by Schwartz and Weisinger
Rumor had it that for several years Farnsworth Wright, editor of _Weird
Tales_, was writing stories and poems under the pseudonym of Francis
Hard. When we asked for permission to "break" the story, Wright said
that "since the secret is already out that poems and stories published
under the name Francis Hard were in fact written by me, of course I
have no further objection to its being known. I have written nothing
new since I became editor of _Weird Tales_ in 1924, but I wrote stories
for _Weird Tales_ previous to that, when it was edited by Edwin Baird.
When I became editor one of my stories was already in type for the next
issue (A story called "The Great Panjandrum"). I thought it looked
rather phony for an editor to use his own stories in his magazine, even
though the story had been accepted by a previous editor; so I used the
pen name Francis Hard as the author of that story (Hard was my maternal
grandmother's name). Feeling that an editor is a bad judge of his own
stuff, I submitted some stories that I had written several years ago,
to Otis Adelbert Kline, whose literary judgement I value highly, and
used the two that he liked--one in _Oriental Stories_, and the other
in its successor, _The Magic Carpet_. Two other stories, which Kline
considered rotten, I quickly canned--may they rest in peace."
Frank Belknap Long, Jr., is now trying to invade the detective story
market.... Here's hoping he matches the stride set by his pal, Donald
Wandrei.... New York fans would do well to tune in on Alonzo Deen
Cole's weird broadcasts, "The Witch's Tale," over WOR, and to "Tales
of Terror," over WINS.... S. Gordon Gurwitt besides turning out weird
stories, also writes detective yarns, and bears an amazing resemblance
to Eddie Cantor.... Farnsworth Wright has never yet rejected a story
on the grounds that it was too juvenile.... A. Merritt claims he sits
down to write "only after I have exhausted myself of all possible
excuses".... Arthur Sarsfield Ward, when asked why he used the
pseudonym of Sax Rohmer for his writings, responded: "The reason why I
use the name Sax Rohmer is as much a mystery to me as it is to you."
Some Seabury Quinnformation: Seabury Quinn's next Jules de Grandin
story will be published in the January, 1935, issue of _Weird Tales_,
and is entitled "Hands of the Dead." It deals with post-mortem
hypnotism.... Quinn (known to _Weird Tales_ fans as the Old
Marster--_not_ "Master") is working on a series introducing a new
character, Thomas Eldridge Carter, a twenty-six year old investigator
for the Grand Central Life Assurance Company. The series will deal with
Carter's adventures in ferreting out the whys and wherefores of the
deaths and disappearances of persons heavily insured by the company.
Like all of Quinn's stories, these will have elements of weirdness, but
will not contain supernatural elements.
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