"The Eyrie," June 1923

In "The Eyrie" for June 1923, the editor, presumably Edwin M. Baird, once again lamented the sameness of the stories being submitted for publication in Weird Tales:

THE TIME has come to talk of cats and Chinamen, and rattlesnakes and skulls--and why it is these things abound in yarns for WEIRD TALES. Particularly cats and Chinamen. Believe it or not, every second manuscript we open, (and that's placing the average rather low) is concerned with one or the other, or both, of these.

Why is this? Is it because a cat and a Chinaman suggest the mysticism of the Orient, and thus seem excellent "props" for weird fiction? Or is it merely because both mind their own business, imperturbably pursue their destinies, and thereby create the impression that there's some deep-laid mystery here? We ask you that.

Whatever the reason, it's an odd and curious fact that when an author sets out to tell a weird tale his mind turns, as if instinctively, to cats and Chinamen. And then, for good measure, he not infrequently throws in a few rattlesnakes and a skull or two.

Sometimes the result is interesting. And sometimes it is awful! And again, sometimes, it is a ludicrous thing, unconsciously funny.

Letters came from the following readers (and one author): 

• R.E. Lambert , secretary of the Washington Square College of New York University, New York, New York; and

• Rev. Andrew Wallace MacNeill (1885-1937), minister of the Bethlehem Congregational Church, International Falls, Minnesota;

both of whom enjoyed "Beyond the Door" by J. Paul Suter, which had appeared in the April issue of Weird Tales. Joseph Paul Suter (1884-1970), the author, responded in a letter of his own.

• Conrad A. Brandt (1879-1947) of New York City, later a book and film reviewer for Amazing Stories, who observed: "The stories you have printed so far can be grouped under three general headings: Ghost Stories, Snake Stories, Insanity Stories. In your first issue you printed a story called 'Ooze' which approached the type of semi-scientific stories that are liked intensely by all those who are fond of the unusual, and if you would publish at least one story of this type in each issue of your magazine I am sure that your efforts would register larger sales."

• Adeline Jugol of Covina Apartments, Los Angeles, California.

• O.R. Hamilton of Austin, Texas.

• Witch Hazel of St. Louis, Missouri.

• A.M. Oliver of Akron, Ohio.

• P.W. Burrows of Kearney, Nebraska.

• J.C. Wolquist of Des Moines, Iowa.

• Miss Marguerite Nicholson (1907-1987) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• M. Nawrocki, probably Michael Nawrocki (1904-1978), of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

• Mary Sharon (1895-1962) of Galena, Kansas, soon to be an author and poet in "The Unique Magazine."

The lead story in Weird Tales for June 1923 is "The Evening Wolves" by Paul Ellsworth Triem. Nevertheless, William F. Heitman's illustration shows a snake. And already in the first paragraph is mention of a Chinese boy. The story itself is set partly in Chinatown.

This might be as good a place as any to bring up a point. Weird Tales is supposed to have been the first American magazine devoted to fantasy fiction. I have written that myself in this blog. As we have seen, though, it wasn't so devoted, at least in the first four issues. Instead there were lots of crime stories plus stories with weird elements but no fantasy or supernatural content. The arrival of Amazing Stories--in April 1926--was still nearly two years away, but unless we come upon an issue of Weird Tales in which every story has some kind of fantastical element, then maybe credit as the first American magazine devoted to fantasy should go to the former rather than to the latter.

Original text copyright 2023 Terence E. Hanley