Weird Tales volume 30 number 04
Page 22
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A Ghostly Voice from the Ether!
/; was as if some phantom were whispering through the ether in the language of another planet. Read
"THE MOON TERROR"
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was really thinking of I don't know; probably Scotland. Now supposing an English author, in a story, were to describe Rocky Mountain scenery in Florida or Louisiana bayous in Maine, would you be pleased? Our islands may be small, but their different regions have characters of their own."
Praise for The Carnal God
Max Armstrong, of Spokane, Washington, writes: "The Carnal God, written by John R. Speer and Carlisle Schnitzer, was truly a magnificent story, well written, and my choice for the best in the June issue. Second is the one written by Paul Ernst, Clicking Red Heels, a fascinating story, one that holds your interest to the end. The cover design by M. Brundage is a knockout!"
Random Notes by W. C.» Jr.
'An acrostic sonnet, written in a sequestered Providence churchyard where Poe once walked." Thus was Adolphe de Castro's poem Edgar Allan Poe blurbed in the May issue of Weird Tales. But what was not announced was that seated beside de Castro as he composed the acrostic verse were H. P. Lovecraft and R. H. Barlow. . , . HPL, incidentally, was a sixth cousin of Barlow. . . . Jack Williamson, of Kansas, spent the month of June with his old friend Edmond Hamilton in Pennsylvania. . . . Robert Bloch left his beloved Milwaukee for a few weeks' stay with Henry Kuttner in Beverly Hills. C. L. Moore dropped in on them from Indianapolis, and Kuttner "had the pleasure of taking C. L. Moore for a ride on the roller coaster, and giving Jirel a new experience." . . . Kuttner's Hydra, soon to appear in WT, tells of the fate of Robert Ludwig (Bloch), who is imprisoned and mutilated in another dimension. In the original version, H. P. Lovecraft was another main character in the tale, hiding under the name Howard Phillips; but after his demise a revision obviously was necessary. Kuttner himself is in the story, presenting credentials under his brother's name. . . . Virgil Pinlay, who has had an appreciable amount of work exhibited at the famed arc center in Rochester, may illustrate the Der-leth-Wandrei volume of Lovecraft's works. ... I wish to retract a statement made last time to the effect that Earl Peirce, Jr.'s The Surgery Master had been rejected by Editor
Wright and handed over to Bruce Bryan for a collaborative revision. The tale was not even submitted to WT until it had been reworked by the two young writers of Washington. It will appear under the title, The While Rat. ... A convertible coupe overturned on Peirce recently in the Adiron-dacks, and he came out of it with his due of lacerations and bruises. If the windshield on the car had struck Peirce four inches lower he would have been beheaded. . . . The Scdfab, proposed official organ of the Washington Weird Tales Club, will not see publication after all. . . . Clifford Ball's next Raid story is The Goddess Awakes, a 14,000-worder. WT has also accepted Ball's The Swine of Aeaea, 13,000 words, built around the legend of Circe the Enchantress. This 29-year-old newest sensation of Weird Tales has led a life as adventurous as that of either of his two barbarian heroes. He went through high school in Millerstown, Pennsylvania, experiencing great difficulty with his mathematics and with a young and attractive school-teacher of whom he became enamored. After he had been graduated, he took a job in the license bureau of the State Highway Department. A few months later he began to hate the place, and left. The Miami catastrophe of 1927 occurred, and he and a friend trekked south to Florida, expecting to find heavy salaries waiting for eager workers. The state was "broke;" and tourists, alarmed by the tidal wave, were frightened away. Ball has slung hash, worked on dynamite crews as a capper, fry-cooked, run a dice table in a gambling-house, dug ditches, leveled auto springs, spread cloth in a shirt factory, and served beer in a Virginia tavern. This will always remain in Ball's memory, he says, as the best moments of his life.
Weird Tales of the Sea
Arthur L. Widner, Jr., writes from Water -bury, Vermont: "The July issue is one of the best to date. The cover is the most realistic-looking painting I have ever seen. Clifford Ball seems to have stepped into Robert E. Howard's shoes, but whether he will fill them is another question. So far he has not done too bad, but his feet will have to grow some before he can equal The Devil in Iron, Black Canaan, and other creepy tales. When I heard of Lovecraft's death it seemed as if I had been hit with some
WEIRD TALES
,..
sort of strange paralysis. I just couldn't realize that I would read no more of his faultless masterpieces or receive another letter in his small, unusual hand. Yes, he even found time to write to an ordinary person like myself. No one can ever take his place. Stories as good as his may be written, but no one author can equal his string of A-l weird tales. The Ocean Ogre was easily the best tale in the issue. I always liked sea horrors especially anyway. Graveyards, vampires and werewolves are fairly familiar, in fact they seem like old friends to me; but the sea, with its slimy slithery beings from the deep dark depths, always frightens me. In k man's own element, land, most any fear can be borne, but the alien atmosphere of the water has two strikes on you to start with. The Hounds of Tindalos runs a close second, and is the best story I've yet read by Long. The angles and curves business was something new to me and heightened the interest quite a bit. The Whistling Corpse cops the yellow ribbon. It is reminiscent of Marion Crawford's Upper Berth. The living fog put in an eery touch."
A Satisfied English Reader
C. R. Forster, of Dardon Mill, Northumberland, writes: "It is almost exactly a year since I discovered my first Weird Tales, in an English book shop. I am a science-fiction fan, and it was with some doubt, and with unpleasant memories of various horror and terror magazines, that I started into k. But I liked that issue and subsequent ones so well that I started to get the magazine regularly from your English agent. WT is now my favorite magazine and I wouldn't miss an issue for anything. I was lucky enough to get hold of a few scattered back numbers for the years 1928-30. Although they contained many excellent stories, I believe that the magazine of today is an improvement over them, both in contents and appearance. This in itself was a pleasant surprize, for my experience with science-fiction magazines has been pretty much the opposite. My favorite authors are (or were) H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, C. L. Moore, Robert E. Howard and Seabury Quinn. These five stood on a pinnacle above the rest, and the loss of Lovecraft and Howard is indeed a blow to fantasy-lovers. 1 hope you will reprint many of their best stories. Of Lovecraft, in particular, I could
NEXT MONTH
LIVING BUDDHESS
By Seabury Quinn
A strange and fascinating tale of a living female Buddha and the dreadful transformation of a lovely American girl in the ghoul*haunted city of Harrisonville, N. J. A curious tale of a dire Buddhist lama from out of devil-ridden Asia.
Strange indeed have been many of the adventures of Jules de Gran-din, occultist-extraordinary and ghost-breaker-supr
eme, but never before has he encountered a situation more strange or more curious than in this enthralling story. The tale of the little French scientist's latest exploit will be printed complete
in the November issue of
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never tire. . . . Your covers In recent issues have been especially good. Virgil Finlay is even better on the cover than on inside work, and the competition seems to have aroused Mrs. Brundage to surpass her previous efforts, good though they were. From the above you will gather that you have at least one well-satisfied reader. May Weird Tales and yourself always prosper."
A Few Remarks
C. L. Leighton, of Chicago, writes: "Although I've read through every issue for the last 8 or 9 years, this is my first letter, though I sent a coupon, with remarks of enthusiastic admiration, when you printed The Solitary Hunters. (I still consider this your very finest over all the years.) The Eyrie is always interesting; probably like other Weird readers, I find myself looking each month for Miss Hemken's contribution. The varying and conflicting tastes of your readers (including my own) are amusing; Mr. Hoyer will likely laugh at my considering Return to Earth best for June, but I liked the careless, casual style in which Usru criticized our backward planet, still doping out idiotic wars. Like him I found The Last Pharaoh getting better, but Mr. Kelley copies from Doyle's Brigadier Gerard. ... In every issue I find at least one story worth clipping out and saving; so I have accumulated quite a stock over the years. Among the best are Northwest's trip to Jupiter, and his encounter with the beauty filled with evil smoke; yet I can't get a kick out of Jirel of Joiry— how Mr. Moore will hook up 22nd Century Smith and Middle Ages Jirel, is something I rather look forward to. Of course I've preserved every Conan story—everything by the great master Howard. Noting Mr. Sivia's letter, I wonder if Diiar the Accursed might sometime succeed Conan in our hearts? (He ought to drop that Irish accent, though.) You will note I like to cover the past in my prefetences—I find so much repetition regarding the last issue rather tiring. Mrs. Shover makes just criticism of hackneyed 'horror' words—one reason I admired The Solitary Hunters, written in careless up-to-date slang."
Concise Comments
Richard H. Jamison, of Valley Park, Missouri, writes: "With the two huge gaps so recently made in the ranks of Wi-jkd's
authors, it would be fine if a few of the old favorites could be coaxed into writing some more tales. How about writing some more like The Space-Haters, Mr. Long? And what of the two Wandreis, H. Warner Munn, Mary E. Counselman, etc. ? Aren't they writing weird tales any more?"
Ian C. Knox, of London, England, writes: "Congratulations on getting a substitute for Howard. I refer, of course, to Clifford Ball. I only hope he does not either get stereotyped or run short of ideas and dry up. His first two stories were excellent."
Robert Oberon, of Denmark, Maine, writes: "I had to write a line and tell you how well I liked The Mandarin's Ear, that swell story by Frank Owen in the August issue. Let us hear from Owen more often."
D. Rouse, of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, writes: "I like the story, Duar the Accursed by Clifford Ball, and would like some more stories by the same author. It is certainly weird, but good reading."
Charles Waldman, of Far Rockaway, New York, writes: "I have been reading your unusual magazine for several years now. Needless ro say it has pleased me greatly. The magazine is hruly unusual and out of the ordinary."
Bruce Bryan, of Washington, D. C, writes: "The Statement of Randolph Carter, in the current WT, is swell. I must've missed it when it first appeared. Second, I like The Mandarin's Ear. And The Abyss Under the World starts out well."
Fred John Walsen, of Denver, writes: "Congratulations upon your success in keeping the same high level for the Weiro Tales stories, while the other publications sink lower and lower. It is a real treat to be able to read some of the true Poe type of fiction, and I trust Uiat you will continue to publish in the same high standard."
Most Popular Story
Readers, what is your favorite story in this issue? Write a letter to the Eyrie, Weird-Tales, and let us know your preferences. The most popular story in our August issue, as shown by your votes and letters, was the concluding installment of The Last Pharaoh, by Thomas P. Kelley. This was closely pressed for first honors by Frank Owen's charming Chinese fantasy, The Mandarin's Ear,
W.T.—8
The Phantom of the Ether
The fir*! warning ol the stupendous cataclysm thai he-fell the earth in the fourth decade of the Twentieth Century was recorded simultaneously in several parts of America. At twelve minutes past 3 o'clock a. m., during a lull in the night's aerial business-,, several of the larger stations of the Western hemisphere began picking up strange signals out of the ether. They were faint and ghostly, as if coming from a vast distance. As far as anyone could learn, the signals originated nowhere upon the earth. 7/ was as if some phantom were whisperina through the ether in the language of another planet.
A Mysterious Message from the Ether!
"To All Mankind
"I am the dictator of human destiny. Through control of the earth's internal forces I am master cl every existing thing. I can blot out all Hie—destroy the globe itself. It is ray intention to abolish all present governments and make myself emperor of the earth.
"Communicate this to the various governments of the earth:
"As a preliminary to the establishment of my sole rule throughout the world, the following demands must be complied with:
"First AH standing armies shall be disbanded, and every implement of warfare, of whatsoever nature, destroyed.
"Second: All war vessels shall be assembled—those of the Atlantic fleets midway between New York and Gibraltar, those of the Pacific fleets midway between San Francisco and Honolulu—and sunk.
"Third: One-half of all the monetary gold supply of the world shall be collected and turned over to my agents at places to be announced later.
"fourth: At noon on the third day after the foregoing demands have been complied with, all existing governments shall resign and surrender their powers to my agents, who will be on hand to receive them.
"In my next communication I will fix the date for the fulfillment of these demands.
"The alternative is the destruction of the globe.
"KWO"
Thrills! Mystery] Excitement!—"THE MOON TERROR"
Who was this mysterious "KWO," aid was his message actually a momentous declaration to the nee, or merely a hoax perpetrated by some person with an over-vivid imagination ?
Newspapers and scientific journals began to speculate upon the matter, advancing all manner of theories to account for this strange summons. In
Europe, as well as in America, vast throngs of excited people filled the streets in front of the newspaper offices, watching the bulletin boards for further developments. Was this really the beginning of the dissolution of cur planet?
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