The Masters of Adventure

THE MASTERS OF ADVENTURE

By G. W. Thomas

In today’s world genres are defined by what publishers put on the spines of books. In the past this was not the case. Imaginative fiction was seen as an umbrella for many different types of adventure-oriented story-telling. Two hundred years ago, the term was “Romance” but today that word is much narrower, tales of women and men falling in love. A hundred years ago the same kind of fiction was called “Fantasy”, again a narrow classification, filled with Tolkienesque elves and Howardian barbarians.

Whatever you call it, there is a wealth of imaginative adventure fantasy which, like horror, mystery and even science fiction, date back to Edgar Allan Poe. Poe, you say? Tales like “Ms. Found In a Bottle”, “Into the Maelstrom”, "The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfall" and the unfinished The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym inspired generations of writers to write of the amazing adventure in the far-away places of the Earth, as yet undiscovered. The first author to really solidify this genre was Jules Verne, with his “Voyages Fantasque”. Verne (as would H. P. Lovecraft decades later) even wrote a sequel/ending to Arthur Gordon Pym’s tale called The Sphinx of the Ice-Fields (1897).

This article will offer the reader a hyper-linked guide to exploring this neglected sub-genre of Fantasy Adventure. The books listed are the best examples of these writers works but often there are others. So happy hunting!

JULES VERNE (1828-1905)

Despite Verne's reputation as a science fiction writer (usually placed beside Wells) there often is very little of speculative fiction about Verne. He would be better described as a "science adventure" writer. Verne did laborious research before writing a book. He reviewed new patents for inventions and read widely to back all his stories. He disliked H. G. Wells' work on the grounds that his stories weren't actually possible.

This sticking-to-the-facts (as he knew them) style of writing has made much of the science in Verne's work tedious for the modern reader (for instance he describes the wonders of the electric lamp in Journey to the Center of the Earth, a commonplace invention today). What makes Verne readable and worth reading is the adventure in his books.

One of his most famous, Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), has inspired dozens of interior world stories among them Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar series and John Benyon Harris' The Secret People (1935). Journey concerns three explorers who struggle down a fissure in a volcano in Iceland to find an interior world. Verne based the story on reports of scientific work with volcanoes.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) is probably Verne's most famous work, and Captain Nemo, his most famous character. The plot has three men captured by the Nautilus crew and taken all over the oceans of the world before Nemo is betrayed and attacked in force. The giant squid that threatens the submarine has inspired numerous stories and films.

Nemo was to resurface after his deadly confrontation with the navies of the world, as a secondary character in Mysterious Island (1874-5). A group of men in a Confederate prison escape in an observation balloon. The balloon gets blown to an island where the men must work to survive. Much of this book, and others by Verne, were inspired by Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson. Verne wrote sequels to both books.

Others of interest: The English at the North Pole (1864), Field of Ice (1866), Captain Grant's Children (1867-8), Child of the Cavern (1877), Godrey Morgan (1882), and The Sphinx of the Ice-Fields (1897).

H. RIDER HAGGARD (1856-1925)

Perhaps no other writer has been so synonymous with the word "adventure" than Sir Henry Rider Haggard. His Victorian adventure tales are now considered fantastic, but were considered more speculative in their day. Haggard's main contribution is a series of novels about Allan Quatermain: King Solomon's Mines (1885) Allan Quatermain (1887), Maiwa's Revenge (1888), Allan's Wife (1889), Marie (1912), Child of Storm (1913), Allan and the Holy Flower (1915), Finished (1917), Smith and the Pharaoh and Other Tales (1920), The Ancient Allan (1920), Heu-Heu (1924), and Allan and the Ice Gods (1927).

Perhaps even more famous are the novels about Ayesha or She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed: Wisdom's Daughter (1923), She (1887) and Ayesha the Return of She (1905). The two series connect with She and Allan (1921). His series characters are featured in the bulk of his work, though he wrote about Central America and Mexico as well.

Others of interest: The World's Desire (1890) with Andrew Lang, Eric Brighteyes (1891), The People of the Mist (1894), Heart of the World (1895), The Yellow God (1908), Sheba's Ring (1910), Red Eve (1911), When the World Shook (1919).

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930)

A. Conan Doyle will be remembered forever as the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but his works about two scientists, Challenger and Maracot are important pieces of adventure fiction. The Lost World (1912) along with Verne would inspire Edgar Rice Burroughs and his dinosaur-filled lands. Professor Challenger and his associates venture to a remote plateau in South America where ancient forms of life survive. The sequel The Poison Belt (1913) has the scientists explore the Earth after a holocaust, caused by a poisonous gas cloud passes over the earth. There are three other sequels.

The Maracot Deep (1927-8) features another scientist, Professor Maracot, who descends into the depths of the ocean to find the lost inhabitants of Atlantis. In this technologically advanced world he meets The Lord of the Dark Face. A. Merritt would use a similar idea in The Moon Pool.

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS (1875-1950)

Edgar Rice Burroughs was the most popular adventure writer of the Twentieth Century. His imaginary worlds include Barsoom (Mars), Venus, Pellucidar, Tarzan's Africa and the Moon's Interior world. There are too many excellent adventure stories to list here, but I have selected some of the best.

The entire Pellucidar series: At the Earth's Core (1922), Pellucidar (1923), Tanar of Pellucidar (1929), Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1930), Back to the Stone Age (1937), Land of Terror (1944) and Savage Pellucidar (1963), all feature the subterranean world of David Innis and Abner Perry, two explorers who get to the interior world with a digging machine called the Iron Mole. Pellucidar is peopled with numerous strange races as well as dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals.

Another dinosaur-filled place is the mysterious island of Caspak, where evolution flows through individuals lives. The inhabitants start as protozoans and as they grow older they proceed up the island until they reach human form. The Land That Time Forgot (1924) tells the story of how a group of Americans and British are taken prisoner by a German U-Boat that discovers Caspak. The People That Time Forgot (1924) concerns a rescue party to the island. Out of Time Abyss (1924), perhaps the best of the three, features the hideous winged Weiroos.

Another interesting group of books are the Tarzan novels. Though not all the series feature lost cities, many do. The Return of Tarzan (1915), Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1918), Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1923), Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1928), and Tarzan the Invincible (1931) all feature the lost city of Opar, whose inhabitants are the survivors of Atlantis. The men are bred for their apishness, while the women their beauty. The Queen of Opar, La, is madly in love with Tarzan.

Three of Burroughs' best cities or lands include Xuja in Tarzan the Untamed (1920), the land of Pal-ul-don where dinosaurs live and the otherwise human-looking inhabitants have monkey tails in Tarzan the Terrible (1921), and in Tarzan and the Ant Men (1924) there are two lands: Alali where the women are brutish and men frail, and Minumi, where the diminutive ant-men live in giant hive-like cities.

Also of interest: Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1929), Tarzan Triumphant (1932), Tarzan and the City of Gold (1933), Tarzan and the Forbidden City (1938) and Tarzan and the Castaways (1965) Other non-Tarzan books of interest: Cave Girl (1925) and The Land of Hidden Men (1932).

TALBOT MUNDY(1879-1940)

Talbot Mundy was the quintessential magazine adventure writer at the start of the Pulp Era. His influence was strongly felt by writers like Robert E. Howard and in films like Raiders of the Lost Ark. Mundy is best remembered for King of the Kyber Rifles (1916) but his best fantastical works are those about the explorer James Schuyler Grim (Jimgrim). Grim and his four assistants: Jeff Ramsen, Lhaten, Narayan Singh, and Chullander Ghose, fight occult evil in India, much as Doc Savage and his superhero buddies cleansed the streets of New York a decade later. His influence can also be seen on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian series. The series includes eleven books: Jimgrim and Allah's Peace (1936), The Seventeen Rifles of El-Kalil (1933), The Lion of Petra (1933), The Woman of Ayisha, The Lost Trooper (1933), The King in Check (1934), The Mystery of Khufu's Tomb (1935), The Hundred Days (1931), The Nine Unknown (1924), The Devil's Guard (1926) and Jimgrim (1931).

Also of interest: Om: The Secret of Abhor Valley (1924) Caves of Terror (1924), Black Light (1930) The Thunder Gate (1937), Old Ugly Face (1940)

A. MERRITT (1889-1943)

Unlike most of the authors mentioned here, Abraham Merritt knew H. P. Lovecraft. He collaborated with HPL, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long and C. L. Moore on the Mythos tale "The Challenge From Beyond"(1935). Merritt's style of bizarre fantasy is sometimes compared to Edgar Rice Burroughs but Merritt's work features many different genres, including horror and fantasy. The Moon-Pool (1919) was Merritt's first novel, a horror piece heavily praised by HPL in his "Supernatural Horror in Literature". A scientist and his cohorts discover the lost Lemurian civilization in a gigantic cavern under the Pacific Ocean. Unlike many adventure writers, Merritt never guarantees a happy ending.

The Face in the Abyss (1931) is perhaps the most Burroughsian of the novels, features Merritt's strangest creations, including the Snake Mother. The immortals of the Abyss must band together to defeat their creation, "The Shining One".

Dwellers in the Mirage (1932) is the most Lovecraftian of Merritt's work and perhaps the only book mentioned in this article which blends Cthulhuian horror with adventure. The shadow of a black squid-like god hangs over a valley which is protected from the outside world by a mirage. A white man and his Indian friend penetrate the mirage and fight in a war between the witch queen and her foes.

Also of interest: "The People of the Pit" (1918) and The Black Wheel (1948) finished by Merritt pasticher, Hannes Bok

KENNETH ROBESON (Lester Dent) (1904-1959)

Beginning with The Man of Bronze (1933), Doc Savage and his five amazing aids ran through 182 adventures between 1933-1949. The majority of the monthly adventures were written by Lester Dent, who took the publishers plan and fleshed out the characters of Clark "Doc" Savage Jr., a goody-goody too true to believe, Monk, Ham, Johnny, Long Tom and Renny, not to mention their pet pig, Habeus corpus and ape, Chemistry. Recently new adventures have been written under the house name of "Kenneth Robeson" (primarily by Philip Jose Farmer and Will Murray). Though not every Doc Adventure features a lost city or race, several of them do. It would not be possible to look at all 182 but a few of the better ones include: The Man of Bronze (1933) and The Golden Peril (1937) which are set in the Valley of the Vanished, a Mayan survival in the Central American country of Hidalgo, The Land of Terror (1933) where a volcano has created an isolated island of dinosaurs, Land of Always-Night (1935) a subterranean world, The Fantastic Island (1935) where an evil genius lives, and The Red Terrors (1938) which features an underwater city.

Others of interest: The Phantom City (1933), Haunted Ocean (1936), The Land of Fear (1937), The Magic Island (1937), Poison Island (1939), The Other World (1940), Mystery Island (1941), The Magic Forest (1942), Pirate Isle (1942) and Up From Earth's Center (1949).

ROBERT E. HOWARD (1906-1936)

The guy who wrote Conan? Yup. Howard made his living by writing for all kinds of magazines, including the adventure pulps like Top-Notch. Copying Talbot Mundy, Harold Lamb, Sir Francis Burton and T. E. Lawrence, he created the American adventurer, Francis Xavier Gordon, known as El-Borak ("The Swift") who along with his side-kick, the enormous Ali Khan explored lost cities, duel with sword and pistol in three paperbacks: The Lost Valley of Iskander (1974), Three-Bladed Doom (1977) and Son of the White Wolf (1978) . These feature "The Daughter of Erlik Khan", "Hawk of the Hills", "Blood of the Gods", "Son of the White Wolf" and "The Country of the Knife".

Howard wrote many short stories set in his version of the Orient (while the other authors mentioned here are primarily novelists). Other books that will be of interest include Gordon clone Kirby O'Donnell in Swords of Shahrazar (1978), Fu Manchu clones in Skull-Face (1978), the red-haired she-devil Dark Agnes in The Sword Woman (1977), the Celtic warrior Cormac Mac Art chops his way through Tigers of the Sea (1974) and for more humorous fare: The Adventures of Dennis Dorgan (1974). Other books which don't center on one character are: The Marchers of Valhalla (1972), The Sowers of the Thunder (1973), The Road of Azrael and The Iron Man (1976). Howard's influence has been most widely felt in the Sword & Sorcery brand of fantasy, but his bloody, pulse-pounding style is as evident in these stories as any of Conan or Kull.

IAN CAMERON (1924 - )

After the age of Pulp, many adventure writers developed away from the fantastical school of writing. Writers like Alistair Maclean and John Creasey became popular. It is unusual to find a fantastic adventure writer outside the sf field after 1950. Until Ian Cameron.

Ian Cameron (a pseudonym) who served as a pilot in WWII and was educated at Oxford. His adventure fiction is entirely in a Vernian model. His first novel The Lost Ones (1960) was made into the largely different Disney movie, The Island At the Top of the World (1972). In the original a man goes in search of his son, a bush pilot who has disappeared in the Arctic. Traveling by dog-sled (not dirigible) he finds a semitropical land inside a volcano (Hyperborea). Escaping the half-Eskimo/Viking inhabitants, they find the graveyard of the whales and the lost pilot. Their escape route is blocked by deadly killer whales.

Cameron's next book (which was named to capitalize on the Disney movie) was The Mountains at the Bottom of the World (1972). A party of scientists visit a volcano is the remote Andes and discover a race of shaggy ape men. Their passage through the volcano and the ape-men are reminiscent of Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and the Ape Gigans.

Several non-fiction books by Cameron maybe of interest to Cthulhu adventurers: Magellan and the First Circumnavigation of the World (1973), Antarctica: The Last Continent (1974), To the Farthest Ends of the Earth: 150 Years of World Exploration by the Royal Geographical Society (1980), Mountains of the Gods (1984) and Lost Pacific: The Exploration of the Pacific (1987).