I am a little behind in this. Sinister Cinema added 10 more volumes in its Armchair Fiction Lost World/Lost Race Classics series about a year ago. More recently, it added four more, bringing the series up to 62 total.
This time, all the works are new to me. A few appeared in the pulps, and most have never been reprinted since their original publication. Many also come from the U.K. Most are either love triangles or boys’ adventure stories.
This next set of works is:
- The Isle of Forgotten People, (B-106/LWLRC #49)
- The City of Desire, (B-107/LWLRC #50)
- Winged Heels, (B-108/LWLRC #51)
- The Eye of God, (B-109, LWRC #52)
- Immortal Athalia, (B-110/LWLRC #53)
- The Golden Centipede, (B-111/LWLRC #54)
- In the Beginning, (B-112/LWLRC #55)
- The Age-Old Kingdom, (B-113/LWLRC #56)
- The Mystery Message, (B-114/LWLRC #57)
- The Treasure Vault of Atlantis, (B-115/LWLRC #58)
- A Subterranean Adventure, (B-126/LWLRC #59)
- The Maracot Deep, (B-127/LWLRC #60)
- King of the World’s Edge, (B-128/LWLRC #61)
- White Python, (B-129/LWLRC #62)
First off are two works by the same author, S. Andrew Wood (1887-1966), from the U.K. Under the alias of Thompson Cross is The Isle of Forgotten People, first published in 1925, and reprinted with the original cover art. It’s set in China on a forgotten island with three volcanoes, which is important, a “lake of death,” and even a race of dangerous people.
Under his own name is Winged Heels from 1927. We get a love triangle tied to a lost kingdom in South America. An adventurous outlaw meets and falls for an adventurous heiress. But the outlaw is also loved by Zillah, the last queen of a forgotten race. Who will the outlaw eventually go with?
British author Juanita Savage mainly wrote romance novels, and The City of Desire first appeared in the U.K. in 1926 and was reprinted in the U.S. in 1930. Here, our heroine heads to Mexico to find her lost father, who was in search of a lost colleague. She finds a lost world, ruled over by the son of the lost colleague. And she falls in love with him. Will she stay and rule over this land?
A boys’ adventure story, The Eye of God, written by B.G. Aston (1902-91), was published in the U.K. in 1927. We get the original cover artwork along with the interior artwork as well. Two friends are completing school when a strange event occurs. A pal almost drowns, but is saved by a strangely-attired man. This stranger somehow reveals to one of them an usual connection to the past, which will lead the two boys to search for a lost land under the sands of Egypt. What do they find, and can they return?
Immortal Athalia, by Harry F. Haley (1883-?), was published in the U.S. in 1922. Our soldier-of-fortune hero is prospecting in Peru when he finds a dying condor that has a bizarre message. He takes it to a man who can break the code, which will lead them to a lost land of riches: Lorretto. There is the last stronghold of the Incas, ruled over by an “immortal” Athalia. What will they find?
The Golden Centipede, by Louise Gerard (1878-1970), was published in the U.K. in 1910. While trying to put an end to running guns and illegal ivory, a British agent discovers a lost land in West Africa. Here, a white queen rules the remains of a decayed African civilization that worships an evil, gigantic, golden centipede. He must deal with rogues behind the gun running and more, but also works to save the twin sister of one of them. Will he succeed?
From prolific author Alan Sullivan (1868-1947), a Canadian working in the U.K., is In the Beginning. It was published in the U.S. and the U.K. in 1927. Set in Patagonia, a scientist receives a letter telling of the discovery of a giant sloth. He mounts an expedition there, where they find other ice-age creatures, including cavemen. But one of the men, a suitor to the scientist’s daughter who comes along, has some past-life connection to things here, which takes a strange turn. Will they be able to leave?
One of the few actual pulp stories is The Age-Old Kingdom by Capt. A.E. “Sinbad” Dingle. This one appeared in Argosy All-Story Weekly in four parts in 1922, and was reprinted in book form in the U.K., the cover art from that being used here. Dingle was a former British sea captain who often wrote sea stories for the pulps, such as Adventure and Blue Book, sometimes under the alias of “Sinbad.” Some of these have been reprinted by Wildside Press. In this one, our hero is looking for the kidnapped daughter of a professor. He finds her in a lost land in the Amazon inhabited by the descendants of Spanish conquistadors. Can he save her from the thug who took her?
We get another boys’ adventure story from T.C. Bridges (1868-1944), The Mystery Message, from the U.K. in 1933. Two boys get a message on their wireless radio from an explorer in Brazil who has found a lost city. But he needs help. The inhabitants are threatened by a rival tribe that wants to conquer and enslave them. They contact the explorer’s uncle, and the group is off to Brazil to help the lost city. It looks like the author might have a few other lost-world stories.
The Treasure Vault of Atlantis, by Olof W. Anderson (1871-1963), was first published in 1925 in the U.S., reprinted by Arno Press in their Lost Race and Adult Fantasy Fiction series. Here, Atlantis created a vault with their inventions, including their princess in suspended animation. In modern times, explorers, including one who is destined to be her lover, find the vault in the Amazon. Among the inventions is one that allows people to speak with the dead.
From Wonder Stories in the 1930s is George Paul Bauer‘s “A Subterranean Adventure” with the artwork of Frank R. Paul. Here, two explorers plan on drilling a tunnel through the Earth, but instead discover a strange underground world.
Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a few sf tales, one of them being The Maracot Deep, here including over two dozen original illustrations and graphics. A scientist and two companions descend within a bathysphere into a deep rift in the Atlantic. But a giant crustacean severs their lifeline, and they plunge into the depths where they find an undersea world where Atlanteans and their Greek slaves live under a doom. Can they escape? Strangely, there is a weird sequence with a supernatural element as well.
From pulp author H. Warner Munn (1903-81) is King of the World’s Edge, the first part of his Merlin’s Godson trilogy. It first appeared in Weird Tales in 1939. This edition uses the cover art from the Ace paperback and the illustrations and maps from Weird Tales. It tells of the survivors of the fall of King Arthur, who travel across the Atlantic to the Americas, and thus mixes in Arthurian legends with Atlantis. The sequels are The Ship From Atlantis (1967) and Merlin’s Ring (1974). A final volume, The Sword of Merlin, was never finished. It would be nice if they reprinted the other two, as they aren’t in print.
Finally, from Mark Channing (actually Leopold Aloysius M. Jones, 1879-1943) is White Python, using the original cover artwork. This is the second of a series of four novels starring Colin Gray, a British Secret Service man in India. The novels mostly deal with lost-world themes. The first, King Cobra, has him dealing with the descendants of Prester John underground in Tibet. White Python follows that, where he confronts a strange cult worshipping the White Python, and includes strange underworld creatures and a naked, pagan high priestess Gynia. In the third, The Poisoned Mountain, he must defend India against poison gas from a volcano; and Nine Lives he deals with an Egyptian cat goddess and a claimant to the throne of Genghis Khan. I hope they reprint the other three, as they’ve never been reprinted.
I look forward to the next four volumes, as these have been announced but not yet released. I would like to see Armchair Fiction continue its Shaver reprint series as well. Check out this publisher as they often have special sales on its website.
