[Gutenberg 60294] • Welsh Rarebit Tales

The only book written by THE MYSTERIOUS MISTER CUMMINS...or was this shady character a woman? Nobody seems to know.

As far as is known today, Harle Oren Cummins wrote sixteen stories in the first years of the Twentieth Century. They appeared in such magazines as Argosy, McClure's, and Short Stories. Fifteen of them were collected in a little book called Welsh Rarebit Tales. For reasons unknown the sixteenth story was omitted from the collection.

Then Harle Oren Cummins disappeared. No other published works have been found. A few sources give Cummins' place of birth as Boston and years of birth and death as 1859-1931 (Library of Congress, ), while others list Montpelier, Vermont and 1877-1937 (Internet Science Fiction Database). Cummins remains a mystery. Even his or her gender is a mystery.

But the stories are remarkable. They range from science fiction to supernatural horror. At their best, they remain powerful and atmospheric. Welsh Rarebit Tales is a rare find, and Surinam Turtle Press is proud to reintroduce it to modern readers.