The Smoky God

The city of "Eden" is located in what seems to be a beautiful valley, yet, in fact, it is on the loftiest mountain plateau of the Inner Continent, several thousand feet higher than any portion of the surrounding country. It is the most beautiful place I have ever beheld in all my travels. In this elevated garden all manner of fruits, vines, shrubs, trees, and flowers grow in riotous profusion. -from The Smoky God One of the oddest books ever written, this 1908 work purports to tell the tale of Norwegian sailor Olaf Jansen, who claims to have visited the hollow insides of the Earth through an opening in the North Pole. This land, in which Jansen is said to have lived for two years, is a paradise, inhabited by willowy humans and magnificent creatures-such as 100-foot-long elephants and 20-foot-wide tortoises-a utopia to which we surface-dwelling humans can only aspire. A classic of the literature of the weird, The Smoky God will intrigue everyone fascinated by paranormal theories of alternate realities, hidden truths, and the lost histories of humanity. WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON (1856-1918) also wrote The Builders (1909).