Lemuria and Other Essay Topics

[Extollager]

Illustrated article with Clark Ashton Smith, Richard Shaver pulp, etc.

The Allure of Lemuria | The Orthosphere

 

[End of Time]

I never understood why Atlantis and Lemuria don't get more love.

When I was young I loved those stories, I loved the rise and fall of empires ahead of their time. The notion that all they built, sank into the ocean and was forgotten by time, seemed something straight out of a fantasy novel. A lost world that might have been real.

Maybe it's because the world we live in is so cynical, maybe it's because everything has already been discovered and explored, but I always had a soft spot for Atlantis and Lemuria. I even did a report on them when I was ten years old. That the past might still hold some big secret empire ready to be rediscovered is something that is so appealing it almost hurts.

How come there aren't more novels set on and around these ancient mythological empires?

By the way, anyone remember The Mysterious Cities of Gold, the old cartoon, Atlantis and the Empire of Hiva played a major role in the story. Hiva being another name for Lemuria.

 

[Extollager]

How come there aren't more novels set on and around these ancient mythological empires?

Do you know Tolkien's unfinished novel with an Atlantean element, The Notion Club Papers? It's printed in the History of Middle-earth volume called Sauron Defeated and runs about 150 pages.