Claimed - Stevens, Francis

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Résumé :
Claimed (1920) is a science fiction novel by Francis Stevens. Using her well-known pseudonym, Gertrude Barrows Bennett published some of the twentieth century's greatest science fiction stories and novels. Claimed, her final novel, has been recognized as a powerful tale of dark fantasy for its combination of nautical adventure and the occult, and remains central to Stevens' reputation as a pioneering author of fantasy and science fiction. From where we stood the illusion of ruins was nearly perfect, and indeed-who knows?-we may to-day have looked upon the last surviving trace of some ancient city, flung up from the abyss that engulfed it ages before the brief history we have of the race of man began. On a voyage at sea, a merchant vessel chances upon a recently formed volcanic island. Unable to stay for long, mesmerized by the geometric rock formations reaching their pinnacle at its smoldering center, they take a memento of their discovery: a small, rectangular block of a metallic green color, perfect for carving into a sea chest. Eventually, the artifact makes its way into the collection of Jesse J. Robinson, a famous antiquarian from Tremont, a town located along the Delaware River. When Robinson and his niece Leilah fall victim to powerful hallucinations, Doctor John Vanaman is brought in to help. Soon, he launches an investigation into the nature of the box, tracking down its original owner and the dealer who sold it to Robinson. To his horror, they seem to have succumbed to the same madness plaguing the antiquarian's home. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Francis Stevens' Claimed is a classic work of American science fiction reimagined for modern readers.

Biographie:
Pioneering author Francis Stevens was a groundbreaking innovator in the early twentieth century when the boundaries of science fiction and fantasy were still being defined and explored. She has been called the mother of dark fantasy, dubbed the most influential woman writing between the times of Mary Shelley, and C.L. Moore. She wrote contemporary to Burroughs, Merrit, and Lovecraft. Francis Stevens, so named by her publisher, was born Gertrude M. Barrows in 1883. The multi-talented Gertrude aspired to be an illustrator but ultimately worked as a stenographer. Her first published short story, The Curious Experience of Thomas Dunbar, appeared in the pulp magazine Argosy in 1904, under G.M. Barrows, making her the first American woman to publish science fiction using her own name. Gertrude was married in 1909 then widowed a year later. Her work was largely published in pulp magazines between 1917 and 1923, in efforts to support her young daughter and ailing mother during the influenza epidemic. She published six novels and seven short stories, prominent among them, Claimed, The Citadel of Fear, and Friend Island (All-Story Weekly, 1918). For unknown reasons, Gertrude quit writing in 1923 and disappeared from the public eye until her death in 1948....

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