Book Review: "The Lure of Atlantis" ed. by Michael Wheatley

Full Title: The Lure of Atlantis: Strange Tales of the Sunken Continent edited by Michael Wheatley

But afterwards there occured violent earthquakes and floods and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea.

"Critias" by Plato

This quotation open the introduction to The Lure of Atlantis, which is a land according to the introduction itself is first mentioned realistically by Plato though are of little historical merit. The introduction also talks about the fascination with the fictions of Atlantis, looking at not just Plato but also at Sir Francis Bacon and Ignatius L Donnelly and even all the way to the mythical Atlantis' influence on the Cthulhu Mythos. Throughout history, many authors and explorers, historians and scientists alike have been trying to look for any evidence that once there was such a place even if it wasn't called Atlantis. In this text, we find the stranger writings that explore more of the dark and sinister sides of the study.

What better way to open a book about travelling the seas than with an extract from Jules Verne's 20'000 Leagues Under the Seas. The characters of Captain Nemo and the narrator discover the Atlantis that was once mentioned by Plato. In this, Atlantis is described as a continent which was ultimately denied its own existence. From being rained on whilst in the water to seeing the great lands of the underwater continent including volcanoes and mountains, the narrator describes the grand adventure of Captain Nemo from one of the best chapters in the overall novel.

Another story I enjoyed was the one which the anthology is named after. Two professors are looking for the ruins of Atlantis and manage to find a place of incredible beauty and architecture. They find a temple with a princess and there's still people around (as opposed to in the previous tale where Atlantis is basically abandoned). It's a strange story and harbours a weird secret underneath, one that begins to put the two professors into peril, especially concerning their vessel.

There are a few more I enjoyed, for example the HP Lovecraft story (even though the book itself does admit that though he was a prolific author, he was also problematic in many degrees). I also enjoyed the darker tales that litter the first third of the book more than any other section. This is where we come to what lets this book down.

One thing that I thought could have been done better was the curation. As nice as it was to see that there were numerous different types of stories included within, not many of the tales were what we would call 'strange'. Some of them are literally just simple adventure stories or stories about warriors from Atlantis and it ends up feeling more like Aquaman than a Tale of the Weird.

One story that actually picks up the last half of the text is sort of a nod to Lovecraftian Horror, it is called Spawn of Dagon. For those of you who have read the original Dagon by HP Lovecraft, you will know its my favourite Lovecraft short story. So the story Spawn of Dagon by Henry Kuttner which deals with the horrific rebirth of Atlantis, quite impressed me with its horrific imagery. Dagon's theme of rising from the sea is brought forth with magic, sorcery and wizardry whilst there is a clear hero-villain dynamic going on as well. It is quite impressive for a story which is still considered to be a short narrative.

All in all, I think I will have to take a mark off for the curation mismatches in the anthology because when you are reading it in one go, it messes up what you're expecting from the anthology. Not all of the stories in this anthology can be considered 'strange' without the word 'strange' itself being more broadly defined than what it has usually meant over the course of the British Library books I have been reading. All in all though, this has been a fairly enjoyable experience with lots of new stories gathered and read.