The Lost Continent

“This lively Victorian-era Atlantis story is one of the best of the genre, per Lin Carter, Sprague de Camp, and others. However, IMHO, naming the principal character Deucalion in an Atlantis story is sort of giving away the ending. Hyne’s Atlantis is loosely based on Donnelly’s conception, a continent in the middle of the Atlantic which disappears under the waves ‘in a single day.’ Hyne adds interest by setting the story in the last decadent years of Atlantis. The evil queen Phorenice is voracious and cruel, and Deucalion, ostensibly the upholder of duty and tradition, is morally ambiguous. The barbarians are literally at the gate. Dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mammoths are depicted as surviving in Atlantis. There is a tragic love triangle, evil sorcery, lots of swordplay, and a rousing naval battle. On one level, it’s swashbuckling fun in the vein of Robert E. Howard’s Conan. On another level, it’s an attempt to explain a whole bunch of mythology by sourcing it from Atlantis, and creating some new myths in the process. This idea has obviously remained in the popular culture.