|
READ THE FIRST CHAPTER HERE
THE FUTURE HAS ARRIVED...
The Great Eyrie, an
impenetrable, cratered mountain in North Carolina, awakens the residents
of the surrounding towns to a great cacophony of noise, violent shaking
of earth and towering flames rising into the night sky. All signs point
to a volcanic eruption, save for the sound of giant wings clapping in
the darkness.
John Strock, Chief
Inspector of the federal police, is given the task of solving the Great
Eyrie’s mysteries, but the events following his assignment start him on
a course of discovery that is both awe inspiring and fiendishly
dangerous. For Strock finds himself in a deadly game of hide and seek
with the worlds most wanted man, the self-proclaimed Master of the
World, and his amazing machine—the Terror.
...THE FUTURE IS TERROR
The Perfect Classic for Readers
interested in...
U.S. History - Early
Flight - Fast Cars - Submarines - Detectives - Mysteries - Volcanoes -
Megalomaniacs - Automotives - Aeronautics
This
Special Edition Includes:
• Foreword by Bestselling Author, Jeremy
Robinson
• Book Group Discussion Questions
• Breakneck Books Design Challenge
• Complete and Unabridged Text |
| |
|
| |
|
JULES VERNE
is perhaps best known for Journey to the Center of the Earth
and Around the World in 80 Days, but Master of the
World is a lesser known gem. After reading the book I felt
as though I’d stumbled upon some ancient treasure and having
dusted it off, saw its splendor for the first time. It’s utterly
shocking that there are so few editions of this great work.
Master of the World
is a fast-paced thrill ride that refuses to be confined to a
single genre. Like many of the action-adventure writers of his
time, Verne crosses genres with ease, seamlessly merging
different ideas and plot devices into a single coherent story.
In Master of the World we
find ourselves engaged by a mystery—who is the Master of the
World? What are his motivations? What is this machine, this
Terror? With John Strock, our hero, we’re taken on a quest to
solve the riddle. It’s a mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes and
had me speculating about the ending with every turn of the page.
But Verne doesn’t stop at mystery,
for the very machine at this story’s core is a masterpiece of
science-fiction. Even now, more than one hundred years after
Master of the World’s publication in 1904, I am asking
myself, is there a single machine that can perform all the feats
attributed to The Terror in this novel? If so, it’s a well
guarded secret! For this reason, the novel is still
science-fiction despite all our advances in the past century.
It’s very possible that many of today’s
most popular novels and movies have been unknowingly influenced by
Verne’s antagonist, Robur the Conqueror*. His unceasing megalomania,
expansive ego and advanced technological know-how have become
stereotypes of modern time’s greatest movie villains: Darth Vader,
the X-Men’s Magneto, even the hilarious Dr. Evil of Austin Powers
fame. In fiction, characters like Phillip Mercer (the protagonist in
Jack DuBrul’s novels: Havoc, The Medusa Stone,
Vulcan’s Forge, and more) match wits with Robur-like nemeses in
every novel.
But Verne doesn’t stop there. Master of
the World is a consummate science-thriller that dips into multiple
disciplines with the skill of an expert: geology, geography,
engineering, aeronautics, automotives, electronics, military
technology and finally—with firsthand insights into the life and
culture of 1904—history. If looked at solely as an educational text
and not as a work of classic literature, Master of the World
is still worth reading.
The story is chock full of original
ideas and concepts that sparked imaginations one hundred years ago
and continues to do so today. Master of the World is a
timeless classic and worthy of any modern collection of
books—including mine.
-- Jeremy Robinson, author of The
Didymus Contingency, Raising the Past and Antarktos Rising
*Robur the Conqueror first appeared in Verne’s novel: Robur the
Conqueror. While Master of the World is a sequel to that book,
we feel it is the better of the two and stands more strongly on its
own. – Breakneck Books
|
|
|
