THE PLEKNE (1933) SOURCES:
"Into the Hydrosphere" (Amazing Stories, October 1933)
DESCRIPTION: “...They were between five and six feet in height and wore no clothing over their green, mottled bodies. The professor's first impression was of frogs, walking straight and erect. Bearing out this resemblance still further were the webbed digits which terminated both upper and lower appendages. The heads of these four-limbed creatures destroyed the illusion. They were quite round and would have been nearly spherical if the faces had not been flat. Sunken eyes gave the creatures a pathetic appearance, while an angular snout and a circular, gaping mouth completed the psysiognomy. If they possessed ears, these organs were internal rather than external, the professor surmised to himself.” (“Into the Hydrosphere” by Neil R. Jones) NOTES: The Plekne live on a planet made almost entirely of water, in kelp cities. They are peaceful creatures, possessing an organic technology. Their weapons are spears which they use on the giant fish in the deep waters. They can not survive in the deep parts of the oceans so their cities are found at the surface. They have allies in the Nacac, a merman race. The Plekne are taken as slaves by the Uchke. With the Zoromes help they destroy the inner refuge of the Uchke and take back their planet. The Plekne planet is composed of so much water than the few rocks the Plekne possess are considered rare jewels. HISTORY: Jones's frogman race is not unusual but logical. H. P. Lovecraft's Deep Ones appeared in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" in 1931 and H. G. Wells's Sea People appeared 35 years earlier than Lovecraft.
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