| LANDS BEYOND L. Sprague de Camp and Willy Ley New York: Rinehart & Company, 1952 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 ? | ||||
| LibCong 52-5577 | 345p. | HC/FHD | $? | |
Travelers' tales come down to us out of the mists of prehistory — Mu, Atlantis, the Seven Cities of Cibola. There is a paradoxical hunger in humankind to know that there are things unknown. We take delight in hearing of a far-distant and mysterious domain of giants, or little people, or monsters; of kingdoms beyond the seas filled with gorgeous palaces, golden ornaments, enormous jewels, spices and wealth untold; of arcane knowledge, miraculous cures, fountains of youth, or lands where death does not walk. All these themes and more echo through the myths, legends and tall tales that children learn in every culture.
Alas, children must one day grow up and cast aside their belief in fantastic places like Atlantis. But what exactly is the origin of that particular legend, which has come to represent the distillation of all such legends and tales, the clear quill, Legend itself?
L. Sprague de Camp has made a second career out of researching the roots of the Atlantis legend. Willy Ley, in addition to numerous books about the history of rocketry, has investigated and written about what he calls "exotic zoology" — the strange and terrifying beasts that lurk just beyond the circle of the firelight.
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