the story was rejected by "weird tales" editor farnsworth wright when derleth surreptitiously submitted it for publication in 1933. "i have read lovecraft's story...and must confess that it fascinates me," he wrote to derleth. "but i don't know just what i can do with it. it is hard to break a story of this kind into two parts, and it is too long to run complete in one part."