OUR READERS SAY
In order to save space for more articles, starting with this issue, letters will be abbreviated.
"You and your associates have done a highly commendable job under rather trying conditions and you may well be proud of your work."—H. Koenig, New York, N.Y.
"THE FANTASY FAN is showing itself, all white cover and everything. I find it more interesting to see a publication grown than to find a brand-new mag on the market that perhaps may not last six months."—Gertrude Hemken, Chicago, Ill.
"I wish to congratulate you for the start of a second year for THE FANTASY FAN and I hope it will continue for many, many more years."—Julius Hopkins, Washington, D.C.
"Your issue of articles, the First Anniversary Number, is one of your most interesting yet, I think—a fine selection of features for both weird and science fan."—Forrest J. Ackerman, San Francisco, Calif.
"The Anniversary issue, with the many new items and the glossy cover, certainly marks a big step forward, and any lengthening of Lovecraft's treatise is always welcome."—Duane W. Rimel, Asotin, Wash.
"THE FANTASY FAN has been improving steadily, and the first (and only) fault, that of too much science fiction material, has been eliminated."—Emil Petaja, Milltown, Mont.
"I was delighted with the First Anniversary Issue. It surely was neatly done and had a dandy line-up. However, I missed the usual bit of fiction."—F. Lee Baldwin, Asotin, Wash.
"I enjoyed all the articles in the last THE FANTASY FAN, as well as the fantasies by Barlow and Morse. The slick cover has a pleasing effect, indeed, though I liked the coloured ones, too."—Clark Ashton Smith, Auburn, Calif.
WITHIN THE CIRCLE
by F. Lee Baldwin
"The Red Brain" by Donald Wandrei is one of a long cosmic series most of which is unpublished.
H. P. Lovecraft wrote 35 "Fungi from Yuggoth" in 1929 and 1930. The Fantasy Fan is going to print some of those which WT didn't take.
Farnsworth Wright has been a visitor in Seattle, Washington.
During the month of August, Clark Ashton Smith fought a terrible wood and grass fire on his ranch.... He wrote fiction—of a more realistic cast than some of his present work—as early as 1910 and 1911; some of it appearing in the defunct Black Cat. He dropped prose entirely until 1925 when he wrote "The Abominations of Yondo" (rejected by WT and published in the Overland Monthly) and "Sadastor" (also rejected by WT but later accepted by them and published).
Weird Tales has on hand "The Hand of Wrath" by E. Hoffmann Price.... He and Otis Adelbert Kline have collaborated in a Mexican weird novelette. It features Bart Leslie—Two Gun Bart—one of Kline's heroes. You will recall that he was featured in "The Demon of Tlaxpam" in WT a few years ago.... Price has also collaborated with Frank Belknap Long, Jr., on a weird novelette which is on a "visit" to Astounding Stories. He is about to write a serial and a novelette; interplanetary, and Far East, respectively.
Forrest Ackerman can produce, at his pleasure, hour long programs, of weird and fantastic voices and sequences. He has recently added to his set of sound-discs from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", the complete set of records from the weird-scientific film drama, "Frankenstein". He also possesses the thrilling story of Im-Ho-Tep—the Egyptian, dead 26 centuries, returned to life—featuring the weird voice of Boris Karloff; "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and the grotesque "Old Dark House".
Two youthful Merritt fans burglarized the basement of a certain Carnegie Library and made off with old Science and Inventions containing "The Metal Emperor".
Robert E. Howard's occupation is fiction-writing, though he helps his father (a physician) attend to a small farm on the outskirts of Cross Plains, Texas. He is 27 years old and has led a somewhat roving and adventurous life. He is an amateur athlete and boxer; is very fond of fighting and believes barbarism to be preferable to civilization. He is a profound historic student, and an authority on the folklore and tradition of the Southwest.
August W. Derleth is 24—U. of Wis. graduate and lives in Sauk City, Wis. He is gaining fame in magazines of select quality with serious reminiscent regional fiction and poetry. He writes mystery books besides fantasy.