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Ad Astra, v. 1, issue 5, January 1940

Page 8

Page 8.     AD ASTRA

so that when Real Detective Tales changed its policy and became a "True Story"book, he was not sorry to give up detective stories to devote himself to a study of the supernatural and give the results of his researches to readers through the exploits of Jules de Grandin.
In 1925, while casting about for something to write one Sunday afternoon he hit upon the character of Jules de Grandin, and his foil Dr. Samuel Trowbridge. He hadn't intended writing more than one story about de Grandin, but editorial and reader response was so immediate and enthusiastic that for the next thirteen years he did practically no other stories. De Grandin became an institution in Weird Tales,and has ninety five stories published about him; this being something of a record. The first de Grandin story was entitled"The Horror on the Links" and appeared in the October, 1925 issue of Weird Tales. This was a "reprint" in the May, 1937 issue. The present editorial policy of Weird Tales' of shorter storieshas concluded this series, in Weird Tales at least,for the time being.
A book on Mortuary Jurisprudence and numerous articles relating to the Funeral Director have been published in various Trade-magazines. Seabury has also been a lecturer on the staff of one embalming school and guest-lecturer at another. He is now under contract with one or two trade-magazines. His articles are as interesting as his stories. His time is pretty well taken up, with writing partly under contract, and partly as free lance.
Here are some of the reasons, that make Mr. Quinn the success he is today in his chosen field: He believes that the fact  that a story is published on pulp paper does not excuse the writer from giving it everything he has, both as to material, plot and style. He builds his stories, laboring over them for hours to polish them, and select the exact word he needs to express the exact meaning he desires to convey. He spends hours in research, gathering data for each story with all the care he gives to the preparation of a fact-article. He is a slow workman, seldom turning out more than 1500 words a day,and putting it all down in longhand before transcribing a rough draft on the typewriter. This rough draft is then polished with as much care as possible, and from the revised version a fair copy is made for the editor. The necessary study for "Uncanonized", Weird Tales for November, 1939, required almost three weeks. The story was set down on paper in a little more than ten days. These pains-taken methods have born fruit;Quinn has held his popularity for almost twenty years of continuous writing, while a lot of pulp authors have fallen into the discard and been forgotten.
He has always been interested in the Funeral Director and Embalmer, and is one of the very few authors, if not the only one, who has always given us a boost; most authors picture the Funeral Director as a vulture and a robber. His story in the January,1940,issue of Weird Tales, "Mortmain", has as its hero a Funeral Director. This is something that he has wanted to do for a long time. His story is very accurate and a truer and fairer picture of the Funeral director than any I have ever read.
Seabury has written many stories for Weird Tales other than the de Grandin series; he is a part of the magazine. One of the outstanding fantasy stories of all time; past, present, future, is his tale of "Saint Nick"; "Roads" appeared in the January,1938 issue. If you haven't read this delightful tale of the Yuletide Spirit, do so by all means. This if none other, makes him the Dean of Fantasy in my humble opinion.
By the AMERICANISM expressed, in some of his stories, Quinn has earned the hatred of members of foreign-minded groups, who have not been slow to express their

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Page 8. AD ASTRA so that when Real Detective Tales changed its policy and became a "True Story"book, he was not sorry to give up detective stories to devote himself to a study of the supernatural and give the results of his researches to readers through the exploits of Jules de Grandin. In 1925, while casting about for something to write one Sunday afternoon he hit upon the character of Jules de Grandin, and his foil Dr. Samuel Trowbridge. He hadn't intended writing more than one story about de Grandin, but editorial and reader response was so immediate and enthusiastic that for the next thirteen years he did practically no other stories. De Grandin became an institution in Weird Tales,and has ninety five stories published about him; this being something of a record. The first de Grandin story was entitled"The Horror on the Links" and appeared in the October, 1925 issue of Weird Tales. This was a "reprint" in the May, 1937 issue. The present editorial policy of Weird Tales' of shorter storieshas concluded this series, in Weird Tales at least,for the time being. A book on Mortuary Jurisprudence and numerous articles relating to the Funeral Director have been published in various Trade-magazines. Seabury has also been a lecturer on the staff of one embalming school and guest-lecturer at another. He is now under contract with one or two trade-magazines. His articles are as interesting as his stories. His time is pretty well taken up, with writing partly under contract, and partly as free lance. Here are some of the reasons, that make Mr. Quinn the success he is today in his chosen field: He believes that the fact that a story is published on pulp paper does not excuse the writer from giving it everything he has, both as to material, plot and style. He builds his stories, laboring over them for hours to polish them, and select the exact word he needs to express the exact meaning he desires to convey. He spends hours in research, gathering data for each story with all the care he gives to the preparation of a fact-article. He is a slow workman, seldom turning out more than 1500 words a day,and putting it all down in longhand before transcribing a rough draft on the typewriter. This rough draft is then polished with as much care as possible, and from the revised version a fair copy is made for the editor. The necessary study for "Uncanonized", Weird Tales for November, 1939, required almost three weeks. The story was set down on paper in a little more than ten days. These pains-taken methods have born fruit;Quinn has held his popularity for almost twenty years of continuous writing, while a lot of pulp authors have fallen into the discard and been forgotten. He has always been interested in the Funeral Director and Embalmer, and is one of the very few authors, if not the only one, who has always given us a boost; most authors picture the Funeral Director as a vulture and a robber. His story in the January,1940,issue of Weird Tales, "Mortmain", has as its hero a Funeral Director. This is something that he has wanted to do for a long time. His story is very accurate and a truer and fairer picture of the Funeral director than any I have ever read. Seabury has written many stories for Weird Tales other than the de Grandin series; he is a part of the magazine. One of the outstanding fantasy stories of all time; past, present, future, is his tale of "Saint Nick"; "Roads" appeared in the January,1938 issue. If you haven't read this delightful tale of the Yuletide Spirit, do so by all means. This if none other, makes him the Dean of Fantasy in my humble opinion. By the AMERICANISM expressed, in some of his stories, Quinn has earned the hatred of members of foreign-minded groups, who have not been slow to express their