SHUDDERING CASTLE

By Wilbur Fawley

SHUDDERING CASTLE is not a mystery novel in the generally accepted sense. It is a novel with a mystery; a highly imaginative story, with revelations in the field of radio and short-wave broadcasting. None of the strange events recorded oversteps the boundaries of accepted natural laws.

In this novel of exciting action, radio communication is established between Earth and Mars, with a world-girdling hook-up from Radio Center, in New York City, and the reader will be amazed to find that the Martians are human beings like ourselves, subject to the same laws, the same temptations and passions which affect humanity. Into this pulsating picture of tensed American life of the near future, comes another revelation from the sky. This brings the reader to the drama of a frightening but plausible visitor from the jungles of Mars to this world, whose presence in the old spooky castle of an eccentric millionaire-scientist on Long Island causes great fear to its inmates when night falls.

But there is thrilling romance to warm your hearts, the infatuation of a young newspaperman for the alluring debutante niece of the old scientist; a humanly drawn boy and girl who are caught in the violent web of mystery and sudden death. SHUDDERING CASTLE is a unique study in the mysterious recesses of the universe.

I

As a staid and wealthy New York family, of distinguished but remote English ancestry, we moved formally and rather arrogantly within our small, exclusive circle, holding on grimly to the traditions and elegancies of the past. During the winter season, we viewed the outside world placidly, and with the respectful composure of middle-age, from the dignified privacy of our red brick mansion in Washington Square.

On May first, as regular as clockwork, year in and year out, and with all the solemnity of a ritual, we put our elaborate upholstered furniture in linen shrouds, veiled the somber, scowling family portraits in their dull gold frames with fly-netting, boarded up the windows and doors, and went to the country. Our summer home is called The Castle, and it is situated at Sands Cliff, Long Island. As a family we resembled nothing so much as this embattled stone fortress, of old-world design, in which we spent more than half the year.

As long back as I can remember, we had successfully preserved the family's seclusion from the living world. Wherever we 

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