"Beyond Thirty" / "The Lost Continent"

Color-Copycat

Has anyone else read this E. R. Burroughs pulp fiction short story from 1915? It posits a world where the First World War never ended and Europe/Russia collapse into barbarism over the course of several centuries. America remains strictly isolationist to the point of completely cutting off all contact with the Eastern Hemisphere (explained by increasingly ruthless unrestricted submarine warfare in international waters among the European belligerents carelessly targeting American shipping). While the nations of the Old World burn and crumble in the course of their never ending war, the nations of the New World unite in a Pan-American alliance and continue to advance economically and technologically.

The story follows a group of Pan-American naval officers left to die in the Atlantic by a mutinous crew in the 23rd century. The Pan-Americans survive their ordeal on the open sea and make land in unmapped, unexplored Europe. From there, they travel through the ruins of the Old World and come in contact with the newly emergent Abyssinian and Chinese Empires.

I thought it was a pretty solid read, especially since most of those "honorary alternate history" works end up being so laughably off the mark that they are hard to take seriously.

I should also mention that "Beyond Thirty"/"The Lost Continent" is easily found online for free since it has lapsed into the public domain. I think I read it off of en.wikisource.org
 
Sub Lord Hawk

Sub Lord Hawk

I like how they never thought to go and look before hand, especially with their advanced technology. Didn't they have satellites (the anti-grav they use) .
 

Color-Copycat

They hadn't developed space travel, and I imagine the anti-grav tech was more geared for ground effect/hover-type applications as opposed to high atmospheric operations. As for the crazily strict isolationist policy, just look at Ming China. They never did any serious exploring beyond their immediate geographical neighbors (treasure fleets don't count) since they thought the rest of the world wasn't worth interacting with in terms of economic/political cost-benefit analysis. Similarly, I think over the centuries, the Pan-Americans gradually stereotyped all those nations of the Eastern Hemisphere as war-like savages who were a threat to modern civilization and not worth engaging. I'm not sure why the US wouldn't be selling arms and investing heavily in loans for the European belligerents, but again, maybe the cost of unrestricted submarine warfare convinced them to cut off economic links to the Eastern Hemisphere. I think in the short story, they mentioned US and Latin American vessels in international and even at times territorial waters were being sunk on a monthly basis by European submarines and commerce raiders.
 

David S Poepoe

Banned
Very enjoyable book. I've got a copy of it, probably two, and read it years ago. Highly recommended. Burroughs at his best, aside from Tarzan and John Carter.
 

Color-Copycat

Yes, I definitely think it's an unsung and overlooked classic, more so because it's a one-off piece and not part of ERB's acclaimed short story and novel series.
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

Here is a map made by B- Munro that should put things into perspective for the ATL:

Past30.png

Past30.png
 

Michael B

Dave Howery said:
I read it way back in my teen years, when I read pretty much every ERB book I could get my hands on...
Click to expand...
I thought about getting a copy, but the scenario seemed to not to hang together very well in my eyes. After all, in spite of a long Great War, there would be no reason for Europe and Russia to decivilise to such an extent. They did not in the Moon Maid. Decivilisation, at least in North America, only occured on this TL because the Kalkars successfully dumbed down the system.
 

Dave Howery

Michael B said:
I thought about getting a copy, but the scenario seemed to not to hang together very well in my eyes. After all, in spite of a long Great War, there would be no reason for Europe and Russia to decivilise to such an extent. They did not in the Moon Maid. Decivilisation, at least in North America, only occured on this TL because the Kalkars successfully dumbed down the system.
Click to expand...

true, but at the time, I was fascinated by ERBs works, and just read everything I could find by him. At the time, there was quite a lot available in paperback, especially from Ace Publishing, who printed practically everything that wasn't Tarzan, IIRC...
 

Color-Copycat

David S Poepoe said:
Nice map. I don't remember all those state and nations being mentioned in the book, but I read it some time ago.
Click to expand...

I think he took some artistic liberties when it came to fleshing out the southern hemisphere. The book only mentioned the Pan-American state, the Abyssinian and Chinese Empires, and the hunter gatherer societies in Europe and Russia.
 

Gerald

I've read it too, in French (translated as "L'Odyssée barbare"). I realized it was possibly one of the first post-apocalyptic stories ever written - I mean, other writers had imagined before what would be left of mankind after a natural cataclysm, but ERB may well have been the first to imagine what would be left of it after a global war.
 
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