We have received a considerable number of letters like the following from S. O. B. of Beulah, New Mexico:
"Your enterprise hits me in the right spot. I am a lover of Poe's stuff, and have often felt that the general editorial prejudice against weird stories today isn't, after all, a true reflection of the people's taste. I hope my opinion is correct and that WEIRD TALES may receive a hearty welcome."
Also like this:
"Congratulations on your new magazine, WEIRD TALES! The first edition was a veritable ghastly, ghostly knockout! Most every one enjoys an occasional ghost story, and a thrilling novelette like 'Ooze' is a better tonic than Tanlac.—D. L. C., Denver, Colorado."
Victor Wilson of Hazen, Pa., writes us:
"I have just finished reading the first installment of 'The Thing of a Thousand Shapes.' It is fine, and one who has a good imagination should not 'start it late at night.' I wish to congratulate you on your fine fiction magazine. I am a reader of several other magazines of up-to-date fiction, but yours is the first of its kind. I have not read all of the stories, but I like 'The Place of Madness,' 'The Grave,' and 'Hark! The Rattle!'"
And here's a line o' type or two from our star contrib, Anthony M. Rud:
"WEIRD TALES seems to have hit your mark excellently well. It possesses glamor for me in every yarn but two—which I won't attempt to criticize as both well may suit other readers exactly."
We wish Rud had told us the names of those two yarns. Strange as it may seem, we're always more interested in adverse criticism than in praise.
Still, we can't deny that we like to get letters like this one from C. P. O. of Gainesville, Texas:
"Dear Mr. Baird: Allow me to number myself among the first subscribers to the new venture. Check enclosed. The sub-title, 'unique,' really describes the magazine, even in these days of specialization in the magazine field. . . . WEIRD TALES appears at a time when the public is interested in this type of story, I believe, as I notice in the monthly bulletins of Brentano's, McClurg's and Baker & Taylor that quite a collection of ghost, psychic and weird tales are appearing in book form. Most famous authors wrote one or more weird tales; to mention a few: Dickens, Thackeray, Poe, Bierce, O'Brien, F. Marion Crawford and DeMaupassant. I fear you will find greater trouble in securing good material for WEIRD TALES than for DETECTIVE TALES, for, after all, the detective story is a matter of craftsmanship while the really first-class ghost or weird tale is a matter of art." . .
It is hard to get good material for WEIRD TALES; but we're glad to work hard for it—to go almost to any length for it—if, by so doing, we can
