without warning. From happiness we are switched to misery and back again almost without knowing how it all happened. The trouble with striving constantly for this kind of atmosphere is that it defeats its own purpose. You are plunged into gloom with the story's first paragraph and are mentally prepared for anything that may happen. When I bought a volume of Poe's works some years ago, I naturally waded through those dealing in horror first. 'Waded' is the mot juste. By the time I had read three of them, I was so saturated with their atmosphere that they had lost all value as shockers. I have never finished the volume and I never will. (This is sacrilege but I can't help it.) People are constantly borrowing my books—sometimes they return them—but I have never had any one of them borrow the volume of Poe although it still retains its attractive red-and-black cover. I don't believe people like that kind of literature. They like horror, mystery, even cruelty; but they like it dished up palatably. You can consign this to the editorial waste-basket if you like, but it is my sincere conviction that more stories of the Seabury Quinn type would sell more copies of WT."
Concise Comments
T. O. Mabbott writes from New York City: "My votes this month are for Roads, which has the truth of a legend about it, though curiously enough for Seabury Quinn, it struck me as deserving a cut or two to make the thing a little more compact; second: Valley of Bones—simple and wholly credible while being read, and, third, Toean Matjan, where I wished for a stronger suggestion the tiger was sometimes a man, too."
James Whiting Saunders writes from Alexandria, Virginia: "In the January issue the best story is Ethan Brand. It is an almost timeless allegory, of course. Thank you for printing an American classic."
Paul L. McCleave writes from St. Petersburg, Florida: "The Sea-Witch was truly the 'tops' in the December Weird Tales. Nictzin Dyalhis (how'd he ever get that name, anyway?) must have a thorough knowledge of the old Norse mythology."
Seymour Kapetansky writes from Detroit: "Lovecraft's Hypnos is one of the late master's obscure-weird pieces. A grand fictional yarn. I think that the reprint should contain a Lovecraft as often as possible, and ditto the early Robert E. Howards. These men were the best weird writers; their work should appear often. That will be their best memorial."
Harold F. Keating writes from Quincy, Massachusetts: "The Black Stone Statue by Mary Counselman is gorgeous. Most of her stories are excellent; but this was the best yet."
Howard Brenton MacDonald writes from Yonkers, New York: "The Sea-Witch was an exceptionally fine story. I am glad to see some author making use of the vast treasury of Norse mythology. Let's have more."
H. W. Marian writes from Union City, Tennessee: "In the December number Virgil Finlay is superb. Words fail me, and I can only attempt to express my appreciation for this new feature. These first two I have already framed and they occupy a position of honor in my room."
Andrew Galet writes from New York City: "I now have a double incentive for buying WT, but, please have Virgil Finlay's full-page drawing inside the back cover of your magazine. Not only will his illustrations be more fully appreciated but one could always tear the cover off and have the drawings framed."
Orin S. McFarland writes from Washington D. C.: "I've read your magazine for the last six years and know there is nothing like it. Keep up the good work. There are a few stories that don't quite click, but so few that all the good ones outshine, by far, any defect that your magazine may otherwise possess."
Flo M. Post writes from Guthrie, Oklahoma: "Tales of robots with human minds are just gibberish—and not weird gibberish either—whether they inhabit Mars, Venus, the Moon, or an Atlantis."
The Most Popular Story
Readers, it will help us to keep this magazine just as you like it to be, if you will let us know which stories you like best, and also which ones you dislike. In the January issue, as shown by your votes and letters, Seabury Quinn's strange tale about Santa Claus easily won first place. Vennette Herron's story about the were-tiger came next.
