When the World Shook (Pulp fictions) [Paperback]

H. Rider Haggard (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pulp fictions | Publication Date: February 1999

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II BASTIN AND BICKLEY Behold me once more a man without an occupation, but now the possessor of about £900,000. It was a very considerable fortune, if not a large one in England; nothing like the millions of which I had dreamed, but still enough. To make the most of it and to be sure that it remained, I invested it very well, mostly in large mortgages at four per cent, which, if the security is good, do not depreciate in capital value. Never again did I touch a single speculative stock, who desired to think no more about money. It was at this time that I bought the Fulcombe property. It cost me about £120,000 of my capital, or with alterations, repairs, etc., say £150,000, on which sum it may pay a net two and a half per cent., not more. This £3,700 odd I have always devoted to the upkeep of the place, which is therefore in first-rate order. The rest I live on, or save. These arrangements, with the beautifying and furnishing of the house and the restoration of the church in memory of my father, occupied and amused me for a year or so, but when they were finished time began to hang heavy on my hands. What was the use of possessing about £20,000 a year when there was nothing upon which it could be spent? For after all my own wants were few and simple and the acquisition of valuable pictures and costly furniture is limited by space. Oh! in my small way I was like the weary King Ecclesiast. For I too made me great works and had possessions of great and small cattle (I tried farming and lost money over it!) and gathered me silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings, which I presume means whatever a man in authority chiefly desires, and so forth. But "behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." So, notwithsta...

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Pulp Pub (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1902058070
• ISBN-13: 978-1902058078
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,441,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best work, February 28, 2000

By 

P. Kendell (Wokingham, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When the World Shook (Pulp fictions) (Paperback)

WHEN THE WORLD SHOOK is late Haggard, written during the Great War, not very long before his death in 1925. Sad to say, it's a retread of the themes and ideas that made such an impact in early works like SHE, KING SOLOMON'S MINES and ALLAN QUATERMAIN. Three English chaps are marooned on a mysterious South Seas island. The natives tell of their powerful god Oro; whom the chaps find has been sleeping for 250,000 years. They wake him, and his beautiful daughter, who is the spitting image of our hero's dead wife, while he is a dead ringer for her lost love...

The story continues along familiar HRH lines, building to a climax which is not too different from that of SHE. However, there are a couple of things which make this yarn worth investigation for HRH fans. Firstly, the 20th century intervenes, with its aeroplanes, Kodaks and telephones. This is a novelty in the otherwise strictly Victorian goings-on. Secondly, the Great War parts of the story, while revealing unpleasantly jingoistic aspects of HRH's writing, are also illuminating in so far as they give a view of that conflict that differs from that put forward by the War Poets, but is nevertheless penned by a writer with a powerful romantic imagination.

4.0 out of 5 stars A greaat fantasy really enjoyed, August 22, 2011

By 

Potiphar (Crossville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When the World Shook (Pulp fictions) (Paperback)

I found a First Edition copy Circa 1917, some years back and it was the second time I had read the story. The first time was a very beat up Bantam Paperback, probably from the 50s. It is what it is, Fantasy, it has humor, vivid descriptions to peek the imagination and is just a Fun read.

The First Edition, I kept for about 10 years right next to a First Edition Tarzan. One day I did what was probably a foolish thing, I packed it up and sent it to, Peter Jackson in New Zealand. I got a nice letter of thanks with his signature, probably signed by one of several Secretaries but at least someone in his organization acknowledged getting it. Perhaps one day he may do it as a movie, strange things happen.

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WHEN THE EARTH TREMBLED, August 25, 2000

By 

MICHAEL A BLODGETT (Lewisville, TX. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When the World Shook (Pulp fictions) (Paperback)

I was only searching for this book; I was reading a book by the old master,R.A. HEINLEIN,(rocket ship galileo), when i caught a reference to Haggard's "when the earth TREMBLED". HOW COME THE NAME DISCREPENCY?