I have kept tab on Edgar Rice Burroughs' writings because he teaches evolution in a way that makes it easy for the ordinary reader to grasp.
You have a great field, if you can keep up the interplanetary stories and mix some evolutionary stories with them.
The true stories are playing a valuable part in stimulating people to take a deeper view of life, and you have a field in Astounding Stories almost without a competitor.—J. L. Stark, 530 Sutcliffe Ave., Louisville, Kentucky.
He is H. W. Wessolowski
Dear Editor:
Since I have read every copy of Astounding Stories since it was inaugurated I feel well qualified to contribute a few bouquets and also some criticism. The cover illustrations are wonderful but I cannot find the artist's name on it. So good an artist should put his "moniker" on his productions. I am glad to see that the words "Super-Science" are on the top of the cover in bright red letters; some other Science Fiction magazines seem desirous of disguising the contents of their magazines for some obscure and mysterious reason.
And now a brickbat. It is my humble opinion that the science should be examined more carefully before the stories are printed in this excellent magazine. The stories should be not only astounding, but should contain some science information that will be remembered after the fiction is forgotten. "The Man Who Was Dead" is an excellent ghost story or weird tale, but is out of place in "our" magazine. (I take the liberty to call it "our" magazine since a department is given over to the readers and we express our choice of the kind of stories that are printed.) However, taken all together, our magazine is steadily improving; each issue up to now has been distinctly better than the one before.
I have graded the stories in the April and May copies as follows: Excellent—"Vampires of Venus," "The Ray of Madness," "Brigands of the Moon," "Murder Madness," "Into the Ocean's Depths" and "The Jovian Jest." Good—"Monsters of Moyen," "The Atom Smasher" and "The Soul Searcher." Poor—"The Man Who Was Dead."
My favorite authors are Dr. David H. Keller, Harl Vincent, Lillith Lorraine, Anthony Pelcher, Capt. S. P. Meek, Dr. Miles J. Breuer and Ray Cummings. I can hardly wait a month for my next copy.—Wayne D. Bray, Campbell, Missouri.
Story Says Cro-Magnons Fled to Europe