The Curse of Cantire is one of Walter S. Masterman's most hard-to-find novels. It has a dash of surrealism and the other-worldly atmosphere that Masterman is known for. An introduction to this novel, #8 in the Dancing Tuatara lineup, is provided by series consultant, John Pelan.

In the style of Stuart Kaminsky, Wes D. Gehring of Ball State University has written an intriguing murder mystery involving a lost Chaplin film and a host of nefarious characters who want it. Using his vast knowledge of all things Chaplinian, Gehring perfectly captures the mindset of the little tramp and has produced a short novel worthy of the subject.

When you're a writer who's been doing it for over 60 years, traveling to exotic places for research, meeting interesting people for interviews and letting your mind wander wherever the hell it wants, you end up with a lot of stories, just as Richard A. Lupoff has done -- in spades. This 280-page volume contains the first four dozen of the tales that Dick Lupoff has written down for us. There's even a few pictures. If you've enjoyed the novels, short stories and non-fiction masterpieces that he's written over the years, here's your chance to find out what was going on behind the scenes.

Ned Anderson, wealthy young playboy of San Francisco, comes back from a trip around the world to find that James Gillespie, whom he had granted power of attorney before leaving on his trip, had swindled him of his fortune. In his attempt to recover his fortune, and to find Gillespie's secretary who has been kidnapped, Anderson hires Simon Crole, private detective. What follows is a most perplexing mystery in which there is a victim who suffers the same fate - twice Simon Crole and his small agency pull out all stops to beat the police to the solution of the mystery.