CRYPTOFICTION

Twenty-three short stories for cryptozoology enthusiasts, with strange creatures and beasts from the past, from mammoths to giant snakes, cave dwellers to sky beasts. Stories include: The Jheen (1893, Charles L. Hildreth), In the Avu Observatory (1894, H. G. Wells), Æpyornis Island (1894, Wells), The Fiend of the Cooperage (1897, Arthur Conan Doyle), The Brazilian Cat (1898, Conan Doyle), The Killing of the Mammoth (1899, H. Tukeman), The Spell of the Bird (1900, Frank Aubrey), A Relic of the Pliocene (1901, Jack London), The Monarch of St. Elias (1901, Frank L. Pollock), The Great White Serpent of the Malorli (1902, Alexander Ricketts), Alfred Jenkins and the Didi (1903, Anonymous), The Gregosaur of Black Lake (1905, Julien Josephson), The Death-Trap (1908, George Daulton), Last of the Race (1910, William Fryer Harvey), The Air Serpent (1911, Will A. Page), The Terror of Blue John Gap (1912, Conan Doyle), The Horror of the Heights (1913, Conan Doyle), The Humming Bats (1914, Wilder Anthony), The Devil's Fish (1914, Frederick Simpich), An Alaskan Monster (1915, Charles E. Howard), The Last Egg of the Great Auk (1920, Bernard Sexton), The Shame Of Gold (1922, Charles J. Finger), An Undiscovered "Isle in the Far Sea" (1926, Charles Loring Jackson).

26 stories for marine monster fans. Stories include: The Tail of the Big Sea-Serpent (1848, William H. G. Kingston), Jim Newman’s Yarn: Or, A Sight of the Sea Serpent (1886, John C. Hutcheson), A Real Sea-Serpent (1889, Anonymous), A Matter of Fact (1892, Rudyard Kipling), The Rival Beauties (1894, W. W. Jacobs), The Sea Raiders (1896, H. G. Wells), In the Abyss (1896, H. G. Wells), The Last Stand of the Decapods (1901, Frank T. Bullen), The Voyage of the “Mary Simpson” (1902, Arthur Colton), Out of the Deep (1904, Owen Oliver), The Sea Serpent Syndicate (1905, Everard Jack Appleton), A Tropical Horror (1905, William Hope Hodgson), From the Tideless Sea (1906, William Hope Hodgson), The Terror of the Sea Caves (1907, Charles G. D. Roberts), The Mystery of the Derelict (1907, William Hope Hodgson), Winkler Ashore: The Sea-Serpent (1907, Gouverneur Morris), Crew Saved by Sea Serpent (1910, Anonymous), The Thing in the Weeds (1912, William Hope Hodgson), The Finding of the Graiken (1913, William Hope Hodgson), From the Darkness and the Depths (1913, Morgan Robertson), The Stone Ship (1914, William Hope Hodgson), De Profundis (1917, H. de Vere Stacpoole), Demons of the Sea (posthumous, William Hope Hodgson), The Habitants of Middle Islet (posthumous, William Hope Hodgson), The Finless Death (1921, Robert Ernest Vernède), The Octopus Cycle (1928, I. Lester and F. Pratt).

Intelligent ants with their own civilizations, killer moths, apocalyptic bees, mind-bending butterflies, supernatural spiders, giant arachnids, and many more. Stories include: The Sphinx (1846, Edgar Allan Poe), The Blue Beetle: A Confession (1856, A. G. Gray, Jr.), The Strong Spider (1869, Henry Abbey), The Queen of the Bees (1876, tr., Erckmann-Chatrian), The Crab Spider (1893, tr., Erckmann-Chatrian), A Moth-Genus Novo (1895, H. G. Wells), The Purple Emperor (1897, Robert W. Chambers), The Messenger (1897, Robert W. Chambers), The Captivity of the Professor (1901, A. Lincoln Green), The Valley of the Spiders (1903, H. G. Wells), The Ash-Tree (1904, M. R. James), The Great White Moth (1904, Fred M. White), The Green Spider (1904, Sax Rohmer), The Empire of the Ants (1905, H. G. Wells), The Lace Designers (1907, Don Mark Lemon), The Feather Pillow (1907, Horacio Quiroga), Caterpillars (1912, E. F. Benson), The Golden Fly (1912, Algernon Blackwood), The Red Spider (1915, H. B. Holt), An Egyptian Hornet (1915, Algernon Blackwood), The Spider (1915, Hans Heinz Ewers), The Eggs of the Silver Moon (1915, Robert W. Chambers), The Blue Cockroach (1919, Edward Heron-Allen), The Gold-Seekers (1920, Al Khanzir), The Spectre Spiders (1921, William J. Wintle), The Eggs from Lake Tanganyika (1926, Curt Siodmak), Mive (1928, Carl Jacobi), The Worm (1929, David H. Keller), Vampires of the Desert (1929, A. Hyatt Verrill), The Bees from Borneo (1931, Will H. Gray).

Stories for the cryptozoology enthusiast, and others interested in intelligent apes, hairy men, and other primatological enigmas in classic science fiction and fantasy. Stories include: Story of Tsoqélem (traditional), Two Nights in Southern Mexico (1844, Karl Postl), Hunting of the Soko (1881, Phil Robinson), Manmat’ha (1884, Charles De Kay), A Haunt of the Jinkarras (1890, Ernest Favenc), From a Simian Point of View (1892, H. Knight Horsfield), Dankwarra, the Isle of Fear (1893, Stevens Vail), The Depths of Kyamo (1896, J.H. Rosny the Elder), No-Man’s-Land (1898, John Buchan), The Harbour-Master (1899, Robert W. Chambers), Found by the Missing Link (1902, W. L. Alden), In the Lower Passage (1902, Harle Oren Cummins), Beyond the Banyans (1909, Epes Sargent), Back There in the Grass (1911, Gouverneur Morris), The Ape-Man (1913, Arthur Ogilvy), The Missing Link (1914, Marcel Roland), Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (1921, H. P. Lovecraft), Spirit Island (1922, Captain), The Horror-Horn (1922, E. F. Benson).

Zoologica Fantastica includes fifteen stories of devilish creatures, unknown species, and weird beasts from air, sea, and land. The stories in this anthology arise from the pulps, the bedrock of today’s speculative fiction. From giant insects to Sargasso Sea monsters, creatures from past eons, or horrors from the cavernous depths, these stories celebrate the as yet undiscovered creatures that hide in the far corners of our planet, waiting for unwary explorers to cross their paths. Stories include: A Place of Monsters (1911, Thomas P. Byron), The Albino Otter (1915, Elmer Brown Mason), The White Gorilla (1915, Mason), Black Butterflies (1916, Mason), Lost—One Mylodon (1916, Mason), The Whimpus (1919, Tod Robbins), The Terrors of the Upper Air (1928, Frank Orndorff), Danger (1929, Irvin Lester and Flecher Pratt), From an Amber Block (1930, Tom Curry), Out of the Dreadful Depths (1930, C. D. Willard), The Cave of Horror (1930, Capt. S. P. Meek), From Out of the Earth (1931, Ed Earl Repp), Great Green Things (1931, Thomas H. Knight), The Sargasso Monster (1931, Edsel Newton), The Deadly Yappers (1942, Max Overton).

Sauria Monstra collects 14 classic short stories featuring dinosaurs and other reptiles from the past, along with Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel, The Lost World. The stories included are: The Last of the Vampires (Phil Robinson), The Lizard (C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne), The Monster of Lake LaMetrie (W. A. Curtis), The Slaying of the Plesiosaurus (Edwin J. Webster), The Pterodactyl (T. C. Sloane), The Monster of “Partridge Creek” (Georges Dupuy), The Diplodocus (Porter Emerson Brown), The Last Haunt of the Dinosaur (Henry Francis), The Great Beast Of Kafue (Richard Dehan), The Lizard God (Charles J. Finger), The Beast of the Yungas (Willis Knapp Jones), The Paradise of the Ice Wilderness (Jul. Regis), The Ancient Horror (Hal Grant), and Report on the Status Quo (Terence Roberts). The last story noted is particularly of interest to cryptofiction enthusiasts, as it was written by well-known cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson, under his pseudonym, Terence Roberts.

Published in 1910, The Golden Centipede was one of Louise Gerard’s earliest novels, a romantic adventure set in West Africa, containing elements of both “lost race” and cryptozoological fiction. Major Sinclair, an adventurous bird-collector (among other pursuits), is bound for West Africa when he encounters “The Babe,” a youthful criminal with more than one secret. Sinclair is soon caught up in the danger surrounding “The Babe,” as a murderous legacy and traitorous alliances endanger plans to locate a lost treasure guarded by a monstrous terror.

Sam Ward was yearning for adventure when a Cherokee man arrived from a distant village with a tale of a monstrous hairy creature threatening his land. The formerly peaceful beast went rogue upon the death of its mate, and the chief of the Twilight People sent Otter to ask for help. Sam's quest quickly turns dangerous with new challenges and new enemies, but using their wits, skills, and courage, Sam and Otter finally face Giluhda, last of the living mammoths. The Last Mammoth was first published in 1953.

This volume collects two classic (and rarely seen) novels with cryptozoological and 'lost world' elements. Last of the Mammoths (1907; translated from the French) is a scientific romance. A young French artist, Raoul Le Fort, has fallen in love with Eva, the beautiful daughter of an American millionaire, the Hon. John N. Corliss. Corliss isn't impressed with the Le Fort's bohemian lifestyle or his disdain for commerce, but he sees an opportunity to finish his personally-funded natural history museum with its crowning glory. Le Fort is given a quest, to bring back the bones of a giant mammoth from the tundra, and he will win the hand of Eva. Le Fort accepts, then finds that he has a rival for Eva's hand (and fortune) who is also tasked to find a mammoth skeleton. A grueling trip is in store. And what about those native stories of a monstrous creature in the Great North that destroys all who venture across its path? Men of the Mist (1922) is a boy's adventure novel. Clem and Billy Ballard are stuck in a Dickensian nightmare of a boys' school until a surprise journey is thrust upon them. Traveling to North America and across the continent, they then embark on a rugged trip north with new friends and dangerous enemies across a region that doesn't suffer tenderfoot mistakes for long. Encountering strange beasts and natural wonders, they are in for a greater surprise at their destination . . .

Beyond the Great South Wall, a classic romantic-adventure novel first published in 1901, combines an archaeological mystery with a cryptozoological horror, as the hero (and the girl) end up in the harsh environment of the Antarctic. Interesting story, good characterizations, certainly an outlandish plot, but overall a lot of fun. If you enjoyed Conan Doyle's The Lost World and other early adventure / lost race fiction, this story is worth a read.

Boy meets girl. Boy leaves girl. Boy meets another girl. Boy meets big freaking spider-creature. The Sign of the Spider is a classic British adventure novel, first published in 1896. Bertram Mitford takes the genre of imperialistic adventure stories and turns it on its head, creating an anti-hero as protagonist and weaving throughout the story a deliberate look at racial attitudes and cultural differences within colonial-period Africa. Mitford doesn't shrink from showing humanity at its worst, but manages to spin a tale that is compelling in plot and characterization. This novel is also classic cryptofiction. The arachnid-beast that provides the climax struggle is arguably one of the most fascinating creatures to appear in an early adventure novel.

John Martin Leahy is best known for his 1920s Lost World adventures, set in both the Antarctic and a subterranean world beneath the Pacific Northwest. This volume collects his two serial novels, The Living Death and Drome, as well as the short story “In Amundsen’s Tent.” All three tales share a foundational mythology that teases readers with glimpses of forgotten technologies and crumbled civilizations, giving the tales more depth than the average scientific romance of the time. (And for cryptofiction fans, there are tree-octopi, snake-cats, bear-men, and more!)

Collected here are two well-known, if rarely seen, examples of the lost race genre. Aubrey's A Queen of Atlantis and The Devil-Tree of El Dorado are full of strange peoples, natural wonders and horrors, battles and intrigue. Giant cephalopods, man-eating trees, and weird vampiric creatures will also appeal to the classic cryptofiction reader.

The 12 stories in this first volume are from Chambers' "zoo expedition" fantasy titles, In Search of the Unknown, and Police!!! The majority involve encounters with strange creatures, from the amphibious gill-man in "The Harbor-Master" to giant Alaskan minnows in "The Ladies of the Lake." The stories are light humorous fantasies, particularly of interest to cryptofiction enthusiasts. The stories included in this volume are: The Harbor-Master, In Quest of the Dingue, Is the Ux Extinct?, The Sphyx, A Matter of Interest, The Man at the Next Table, The Third Eye, The Immortal, The Ladies of the Lake, One Over, Un Peu d’Amour, and The Eggs of the Silver Moon.