A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

Carolyn Wells (June 18, 1862 – March 26, 1942) was an American author and poet. She wrote a total of more than 170 books. During the first ten years of her career, she concentrated on poetry, humor, and children’s books. According to her autobiography, The Rest of My Life (1937), around 1910 she heard one of Anna Katherine Green’s mystery novels being read aloud and was immediately captivated by the unravelling of the puzzle. From that point onward, she devoted herself to the mystery genre.

Among the most famous of her mystery novels were the Fleming Stone detective stories which—according to Allen J. Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1749–2000 (2003)—number 61 titles.

Today, however, she is best known for her light verse, particularly for several classic limericks, including this one:

A canner exceedingly canny

One morning remarked to his granny:

“A canner can can

Any thing that he can

But a canner can’t can a can, can he?”

And here’s a sample of her light poetry, “A Dialog”:

“Mother, I want a catacomb!”

“Oh, then you’ll have to go to Rome.”

“But, mother dear, I want it now.”

“Well, you can’t get one, anyhow.”

“Mother, I need it very much.”

“Dearie, what do you want of such?”

“Why, mother dear, can’t you guess that?

To comb my new Angora cat!”

—John Betancourt

Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

www.wildsidepress.com

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Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has grown to be among our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

TYPOS

Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at wildsidepress@yahoo.com or use the message boards above.