Avon Fantasy Reader No. 13 — page 45: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

She ee Can ee Flaxton _Newras by Kay Cummings | | Back thirty years ago when Argosy All-Story was the best-liked ad- venture fiction weekly in the land, when a story came in that didn't fit the standard categories of Western, Detective, Adventure, of Sport, the editor would label it “A ‘Different’ Story” and run that phrase right under the title. It was these “different” stories which were the forerunners of modern fantasy, they were the seeds which grew into Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. One of the finds made then was a new writer named Ray Cummings who began to con- tribute unusual off-trail stories with increasing regularity. “The Curious Case of Norton Hoorne” bore the label “Different.” The reader will find it still justifies that designation. DO NOT FEEL that now, after these many years, it is any breach of professional etiquette for me to relate the case of Norton Hoorne. It was so remarkable, so extraordinary an incident, that it seems wrong to let it lie forever buried in the professional secrecy to which my good friend, the late Dr. Johns, consigned it. And so now, after nearly twenty years, I have de- cided to give my remembrance of the events just as they occurred. | I attempt no explanation. I am not psychic. Indeed, I know very little of the subject, for it is not one that appeals to me. I havé never seen a ghost, nor have I ever talked with any one who had. You who read this may explain it as you will. I shall merely set down for you the plain facts; and if, by so doing, I shall have added anything of value to the existing data on Psychical Research, I shall be amply repaid. At the time the incidents occurred, remember, I had just taken my medical degree. My mother had wanted me to become a musician. I was, and in fact always have been, tremendously interested in music. But the career of pro- fessional pianist, for it was that branch of the art to which I leaned, seemed to hold little promise for a youth whose talent obviously fell far short of genius, so I decided upon the medical profession instead. | At the time I took my degree I had two friends who meant a great deal to my life. They were Dr. Johns and Norton Hoorne, the latter one of the most famous concert pianists in the country. The friendship of these two ~ men, and the inspiration I derived from them both, was the biggest thing in my life at this period—excepting possibly my interest in my work. ’ GComichbooks cee a basen e: VE Me GI Ste OY NES FIV GUID Kes, _* Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra: Snowfall * A Sunday erwrwrn soe ue Sar | i i Woodchopper's Ball * Northwest Passage. gels