Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 12, 1927 — page 165: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE READER’S VIEWPOINT request of January 29, as the issue on the stands at this writing bears date January 8, but its pertinence will be apparent in the opening paragraph. [' is too soon for the letter that follows to have been sent in as answer to the editor’s | Jersey City, N. J. farly last year I picked up a copy of your magazine and started “ Six Day Glory.” Well, the result was to make an Arcosy fan of me, and now I have to buy two copies a week to keep peace in the family. As for Westerns, give them the bum’s rush. My favorite writer is Fred MaclTsaac. I will also take this opportunity to pay my tribute to the late Frank A. Munsey, as my home is in Elizabethtown, New York, where Mr. Mun- sey had a summer residence. He was always more of an ideal to me than any other publisher, and his career should be an inspiration to every American. 2 Sag = AtianTic City, N. J. Enjoyed * Moonglow ” ever so much. Hope to see Coe’s works in every week. All Western stories should be thrown in the waste paper basket with- out having the least consideration. Semi Dual stories are horrible. No more can be said of the stories of Mars and any other planet. Let’s hear from Richard Barry again. Tell Franklin and MacIsaac to write humorous stories more often. I cannot imagine who wrote “ The Seal of Satan,” but whoever it was he must be a regular contributor to. Arcosy as the excellence of the story warrants. Would like to hear from A. T. Locke. “ Spinning the Big Top” was great, even if the hero was a Westerner. Here’s hoping the Western stories are junked. R-Le C: KITTLE, ARK. I have recently read with great interest and amusement the heated discussion in the back of a copy of Arcosy. Each writer, it seems, is evi- dently trying to work the magazine over to suit his or her own individual taste and motives, which is going to be an enormous task no doubt. I notice in particular the tendency of most of the readers to refer to Western stories as “too much fiction.” Now, doesn’t that win the fur-lined bathtub? Just as much as to say that all other, “ dude or white-collared,”’ stories are more or less true. Also some tell us of their experiences as great readers, which is all right. We are all en- titled to our own pet ideas, of course. I began reading anything and everything I could get hold of, from Webster’s Dictionary down to almanacs, when I was eight years old, and have been reading steadily ever since. Reading and motion pictures are my only hobbies. I was dis- abled in the last war—and still am—to such an extent that I have more time than anything else. I have stayed in government hospitals for months 3-4 ss comicbooks at a time, with access to fine libraries carrying all the best books and magazines, and all my spare time was given over to reading, and is yet. I have read thoroughly all the magazines published, have spent lots of money for them, and I class myself as a critic. Now, as to the Western stories seeming dull, absurd and ridiculous to some people who believe the great West is so tame to-day, let me suggest that they don’t know the real West. I am an ex-cavalryman, border scout, ranger, rancher and puncher. I have lived in the West all my life, and I understand it, and I want to say most em- phatically that there is to-day more real material and more inspiration for real, live, out-of-door ‘““he-man” stories out West than back Fast, or any place else, “chain grocery stores” or else- where. Keep up your Westerns. I among hun- dreds of others buy Arcosy-AListory for its Western stories. A WESTERNER. Rareisn, N. C. { have been reading the ArGosy since I read one copy last summer. Boy, you have one whale of a magazine. I wish you would publish more mystery, weird, and detective stories. Also scien- tific ones. In other words, I do not want two kinds of stories coming together in the same issue. I vote “nay” on Western stories. The covers on your magazine have made a decided change for the better. They are not as gaudy as they were. The shorter your stories are the better I like them. Cut out five and six part stories. “ Don Rando’ ” was the only story I did not read through. After the second part it was bum. Inclosed find M. O. for two frog skins. Send me six months of the Arcosy beginning with the January 22 issue. Yours for shorter stories, R. B. FrostBurc, Mp. Interest has been growing upon me for the past few weeks as I have followed the various letters. Now, at your request, as to whether we like “ first person” stories, I will write my opinion. I have never read a first person story yet that I thought was dull. To me they are intensely in- teresting. I like to read about Mme. Storey. She excites my love of adventure. Bella amuses me, and, at the same time makes me feel sorry for her. She is very laughable when she confesses her fear of anything. She is refreshing. Mme. Storey, with her wonderfully brilliant mind, is one of the greatest characters I have ever read of. Semt Dual is another. Some time back you gave us a story called “The Ghost of Gallows Hill.” Now it was told 3 ~~ _ ior “ ae - io - - a “ - " . ~ Ss iain ~ = mie Sa - - A fie a 3 — a ant ~ 5 ~ . be : at > ; ‘ es <a a =~ Oe eae” lana ~s ss Spe ey — _ ates tal a eer “olen (E(0)