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The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places (1922) is a science fiction novel by Ella M. Scrymsour. Thought to be a fixup novel, or a combination of two separate stories, it proves a curious sampling of many common elements of science fiction, incorporating utopian, lost race, apocalyptic, and interstellar themes. Ultimately, with its exploration of the Great War¿s aftermath, it proves an entertaining work of fiction that captures the interbellum anxieties permeating European culture in the early twentieth century.
While working at Grimland Colliery, their family¿s successful coalmine, cousins Alan and Desmond Forsyth discover a vast system of underground caves. There, they encounter an ancient race of horned dwarves, exiled Israelites whose civilization has lived underground for three thousand years. Hostile in nature, the dwarves pursue Alan and Desmond through dark, twisted tunnels, forcing the pair to escape by any means necessary. Eventually emerging in Australia, the Forsyth cousins learn that they have missed the Great War, which has devastated the world and ushered in the end of human life itself. At the very last moment, they escape with their uncle, who has invented an airship capable of travelling through space. Together, the trio lands on the planet Jupiter, where they encounter a race of humanoid aliens who have established a utopian civilization. The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places is an entertaining work of science fiction by Ella M. Scrymsour, a relatively unknown writer with a gift for the weird and wonderful.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Ella M. Scrymsour¿s The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places is a classic of English science fiction reimagined for modern readers.
About the author
Ella M. Scrymsour (1888-1962) was a British actress and writer. Born in London, she was the daughter-in-law of C.A. Scrymsour Nichol, a science-fiction writer who wrote
The Mystery of the North Pole (1908), a well-regarded utopian, lost race novel. Not much is known about Scrymsour beyond her authorship of two novels:
The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places (1922); and
The Bridge of Distances (1924). The former, thought to be a fixup novel-a combination of two initially standalone stories-has been recognized as a highly imaginative work of science fiction incorporating utopian, lost race, biblical, and apocalyptic motifs and themes.
Summary
The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places (1922) is a science fiction novel by Ella M. Scrymsour. Thought to be a fixup novel, or a combination of two separate stories, it proves a curious sampling of many common elements of science fiction, incorporating utopian, lost race, apocalyptic, and interstellar themes. Ultimately, with its exploration of the Great War’s aftermath, it proves an entertaining work of fiction that captures the interbellum anxieties permeating European culture in the early twentieth century.
While working at Grimland Colliery, their family’s successful coalmine, cousins Alan and Desmond Forsyth discover a vast system of underground caves. There, they encounter an ancient race of horned dwarves, exiled Israelites whose civilization has lived underground for three thousand years. Hostile in nature, the dwarves pursue Alan and Desmond through dark, twisted tunnels, forcing the pair to escape by any means necessary. Eventually emerging in Australia, the Forsyth cousins learn that they have missed the Great War, which has devastated the world and ushered in the end of human life itself. At the very last moment, they escape with their uncle, who has invented an airship capable of travelling through space. Together, the trio lands on the planet Jupiter, where they encounter a race of humanoid aliens who have established a utopian civilization. The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places is an entertaining work of science fiction by Ella M. Scrymsour, a relatively unknown writer with a gift for the weird and wonderful.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Ella M. Scrymsour’s The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places is a classic of English science fiction reimagined for modern readers.
