What do you think?
Rate this book
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, https://lccn.loc.gov/n2006075346), 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.
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, https://lccn.loc.gov/n2006075346), 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.
150 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1902
2 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Read
February 9, 2016A truly varied mix of strange tales -- if I have to rate it, I'd go with a 3.5 or so. You can be content with what's here or click to go to my reading journal for a bit more.
I discovered this little book quite by accident. In one of my online groups we were discussing a short story by F. Marion Crawford, "The Upper Berth," and at some point the main character wonders if he was experiencing some pretty creepy stuff because he had eaten Welsh Rarebit for dinner the previous night. That wasn't the case, but it seems that there's a special sort of quality connected to Welsh Rarebit -- it is supposed to induce some crazy dreams or even hallucinations after eating it. So for some weird reason I got caught up in the strangeness of Welsh Rarebit and doing a little digging, came up with Welsh Rarebit Tales, by an incredibly obscure author named Harle Oren Cummins. As far as I can tell, this was his one and only book.
There are fifteen very short stories in this little book; the gimmicky part of the collection is discovered in the preface. The author notes that he was a member of a "certain literary club" that held meetings every now and then, where each member would read his newest work since the previous get together. The others would comment, creating "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 engage in 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."
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I thought that was just the coolest buildup to a book of short stories that I've ever read. What a great way to bind all of these tales together, since in large part, they're very different. They are 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 and some I could take or leave, but for the most part, in combination they make for fun reading.
This one more than satisfied my craving for obscure, off-the-wall reading; it certainly won't appeal to everyone, but I'm beyond happy at having discovered it.
I discovered this little book quite by accident. In one of my online groups we were discussing a short story by F. Marion Crawford, "The Upper Berth," and at some point the main character wonders if he was experiencing some pretty creepy stuff because he had eaten Welsh Rarebit for dinner the previous night. That wasn't the case, but it seems that there's a special sort of quality connected to Welsh Rarebit -- it is supposed to induce some crazy dreams or even hallucinations after eating it. So for some weird reason I got caught up in the strangeness of Welsh Rarebit and doing a little digging, came up with Welsh Rarebit Tales, by an incredibly obscure author named Harle Oren Cummins. As far as I can tell, this was his one and only book.
There are fifteen very short stories in this little book; the gimmicky part of the collection is discovered in the preface. The author notes that he was a member of a "certain literary club" that held meetings every now and then, where each member would read his newest work since the previous get together. The others would comment, creating "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 engage in 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."
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I thought that was just the coolest buildup to a book of short stories that I've ever read. What a great way to bind all of these tales together, since in large part, they're very different. They are 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 and some I could take or leave, but for the most part, in combination they make for fun reading.
This one more than satisfied my craving for obscure, off-the-wall reading; it certainly won't appeal to everyone, but I'm beyond happy at having discovered it.
August 27, 2025
The premise of this story collection written in the early 1900s is that rich foods (like Welsh Rarebit) give you strange dreams. I downloaded the book from Project Gutenberg, and started reading it as a short filler.
These stories could best be described as 'lurid' in tone, with a fair share of racism sprinkled in and does not wear well.
These stories could best be described as 'lurid' in tone, with a fair share of racism sprinkled in and does not wear well.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews