# Avon Fantasy Reader/Issue 17

The Witchery of Her Smile Called to Him Across the Barrier of Worlds!
Who was this man who was the object of an eerie goddess's desire? Was he just an ordinary man on an ordinary American street—or was he really a prince in an occult world of magic and marvels? For at one moment he would be walking along a city street, at the next he would find himself surrounded by a horde of demons and fighting for the hand of a bewitching temptress in an unimaginable land. The Sapphire Siren is an unusual and colorful novel of two parallel worlds and of the woman whose spell bridged the gap between them. In this exciting number of the Avon Fantasy Reader you will also find:
Through the Gates of the Silver Key by H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price
Two great fantasy writers combine to explore the hidden mysteries of the cosmos and to unravel the mindshattering secrets of the "Elder Ones"!
Jack-In-The-Box by Ray Bradbury
What was the strange universe that enclosed that small boy? Here is a really different story that will surprise even the veteran fantasy reader!
Other fine stories of weird adventure and unusual science-fiction taken from little-known classics and hard-to-find sources, written by such writers as Nelson Bond, Wallace West, Anthony Boucher, G. K. Chesterton, and others, make up this grand new imaginative anthology.
—D.A.W.
| Avon | ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ |
| Fantasy Reader ||
No. 17
Edited by
Donald A. Wollheim
Stories by
| Nictzin Dyalhis | Ray Bradbury |
| G. K. Chesterton | Anthony Boucher |
| Wallace West | Nelson Bond |
| Frank Owen | William Hope Hodgson |
H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price
AVON NOVELS, INC.
575 Madison Ave., New York 22, N.Y.
Contents and Acknowledgments
Copyright, 1934, by the Popular Fiction Publishing Company, for "Weird Tales Magazine".
Copyright, 1947, by Ray Bradbury, for Dark Carnival. By permission of Arkham House.
From "The Club of Queer Trades" by Gilbert K. Chesterton. Copyright, 1905, by Harper & Brothers. Copyright, 1933, by Gilbert Keith Chesterton.
Copyright, 1945, by Popular Publications, Inc., and by Anthony Boucher. Reprinted by permission of Willis Kingsley Wing.
Copyright, 1935, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. By permission of the author.
Copyright, 1934, by Popular Fiction Publishing Company; copyright 1939 and 1947, by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. By permission of Arkham House.
Copyright, 1946, by Nelson Bond. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Copyright, 1951, by Avon Novels, Inc.
From "Men of the Deep Waters" by William Hope Hodgson. Copyright, 1913, by William Hope Hodgson. Reprinted by permission of Lissie S. Hodgson.
Avon Fantasy Reader No. 17
Copyright, 1951, by Avon Novels, Inc.
Printed in U. S. A.
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Of Sirens, Mermaids, and Modern Men
The use of siren spells and love charms to win endearment and
riches continues to attract the mind and heart of modern men and
women. For beneath the surface of our workaday world, there
flows deeply every man's desire for romantic mastery and future
fruitfulness. The storied enchantment of witchcraft—of beguiling
princesses to be won by valiant deeds—is instilled in each of us
by the mankind-old lore of the past. And no matter what the nature
of our everyday occupations, the longing for mystic thrills remains
in full reign. It is no wonder therefore that fantasy, stories dealing
with the witchery of the past and the romantic mystery of the
future, continues to dominate and fascinate the discriminating
reader. :
| | This new number of Avon Fantasy Reader presents the following exciting stories: |
| | The Sapphire Siren by Nictzin Dyalhis Though she was queen-goddess in a world of monsters and magic, she needed the strong arm of a fighting American to save her throne and champion her heart! |
| Printed in U.S.A. | The Phantom Dictator by Wallace West What was it about "Willy Pan", the screen cartoon, that seemed to fascinate so many people? It seemed to be a drug on their very minds—what new terror was behind it?   Through the Gates of The Silver Key by H. P. Lovecraft & E. Hoffmann Price The solution of the mystery that lay hid in an ancient silver key was something that required courage to dare the worst horrors of Hell.   And Many Others By Leading Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers |