''Eric of Zanthodon'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel by American writer

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. Lov ...

, the fifth and last in his series about the fictional "

Hollow Earth The Hollow Earth is a concept proposing that the planet Earth is entirely hollow or contains a substantial interior space. Notably suggested by Edmond Halley in the late 17th century, the notion was disproven, first tentatively by Pierre Bougue ...

" land of Zanthodon. It was first published in paperback by

DAW Books DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim, with his wife, Elsie B. Wollheim, following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted ...

in May 1982, with an ebook edition following from Gateway/Orion in October 2018. It was also gathered together with the other volumes in the series into the omnibus ebook collection ''The Zanthodon Megapack'' (

Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limite ...

, 2014).

Plot summary

Zanthodon is envisioned as an immense circular cavern five hundred miles wide, one hundred miles beneath the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

, a refugium preserving various prehistoric faunas and antique human cultures that have found their way into it throughout the ages. The story follows the improving fortunes of surface world explorer Eric Carstairs and his Zanthonian love interest Darya. It ends with them leaders of their own tribe, augmented by such other exiles from the surface as Niema and Zuma of the African Aziru tribe and World War II survivors Von Kohler, Bog and Schmidt, and heirs apparent to the leadership of Thandar and Sothar. They are now married and blessed with a young son, Gar.

Reception

Robert M. Price Robert McNair Price (born July 7, 1954) is an American New Testament scholar who argues in favor of the Christ myth theorythe claim that a historical Jesus did not exist. Price is the author of a number of books on biblical studies and the hi ...

finds the book and series "not without their charming moments," but also sees in them "clear evidence of Lin Carter's increasing carelessness as a writer," exhibiting "an increasing tendency toward self-contradiction and incoherent conception—a greater sloppiness coupled with an exhaustion of imagination."Price, Robert M. ''Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds''. Mercer Island, WA, Starmont House, 1991, pages 61-63. Steve Servello, writing in ''Erbzine'', calls the novel "the weakest in an extremely fine series," not a poor one but "anticlimactic," thinking the previous book "would have made an appropriate conclusion to the Underground World saga, save for a few loose ends." While these are resolved in ''Eric of Zanthodon'', he deems "176 pages ... about 100 too many for this purpose."Servello, Steve.
'Zanthodon' Overview
" a survey of the series in ''Erbzine''.

References

External links

" a literary comparison of Carter's Zanthodon with Burroughs's Pellucidar by Den Valdron, also in ''Erbzine''. {{Lin Carter (books) 1982 American novels 1982 science fiction novels Novels by Lin Carter DAW Books books