Overview
In 1836, Mason Algiers Reynolds leaves his family's Virginia farm with his father's slave, a dog, and a mule. Branded a murderer, he finds sanctuary with his hero, Edgar Allan Poe, and together they embark on an extraordinary expedition to the South Pole, and the entrance to the Hollow Earth. It is there, at the center of the world, where strange physics, strange people, and stranger creatures abound, that their bizarre adventures truly begin.
Synopsis
In 1836, Mason Algiers Reynolds leaves his family's Virginia farm with his father's slave, a dog, and a mule. Branded a murderer, he finds sanctuary with his hero, Edgar Allan Poe, and together they embark on an extraordinary expedition to the South Pole, and the entrance to the Hollow Earth. It is there, at the center of the world, where strange physics, strange people, and stranger creatures abound, that their bizarre adventures truly begin.
Publishers Weekly
In an ``editor's note,'' Rucker ( Wetware ) claims to have found and edited this manuscript written in 1849, shortly after the death of Edgar Allan Poe. Its author, Mason Algiers Reynolds, tells of joining Poe in a counterfeiting scheme to finance an exploration of the South Pole--and beyond, since Poe and fellow traveler Jeremiah Reynolds (not related to the ``author'') believe in Symme's theory of a hollow Earth. After many difficulties--including Poe's living through the plots of several of his scariest stories--the theory is confirmed with the travelers' discovery of the inside of the world, where they find light, life, even humans. Poe learns of the existence of MirrorEarth where a MirrorPoe is writing Poe's stories; jealous, he wants to go there. Rucker's pastiche of the last century's fantastic voyages makes an enjoyable adventure tale, although MirrorEarth, straining belief too far, destroys the mood. (Aug.)