Short Fiction · Chapters

Chapters explained

Chapter companions for Short Fiction by Henry Kuttner.

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Chapter 1
The Secret of Kralitz
Franz, the twenty-first Baron Kralitz, is awakened by two black-swathed figures and led through a hidden stairway beneath his castle to an underground cavern. There he joins a saturnalia of monstrous beings and undead ancestors, learning the curse of his house: each Baron is initiated into the brotherhood of the damned only when his own tomb is ready. At the end, Franz discovers his own name carved on a stone sarcophagus, realizing his doom.
Chapter 2
The Crystal Circe
Steve Arnsen, driven by the pull of a mysterious crystal, summons the ancient sorceress Circe to aid him in his quest for forbidden knowledge, setting the stage for his departure from Earth.
Chapter 3
Prologue
The narrator, Vail, encounters his old friend Steve Arnsen in a Manhattan spaceport. Arnsen is visibly haunted and changed, carrying a mysterious crystal from an uncharted asteroid. He speaks of his missing friend Douglas O'Brien and a being he calls the Crystal Circe, hinting at a terrifying yet beautiful experience in space. Arnsen seeks someone to listen to his story, unable to forget what happened.
Chapter 4
I: The Star-Gem
Douglas O'Brien and Steve Arnsen discover a meteorite while fishing. Inside, O'Brien finds a gray, multifaceted gem. He becomes obsessed with the jewel, claiming it shows him a vision of a goddess-like woman. Arnsen grows concerned as O'Brien's behavior becomes increasingly withdrawn and enchanted.
Chapter 5
II: Lure of the Crystal
O'Brien quits his job and uses a mysterious gray gem to develop a revolutionary alloy, funding a spaceship to search for a being named Deirdre. Arnsen, skeptical but drawn along, joins the voyage with pilot Tex Hastings, venturing into the asteroid belt as the gem's influence grows and tensions rise.

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The Secret of Kralitz

The Crystal Circe

Prologue

I: The Star-Gem

II: Lure of the Crystal