Lost Continents & the Hollow Earth (Paperback)

by David Hatcher Childress (Author), Richard S. Shaver (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This book is Childress' thorough examination of the early hollow earth stories of Richard Shaver, and the fascination that fringe fantasy subjects such as lost continents, UFOs, and the hollow earth have had on people. Shaver's rare 1948 book, I Remember Lemuria is reprinted in its entirety, and the book is packed with illustrations from Ray Palmer's Amazing Stories issues of the 1940s. Childress discusses famous hollow earth books and delves deep into whatever reality may be behind the stories of tunnels underground.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Adventures Unlimited Press; illustrated edition edition (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932813631
• ISBN-13: 978-0932813633
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #601,070 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An underground classic!, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

Although it reprints I Remember Lemuria and The Shaver Mystery by Richard Shaver, almost half of Lost Continents and The Hollow Earth consists of original material by the maverick archaeological heretic and historian David Hatcher Childress. Childress spells out the lore regarding UFOs and Antarctica, the tunnel systems in South America and under-the-surface civilization in central Asia. Childress' perpetual circumnavigation of the globe and its mystery spots, as well as his love of rare books and obscure historical sources, make him uniquely valuable in placing the Shaver material in a real world context. He devotes one new chapter to the history of Shaver's volumionus a rant on underground beings called Deros and Teros channeled to a Pennsylvanian welder through his equipment and published in Ray Palmer's pulp magazines of the 1940s and 50s. It offers some biography of Shaver and Palmer, but also looks at the zines (Shavertron; Hollow Earth Insider) and subculture that evolved around hollow earth speculation, some of it intensely funny. Steamshovel readers waiting for the release of Maury Island UFO will find this important background reading, as Palmer played a key role in the 1947 events at Maury Island. (An appendix on Shaver written by Conspiracy Nation's Brian Redman will appear in Maury Island UFO.) Another chapter by Childress, "The Search for the Hollow Earth" provides an even more expanded historical overview of beliefs and explorations regarding subterranean humanity. The book comes lavishly illustrated--many Shavertron covers and cartoons--and reproduces "I Remember Lemuria" and "The Shaver Mystery" from the pages of the original edition. That alone makes it a good buy. Childress' exercise of his erudition on the the topic, however, makes it--ahem--an underground classic. Review by Kenn Thomas, Steamshovel Press, www.umsl.edu/~skthoma

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Shaver Stories Plus New Age History, May 1, 2006

By	Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I purchased "Lost Continents & The Hollow Earth" by David Hatcher Childress & Richard Shaver because I was interested in reading the two Mutan Mion stories by Richard Shaver which are included. Although originally published in "Amazing Stories" (a fiction magazine), the author insisted that the stories were true, and many readers wrote in with their own experiences with beings from inside the Earth.

The first story in this book and the series is "I Remember Lemuria", a novella which was first published in "Amazing Stories" in March of 1945. In this story we are introduced to Mutan Mion (the Atlan whose memories Richard Shaver claims to have) who discovers that Mu (Earth) is being controlled by deros (detrimental energy robots). The story takes place in the far past, and uses myths such as Atlantis and the Titans in its subject matter. The story would fall into the category Space Opera, so if you enjoy that subgenre you may be interested in reading it. If one were to rate this story based on the impact it had at the time, it would have to get five stars, but in reading it now I would only give it three. It is difficult to understand how anyone would take it to be real, and there are much better Space Opera stories out there, such as the Lensman series by Dr. Edward E. Smith.

The second story is "The Return of Sathanas", which was first published in "Amazing Stories" in November of 1946 as a novel. However, it only runs about 100 pages, so it is really a novella size story. This is another of the Mutan Mion stories, and in this one he is in pursuit of Sathanas, a dero, and chases him back to Mu. This story brings some of the Norse mythology into play, but overall the story is nothing special. This story rates two stars by itself. This story was co-authored by Bob McKenna, but he is not credited in this text.

Also included in this book is the foreword to the 1948 book which contained both of these stories, and there is also an introduction (by David Hatcher Childress), a copy of the Shaver Alphabet, and a short piece called "The Shaver Mystery" (also by David Hatcher Childress) which talks about the controversial stories and their impact.

The rest of the book includes four short pieces by David Hatcher Childress which deal with "new age" theories about technologically advanced ancient civilizations which may have lived in the "Hollow Earth" or at least used vast networks of tunnels under the continents. While these are entertaining to read, they are not very good science as Childress will often describes how a source is discredited for certain reasons, and yet he continues to use some of their ideas as sources to support the existence of these ancient civilizations.

At this time, this book is the only place where one can find any of the Shaver stories, and so for that reason it might be of interest to some people. As a source of information about ancient civilizations it is entertaining, but much of it is based on questionable sources and it should not be taken as fact.

14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some interesting stuff at the end, February 6, 2001

By	C. D. Murphy (Natick, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book is split into 3 parts: two sci-fi stories from Richard Shaver's Lumeria series and three chapters on hollow earth history. The stories are stupid and boring. The only reason you would want to read them is if you were into Sci-Fi history. I couldn't even finish the Return of Santhas. The last three chapters on hollow earth history were quite interesting though. They follow some quack and some reasonable theories about tunnels in South America and Asia. He does a good recap of the Incan/Spanish conflict that led to the theories on lost cities of Gold. So parts 1&2 (no stars), part 3 (4 stars)