The Crystal City Under the Sea

The Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics Collection

PART I: THE CONQUEST OF SPACE

The Archeology of Space Travel

(space travel books from the 18th and early 19th centuries)

The Life and Astonishing Adventures of John Daniel
(1751), Ralph Morris, illustrated

Voyage to the Moon
(1827), George Tucker

Journeys to the Moon
(includes "The Moon Hoax" by Richard Adams Locke, "The Unparalleled Adventures of Hans Pfaall" by Edgar Allan Poe and "Journey...to the newly discovered Planet Georgium Sidus" by "Vivenair", illustrated

Trip to the Moon
, Lucian of Samosata

Iter Lunaire
(1703), David Russen

A Voyage to Cacklogallinia
(1727), "Samuel Brunt"

Gulliver Joi
(1851), Elbert Perce, illustrated

The Consolidator
(1705), Daniel Defoe

Trips to the Moon

Daybreak
(1896), James Cowan, illustrated

The Conquest of the Moon
(1889), Andre Laurie, illustrated

Drowsy
(1917), J.A. Mitchell, illustrated

The Moon Conquerors
(1930), R.H. Roman

A History of a Voyage to the Moon
(1864), "Chrysostom Trueman"

The Moon Colony
(1937), William Dixon Bell, illustrated by Ron Miller

To the Moon and Back in Ninety Hours
(1922), John Young Brown, illustrated

Pioneers of Space
(1949), George Adamski

A Christmas Dinner With the Man in the Moon
(1880), illustrated

Flights to and from Mars

Doctor Omega
(1906), Arnould Goupin (translated by Ron Miller), illustrated

To Mars via the Moon
(1911), Mark Wicks, illustrated

A Plunge Into Space
(1890), Robert Cromie

A Trip to Mars
(1909), Fenton Ash, illustrated

War of the Worlds
(includes The Crystal Egg and The Things That Live On Mars), H.G. Wells. Illustrated

Gulliver of Mars
(1905), Edwin Arnold

Across the Zodiac
(1880), Percy Greg

Journeys to Other Worlds

The Moon-Maker
(includes The Man Who Rocked the Earth) (1916), Arthur Train and Robert Wood

A Trip to Venus
(includes "Daybreak on the Moon") (1897), John Munro

A Honeymoon in Space
(1900), George Griffith, illustrated

The Brick Moon
(includes "On Vesta" by K.E. Tsiolkovsky) (1869), E.E. Hale

A Columbus of Space
(1894), Garrett Serviss, illustrated

Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven
(1909), Mark Twain

Zero to Eighty
(1937), "Akkad Pseudoman" (E.F. Northrup)

Aleriel
(Voice from Another World, 1874 and Letters from the Planets, 1883), W.S. Lach-Szyrma, illustrated

A Journey in Other Worlds
(1894), J. J. Astor. Illustrated

Deutsche im Weltall

(Germans in Space)

By Rocket to the Moon
(1931), Otto Willi Gail, illustrated

The Shot Into Infinity
(1925), Otto Willi Gail, illustrated

The Stone From the Moon
(1926), Otto Willi Gail, illustrated

Between Earth and Moon
(1930), Otfrid von Hanstein, illustrated

Distant Worlds
(1932), Friedrich Mader, illustrated

A Daring Flight to Mars
(1931), Max Valier

Space Travel for Junior Space Cadets

Through Space to Mars
(1910), "Roy Rockwood" (Howard R. Garis)

Lost on the Moon
(1911)), "Roy Rockwood" (Howard R. Garis)

Rocket Riders Across the Ice
(1933), Howard R. Garis, illustrated

Rocket Riders in Stormy Seas
(1933), Howard R. Garis, illustrated

Rocket Riders in the Air
(1934), Howard R. Garis, illustrated

Adrift in the Stratosphere
(1937), A.M. Low, illustrated

Jules Verne

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
, Jules Verne, translated and edited by Ron Miller. Illustrated

A Journey to the Center of the Earth
, translated, annotated and edited by Ron Miller. Illustrated

Off on a Comet!
, Jules Verne, edited by Ron Miller, illustrated

From the Earth to the Moon
(includes Around the Moon), Jules Verne, translated and edited by Ron Miller. Illustrated

The Purchase of the North Pole
, edited by Ron Miller, illustrated

Science Fiction by Gaslight

The End of Books
(1884), Octave Uzanne, illustrated by Albert Robida

Under the Sea to the North Pole
(1898), Pierre Mael, illustrated

Penguin Island
(1908), Anatole France, illustrated by Frank C. Pape

The Crystal City Under the Sea
(1896), Andre Laurie, illustrated

The Earth-Tube
(1929), Gawain Edwards (G. Edward Pendray)

PART II: FIREBRANDS OF SCIENCE FICTION

Heroines

Three Go Back
(1932), J. Leslie Mitchell

The Flying Legion
(1920), George Allen England, illustrated

The Island of Captain Sparrow
(1928), S. Fowler Wright

Under the Sea to the North Pole
(1898), Pierre Mael, illustrated

Fugitive Anne
(1904), Rose Praed, illustrated

Lentala of the South Seas
(1908), W.C. Morrow

The Girl in the Golden Atom
(1923), Ray Cummings

Maza of the Moon
(1929), Otis Adelbert Kline

Bad Girls

Atlantida
(1920), Pierre Benoit

Out of the Silence
(1928), Erle Cox

Swordwomen

The Lost Continent
(1900), C.J. Cutcliffe-Hyne

The Legend of Croquemitaine
(1874), Ernest L'Epine, illustrated by Gustave Dore

Not Quite Human

The Beetle
(1897). Richard Marsh, illustrated

Carmilla
(1872), J. Sheridan LeFanu

The Lair of the White Worm
(1911), Bram Stoker, illustrated

The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins
(1751), Richard Paltock, illustrated

The Sea Lady
(1902), H.G. Wells, illustrated

Angel Island
(1914), Inez Haynes Gilmore

The Future Eve
(1926), Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, illustrated

The Coming Race
(1871), Edward Bulwer-Lytton

CHAPTER I
AN OFFICER OVERBOARD!

O
N the 19th of October, in the year 18-—, a strange and tragic accident happened on board the cruiser Hercules, en route for Lorient, after long and laborious duty on the station in the Gulf of Benin.

They were in mid-Atlantic, just above the Azores, as nearly as possible to the spot where 25° E. longitude crosses 36° N. latitude. The vessel was running at full speed to the N. N. E. before a cyclone, which had come up about six o’clock in the evening. It was seven, and the starless night only added to the horror of the storm, when either a mistake on the part of the helmsman, or a sudden veering of the wind, brought the cruiser broadside to a formidable wave from the west. A liquid mountain struck the upper deck of the Hercules a blow as if a hammer had done it, carrying away “with it the starboard gun and its carriage; then dashed away like a cataract, leaving a surface of thirty square feet Or more shaved as clean as a hulk. The next instant, as the vessel pursued its course, running before the cyclone, a cry, followed by a second, was heard from the maintop: “An officer overboard, from the upper deck!” “A man wounded!” At the first call the luminous buoy was severed by the stroke of a hatchet, and Commander Harancourt, rushing to the speaking-trumpet, gave in person the order to stop. In two minutes one of the life-boats was afloat, and set off in the tumult of boiling waters in search, and disappeared into the darkness. Amid the gruesome howling of the wind and the furious blows of the waves, seemingly enraged at the slackened speed of the cruiser, the officer in command brought his verbal report to his chief. The officer carried away by the wave, with the cannon from the upper deck, was Midshipman Caoudal. The man wounded in the thigh by a splinter of the planking was seaman Yvon Kermadec. Every one crowded round to listen to the lugubrious report. A half-hour of intense anxiety passed before the life-boat signalled its return, and the fruitlessness of its search. It was hoisted on board, and the dripping crew were treated to a ration of hot rum. Every man of them was obliged to own, with a sob in his voice, that any further attempt at rescue would be useless. The sea held its prey, and would not give it up. The Hercules went on her way, with the poignant regret of every one on board at abandoning to the deep a brave young fellow, certain of promotion, fallen ingloriously and without advantage to any one, in full health and hope, at the threshold of his career. Rend Caoudal was the most popular officer on board, a great favourite with his brother officers; and, among the roughest of the men, there was not one who did not shed a tear. When the commander went below to the hospital to see Yvon Kermadec, he was coming to from a deep swoon, thanks to the energetic means applied by Dr. Patrice, and the frightened blue eyes in his honest, brown Breton face had opened. Presently memory returned to him with the pain; and he explained what occurred as follows: