The Hollow Earth

Interweaving history with science fiction, this adventure--set in the pre-Civil War South--features Edgar Allan Poe and two cohorts exploring the exotic lands of Earth's core and discovering a parallel universe

In an "editor's note," Rucker ( Wetware ) claims to have found and edited this manuscript written in 1849, shortly after the death of Edgar Allan Poe. Its author, Mason Algiers Reynolds, tells of joining Poe in a counterfeiting scheme to finance an exploration of the South Pole--and beyond, since Poe and fellow traveler Jeremiah Reynolds (not related to the "author") believe in Symme's theory of a hollow Earth. After many difficulties--including Poe's living through the plots of several of his scariest stories--the theory is confirmed with the travelers' discovery of the inside of the world, where they find light, life, even humans. Poe learns of the existence of MirrorEarth where a MirrorPoe is writing Poe's stories; jealous, he wants to go there. Rucker's pastiche of the last century's fantastic voyages makes an enjoyable adventure tale, although MirrorEarth, straining belief too far, destroys the mood.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Purporting to be the account of a young Virginia gentleman's voyage to the center of the "hollow" earth accompanied by his slave-companion Otha and the poet Edgar Allan Poe, this rambunctious sf adventure by the author of Wetware pays tribute to the likes of Mark Twain, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Philip K. Dick. Rucker's ambitious undertaking falls only marginally short of success in this otherwise entertaining pastiche. For large libraries.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.