I previously posted on Sinister Cinema’s Armchair Fiction series of reprints in their “Lost World-Lost Race.” They had put out 14 in the series, and have just added 10 more.
The works are a mix of stories I know, along with several I have never heard of, which I find most interesting.
This next set of works are:
- #15 The Drums of Tapajos, S.P. Meek #B-48
- #16 The Temple of Fire, Fred Ashley (Frank Atkins), #B-49
- #17 The Face in the Abyss, A. Merritt, #B-50
- #18 Inland Deep, Richard Tooker, #B-51
- #19 The Silver God of the Orang Hutan, David Douglas, #B-52
- #20 The King of the Dead, Frank Aubrey (Francis Atkins), #B-53
- #21 The Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig’, William Hope Hodgson, #B-54
- #22 The Secret of the Earth, Charles Willing Beale, #B-55
- #23 The World of the Giant Ants, A. Hyatt Verrill, #B-56
- #24 Phalanxes of Atlans, F. Van Wyck Mason, #B-57
S.P. Meek (1894-1972) was a military chemist and author who briefly focused on science fiction and later children’s stories. His sf appeared in Astounding and Amazing Stories, and he had a long-running series, featuring Dr. Bird and Operative Carnes. But few of his works have been reprinted, tho there is a collection of most of the Dr. Bird stories.
The Drums of Tapajos tells of a lost super-science city found by a quartet of explorers. What secrets will they discover? This sounds like an interesting work from an author I’ve never heard of. It first appeared in three issues of Amazing Stories in 1930-31. There is a sequel, Troyana, so I wonder if Armchair Fiction will reprint that as well? Hope so.
Fred Ashley, really Frank (or Francis) Atkins (1847-1927), wrote several lost-race stories, one published in Argosy and another in a British pulp magazine. The Temple of Fire (1905) takes its heroes to a bizarre lost world in the South Pacific, with an array of dangers, like web-footed people, man-eating plants, and more. More a boy’s adventure book then pulp fiction, should be interesting.
I’ve posted already on A. Merritt, and Face in the Abyss is one of his lesser-known lost world stories (The Moon Pool is what most people know). Here our hero confronts a bizarre land in the Andes. Now, this edition is subtitled “and Other Fantastic Tales,” and so contains two other works by Merritt: “The People of the Pit” and “The Woman of the Wood.”
Richard Tooker was a minor pulp author. The only other works of his that I am aware of is the short sf series, Zenith Rand, Planet Vigilante (available from Black Dog Books), which I hope to get. Inland Deep (1936) tells of a group of explorers looking into strange tales about Comanche Caves and finding a lost world of dinosaurs and a semi-intelligence species!
The Silver God of the Orang Hutan (1922) appears to be the only work by David Douglas, and was only published in England. It tells of an American millionaire who teams up with an explorer in a quest in Malaysia that has them discovering a lost world and its strange people who worship a “Silver God.”
Frank Aubrey is another alias for Frank Atkins, and The King of the Dead is another of his lost world stories, actually the third of a trio of related works starting with The Devil-Tree of El Dorado and then a prequel, A Queen of Atlantis (which was reprinted in Argosy). The character of Monella appears in these first two works. The King of the Dead (1903) appears to be more a retelling, with the characters renamed as they search the jungles of Brazil for the super-science city of Myrvonia. I wonder if they’ll reprint the first two works?
I also posted on William Hope Hodgson, and his work The Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig’. As I noted, it tells of the survivors from a sunken ship and their adventures in a bizarre and dangerous land in the Sargasso Sea.
Charles Willing Beale wrote a handful of tales, one which was published in The Cavalier in 1909. The Secret of the Earth (1899) tells of a pair of brothers who build an airship, and with it take a trip to the arctic where they enter the hollow earth and met various groups of people.
A. Hyatt Verrill (1871-1954) was a zoologist, explorer, and author of both natural history and science fiction. He wrote several lost world stories, including a couple dealing with the “green prism,” both reprinted by Armchair Fiction. The World of the Giant Ants is actually related to these two stories, and first appeared in Amazing Stories. It tells of a lost land of giant insects.
F. Van Wyck Mason was a prolific historian and author, who wrote mystery, action, historical fiction, young adult, but very little science fiction. Phalanxes of Atlans originally appeared in Astounding Stories in 1931. It tells of a lost world of Atlantians in the Arctic.
As noted, I was only familiar with two of these stories, and am very interested in getting and reading the others, and even some of these authors other works as well. As I obtain these works, I plan on posting more detailed reviews.
Good article
“There is supposed to be a sequel or related work, Troyana, so I wonder if Armchair Fiction will reprint that as well?”
Both “The Drum of Tapajos” and “Troyana” were published by Avalon in the late 50s/early 60s.
That’s great, but would like to find more recent copies.
I see that Fiction House has reprinted both, using the Avalon covers. So if Armchair Fiction doesn’t reprint “Troyana”, I might go with Fiction House.