Three stories C. L. Moore wrote for Indiana University’s literary magazine The Vagabond are available to read on the IU library blog.

She studied at IU in the early 1930s —

However, before officially declaring a major, she withdrew from the university due to the financial hardships of the Great Depression and returned to Indianapolis to work as a secretary.

Her 1931 story “Semira” begins –

“For the past ten years I have been a Deity, omnipotent over the population of an island group located, at present, somewhere indeterminately southward in the Pacific.”

The rest of it doesn’t live up to the hook – nothing really happens to make a reader invest in the story’s characters or outcome — yet Moore’s style and pacing kept me turning the pages.

“Two Fantasies” delivers a pair of evocative fragments, one mythic, one weird.

“Happily Ever After,” the best of the three, tells why Cinderella’s life was miserable after her dream came true – in sprightly, humorous prose leading to an even happier ending.

Moore was rapidly developing as a writer when she had to leave Indiana University. Less than two years after her final contribution appeared in The Vagabond Moore premiered in Weird Tales with the classic “Shambleau.”

[Thanks to Michael J. Walsh for the story.]