Wardon Allan Curtis – författare

A collection of 15 fantasy short stories, similar to the "Arabian Nights", set in Chicago.

Excerpt: 

It was a lowering and gloomy night in theearly part of the present century. Mr. Edward Middleton, a gallantyouth, who had but lately passed his twenty-third year, was faringnorthward along the southern part of that famous avenue of commerce,Clark Street, in the city of Chicago, wending his way toward theemporium of Mr. Marks Cohen. Suddenly the rain which the cloudyheaven had been promising for many hours, began to descend in greatscattered drops that presaged a heavy shower. Mr. Middleton hastenedhis steps. It was possible that if the dress-suit he wore, hired forthe occasion of the wedding of his friend, Mr. Chauncey Stackelberg,should become imbued with moisture in the shower that now seemedimminent, Mr. Cohen, of whom he had hired the suit, would not add tothe modicum  agreed upon, a charge for pressing it. But ifhis own suit for everyday wear, which he was carrying under his armwith the purpose of putting it on at good Mr. Cohen’sestablishment, should become wet, that would be a serious matter. Itwas, in fact, his only suit and that will explain the anxiety withwhich he scanned the heavens. Suddenly, Pluvius unloosed all thefountains of the sky, and with scarcely a thought whither he wasgoing, Mr. Middleton darted into the first haven of refuge, a littleshop he happened to be just passing. As the door closed behind himwith the tinkle of a bell in some remote recess, for the first timehe realized that the place he had entered was utterly dark. His ears,straining to their uttermost to make compensation for the inabilityof his eyes to be of service to him in this juncture, could no morethan inform him that the place was utterly silent. But to his nosecame the powerful fragrance of strange foreign aromas such as he hadnever had experience of before,—which, heavy and oppressive intheir cloying perfume, seemed the very breath of mystery. All traffichad ceased without, as the night was well advanced and the rain beatso heavily that the few whom  business or pleasure hadcalled abroad at that hour, had sought shelter. But though the rainnow fell with a steady roar, Mr. Middleton, perturbed by a namelessdisquiet, was about to rush forth into the tempest and seek othershelter, when a door burst open and, outlined against a glare oflight, stood a gigantic man who said in a deep, low voice that seemedto pervade every corner of the room and cause the air to shake inslow vibrations...

About Wardon Allan Curtis:(1867-1940) US author, a contributor to several pre-sf fiction magazines. His most important sf is a short Identity Transfer story about a brain transplant, "The Monster of Lake LaMetrie" (September 1899 Pearson''s), in which the brain is human and the recipient body that of a prehistoric survival – an elasmosaurus (see Dinosaurs) – from a bottomless lake that may lead into a Symmesian Hollow Earth. Curtis also wrote an Arabian Nights fantasy, "The Seal of Solomon the Great" (February 1901 Argosy) and The Strange Adventures of Mr Middleton (coll 1903), which contains a mixture of Oriental fantasy and bizarre mystery.  (from Science Fiction Encyclopedia)

A collection of 15 fantasy short stories, similar to the "Arabian Nights", set in Chicago.