''Drome'' is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novel written and illustrated by John Martin Leahy. Originally serialized in the magazine ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, printe ...

'' in five parts beginning January 1927, it was first published in book form in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc., or FPCI, was an American science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing company established in 1946. It was the fourth small press company founded by William L. Crawford. Crawford's first com ...

, in an edition of 1,000 copies.

Plot introduction

Two explorers travel miles beneath

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier ( ), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With an off ...

and discover a cavernous realm, filled with glowing mist, called ''Drome'', which is home to a lost civilization and fantastic animals including bat-apes, snake-cats and tree-octopuses.

Reception

P. Schuyler Miller described the story as quaint by 1953 standards, but praised "its classical quotations, bolstering allusions to dubious science, and real warmth and humor."

Everett F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

faulted the novel for doing little to explain its mysteries and for being "greatly padded with 'philosophy of life', quotations from various authorities scientific and philosophical, lists of great men, and exclamations and comments in Siwash."*

References

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External links

* 1952 American novels American fantasy novels Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Weird Tales Novels set in Washington (state) Mount Rainier in fiction Novels set in subterranea Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. books 1927 American novels {{1950s-fantasy-novel-stub