds like a disembodied soul's despairing call."
"Weird Tales, today, is in a class by itself," writes Charles M. Stephens, of Brooklyn, New York. "It is as fine a magazine as any the world over. But everybody's saying that. And no wonder, with all its wealth of good reading. Eli Colter's The Dark Chrysalis is a masterpiece. I've just finished it, and, man, it's a story that blazes new trails in fiction. He deserves all sorts of congratulations. For many hours of fine entertainment I am indebted also to H. P. Lovecraft, Seabury Quinn, H. Warner Munn, Frank Belknap Long, Jr., Nictzin Dyalhis, Greye La Spina, Victor Rousseau, and others, who have written such exceptional fiction for Weird Tales."
"In the September issue the best story was undoubtedly The Moon Menace," writes Fred W. Fischer, Jr., of Knoxville, Tennessee, "though it was closely pressed for this honor by Sax Rohmer's weird Oriental story, Lord of the Jackals. I wish to congratulate you on your new artist, Hugh Rankin."
Edward T. Radcliffe, of Portsmouth, Virginia, writes to The Eyrie: "I am so enthusiastic about Weird Tales that I want to write and let you know just how much I appreciate it. I started reading it about a year ago and since then I have been a booster for it from the ground up. It is so different from the usual type of magazine—the stories take you from the everyday realms of life. It is a pity that it only comes out once a month. My favorite authors are Seabury Quinn, Eli Colter and Greye La Spina. Let's have some more stories of the exploits of Jules De Grandin. They are excellent—but Colter's The Dark Chrysalis is one of the best stories I ever read."
"I have been a reader of Weird Tales a long time," writes Grace M. Wise, of Corbett, Oregon, "and of all the magazines I read, it is my favorite.
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