Book excerpt: WELSH RAREBIT TALES contains 15 very short stories. In explaining how these tales came to be, the author tells that he was a member of a "certain literary club" which held irregular meetings. Each member would read his latest work since the previous meeting. The others would comment and critique the work, which created "much mutual benefit" to all. At one such meeting, it seems that the members had "run short of first-class plots" so they decided to attempt an experiment, and sat down to a dinner of: 1 Large Portion Welsh Rarebit, 1 Broiled Live Lobster, 1 Piece Home Made Mince Pie, 1 Portion Cucumber Salad. The following meeting of the club had to be postponed "on account of illness of fourteen of the members," but at the next, "the accompanying tales were related." He notes also that "By unanimous sentence of the other fourteen members, and as a punishment for having been the originator of the scheme, mine was chosen as the unlucky name under which the Tales should appear" and hence, Welsh Rarebit Tales came into being. All these tales are very different. There is a mix of science fiction, horror, dark crime and all reveal something about the nature of the characters. Some are sad, some are downright pathetic, but for the most part, in combination they make for fun reading. The 15 tales in this collection are: The Man Who Made a Man In the Lower Passage The Fool and His Joke The Man and the Beast At the End of the Road The Space Annihilator A Question of Honor The Wine of Pantanelli The Strangest Freak The False Prophet A Study in Psychology The Painted Lady and the Boy The Palace of Sin The Man Who Was Not Afraid The Story the Doctor Told ===================== KEYWORDS/TAGS: Welsh, rarebit, tales, short stories, eclectic, literary club, science fiction, horror, dark crime, sin, vice, sex, fun reading, The Man Who Made a Man, Lower Passage, Fool, Joke, Beast, End of the Road, Space, Annihilator, Question of Honor, Wine, Pantanelli, Strange, Freak, False Prophet, Study, Psychology, Painted Lady, Boy, Palace of Sin, Afraid, courage, fear, Doctor