The City of No Escape
ENTER THE ABYSS…
Venture Press presents a classic of the early science fiction genre: THE CITY OF NO ESCAPE.
Nick Prest stopped, gazed at the left-hand cliff, went on a few paces and stopped again. “This is it,” he whispered as he turned, and the other three crept after him, silent as ghosts.
In the heart of Africa, a group of explorers are on an expedition, searching for lost treasure.
Instead, what they find is a chasm – a deep pit, too large and too wide to be man-made. But descending into the darkness along the walls of this opening in the earth are steps…
They make their descent.
But what they find, they could never have anticipated…
Deep under the ground, in the darkness of an enormous cavern, they stumble upon something awesome, at once mesmerising and horrifying.
A gigantic glowing pyramid.
A deep river, filled with monstrous creatures.
Mysterious, dwarf-like antagonists.
And a race of machine men…
In their attempts to seek out what other curious enigma this cavern contains, they find themselves in a race against time – to save a distressed princess from another group of explorers, hell-bent on bringing chaos and destruction to the underworld inhabitants of the hidden city named KOOM.
‘The City of No Escape’ is a gripping classic sci fi tale from T. C. Bridges. Originally published in 1925, it is regarded as foundational in the Lost World genre, and is considered a landmark, being perhaps the earliest work of English language fiction to feature ROBOTS.
T. C. Bridges (1868-1944) was a French-born UK writer, who also wrote as Christopher Beck. A prolific author of boys’ fiction from 1899 or earlier, including some Sexton Blake Library stories, he wrote several sf tales for the oldest segment of his audience including ‘Men of the Mist’, ‘People of the Chasm’, ‘The Death Star’ and ‘The Hidden City.
Venture Press is a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We are committed to the discovery and rediscovery of immensely talented authors in the SFF genre, and continue to push boundaries in search of great literature. Join us as we venture across universes and unknown landscapes – past, present and future.
