More letters came in about the first issue of Weird Tales and were printed in the third, dated May 1923. Charles M. Boone, third officer aboard the ship Yumuri sent a letter, postmarked Veracruz, Mexico. He told of how the captain of the ship was absorbed in "The Dead Man's Tale" by Willard E. Hawkins, while the mess boy stole away to read "Ooze" by Anthony M. Rud.
George P. Morgan of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, gave "a breezy digest" of the March issue. His digest is amusing, but there isn't much direct, firsthand commentary in it. Earl L. Bell of Augusta, Georgia, was more helpful. He wrote:
Especially thrilling and well-written were "The Ghoul and the Corpse" [by G.A. Wells] and "The Young Man Who Wanted to Die" [by ? ? ?]. For sheer imagery, word-pictures and mastery of style, both stories reached perihelion.
Earl L. Bell was Earl Leaston Bell (1895-1972), who wrote two stories and four letters in Weird Tales.
George W. Crane (1901-1995) also wrote stories for Weird Tales, including in that May issue. He wrote:
Mr. Rud's tale, "Ooze," is extremely bizarre, and I am recommending it to my colleague in the faculty of the Department of Zoology.
Crane was then a student at Northwestern University in Chicago.
S.A.N., location unknown, wrote:
You asked us to mention the stories we liked and those we didn't like so well. I enjoyed, in their order, "The Thing of a Thousand Shapes," which still has me in suspense, "The Place of Madness," "The Weaving Shadows," "The Grave," "The Skull," "The Extraordinary Experiment of Dr. Calgroni."
"The Basket," I thought rather pointless. The plot of "Ooze" excellent, but just a trifle above the average reader to understand in detail. "The Chain" was too long drawn out [sic].
And do give us less of unfaithful wives and husbands. I may seem too critical, perhaps, but let me say that I wish the magazine were published twice a month, for how refreshing to find that interesting stories can be written without "love interest." Please leave that to the movies and to the countless other magazines.
A.L. Richard of Chicago also listed his or her favorites and least favorites:
Most of the stories in your first number are excellent; some few rather indifferent. To my mind the best were "The Dead Man's Tale," "Ooze," "The Extraordinary Experiment of Dr. Calgroni" (although the transferring of a brain from one person to another was done some time ago in another story) and "The Skull." "Hark! the Rattle" I thought a trifle too rhetorical and exclamatory; "Nimba, the Cave Girl" not properly a weird tale; "The Ghost Guard" not quite convincing; and "The Sequel" no improvement on Poe.
Miss Violet Olive Johnson of Portland, Oregon wrote:
I think "The Accusing Voice" is of the best, because the denouement is so unexpected, yet so logical. I liked "Hark! the Rattle" on account of its touch of fantasy. "The Dead Man's Tale" was a masterpiece, I thought. And it's right in line with modem spiritualism, too. It conveys quite a definite lesson in regeneration, even if it does deal with a disembodied spirit.
F.L.K. of Indianapolis made a good point about the titles of stories in that first issue, although I don't think he went far enough, for many of the titles, like more than a few of the stories, lack imagination. He wrote:
But there is one thing I don't favor; the sensational, blood-and-thunder titles of some of the stories. Something like "The Accusing Voice," "The Place of Madness," "The Weaving Shadows," is "wooly" enough for most of us, I should say. "The Skull," "The Ghoul and the Corpse," "The Grave"’ are all too--you see what I mean?
Voting for the readers' favorite story did not commence until Farnsworth Wright took over as editor in 1924, but it looks as though "Ooze" by Anthony M. Rud was the winner in the first issue. A lot of readers liked "The Dead Man's Tale," too. We should remember that Hawkins' story was the first in the magazine and would have made a great impression for that alone.
I disagree with S.A.N. on "The Basket." I don't think it's pointless at all. Maybe it was too mainstream for the tastes of the average pulp-fiction reader. I do agree on "The Chain," though, not so much because it's too drawn out but because of its prose style and its lack of punch. In writing "The Chain," Hamilton Craigie went through a lot to get only a little. His comments on stories written by other authors are weakened by his own pretty weak story. I also agree with S.A.N. on the need for fewer tales of "unfaithful wives and husbands," a too-common theme in the first issue. A.L. Richard had one of the best comments, I think, when he wrote, "'The Sequel' [is] no improvement on Poe."
By the issue of June 1923, readers had moved on and were writing about stories published after March 1923. "Ooze" and "The Thing of a Thousand Shapes" got one more mention each in the June issue. After that it was up to future editors to take the measure of the stories from that first issue of Weird Tales.
Next: Editors Respond to the First Issue.
Original text copyright 2023 Terence E. Hanley
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