Hey, Paizans, I've been thinking about Azlant, as I know many of you have.
Where should I (we) look for inspiration? What classic, pulp, and new Atlantean fiction have you read and found worthy? Thanks!
I'll get the ball rolling with what seem to me two obvious examples: Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner and Kull: Exile of Atlantis by Robert E. Howard. I have only gotten the latter, but it seems like folks around here might have something to say about Elak, and maybe that will be a good starting point for talking about Fantasy that builds off the Atlantis myth and related topics that would feed our Azlanti crockpot.
I'm ready to be educated!
Here ya go, a nice, long wiki page. I still need to look through the list to see what on there I have read, but of course Tolkien's version of Atlantis is high up my list, even though it is not about the Atlantis of our world.
Well, since Arda or Middle Earth is our own Earth, only in a fictional pre-historical period, isn't the fall of Númenor meant to be the origin of our Atlantis myth in Tolkien's fiction? It's been long enough since I read the "Akallabêth" in the Silmarillion, that I don't currently have any thoughts further.
Thanks, Enevhar. That is an amazing list, and I plan to return to it to get more raw material. I was hoping to get people's reflections on such works, and speculation on how they might feed into the game. I'll have more to say on the matter myself as I actually partake of the material myself. On a biographical note, it was the Patrick Duffy TV show that aired when I was kid that originally put planted the Atlantis bug in my mind. I admit I was pretty excited when Stargate: Atlantis was announced, and then rather letdown by what manifested.
That's one of the books in the Turtledove series to which Joel was referring.
Having finished Kull: Exile of Atlantis, I now see that it contains very little to contribute to the Atlantean imagination or the offsprings thereof. The very little that Howard mentions Atlantis, it is clear that he imagines it to be a primitive place and its inhabitants barbarous. While enjoyable, it doesn't contribute to my interests in making this thread. Just for the record: there was a scene with a people who lived underwater, but they were not Atlanteans. Also, REH described a monster that pretty closely matches the physical description of the mindflayer, for those keeping score on the idea of the tentacle-headed humanoid.
Similar how, if I may ask?
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Since "Elak of Atlantis" has been obviously mentioned, I would advise to look at Open Design. I am a patron for "Shore to the Sea" and at the moment the activity is on the companion book.
To be honest I have not "worked" as a patron for quite a while, but the Atlantean subject must have been rehashed at nauseam in the various threads.Since you have already mentioned the 1980s TV series, I guess I do not have much more to say on the subject.
As an aside, if you want to read about cities lost to the sea, you could have a look at "Ys" or "Cite d'Ys" in French.
Or by extension read about Lyonesse, which according to legend has suffered the same fate as Ys. The very first Planet Stories "The Anubis murders" started there if my memory does not fail me. The action did not last long there, a page or two only, so not much on Ys. The "Dangerous Journeys" setting (E.Gary Gygax) may have more, then again I do not have the book.
Since you already know that I am in academia, I shall not lower myself to give you the links to Wikipedia. :)
I recently read C.J. Cutliffe Hyne's The Lost Continent (The Story of Atlantis). Hyne wrote it originally as a serial in 1899. The roots of pulp fiction can be found in writing like this. The writing is reserved by modern sensabilities, but not at all what one might think about the late Victorian era. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
While not fiction (depending on your point of view) one can get an in depth history of the Atlantean myth from Ignatius Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.
Hey guys, thanks for contributing!
LL beat me to CAS, but I'll also mention:
"What Good is a Glass Dagger," by Larry Niven;
"Mention My Name in Atlantis," by John Jakes;
"The Temple," by H.P. Lovecraft.
Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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Similar how, if I may ask?
He wrote quite a few short stories about the lost continent of Atlantis and also Mu, among others. He was a contemporary of Lovecraft and Howard, and is unfortunately often overlooked when the pulp fiction of that era is discussed.
Check out this link for more info:
Very good. Thanks for the site, Larry. I guess I've never read Clark Ashton Smith, though I've seen his name around.