Written in the style of a factual account, this extraordinary novel
details the experiences of a Norwegian sailor named Olaf Jensen, who
sails to the centre of the earth through an entrance located at the
North Pole. On his deathbed, Olaf recounts the two years he spent with
Earth's internal residents - 12 foot tall beings whose capital city is
purportedly the original Garden of Eden, and whose continued existence
is facilitated by a 'smokey' sun at the centre of the planet. Although a
remarkable and entertaining tale for any reader, this book is a
must-have for anyone interested in the 'Hollow-Earth' theory and early
speculative fiction around the topic. The subsurface world of Agharta is
a recurring motif in paradisiacal mythos from around the world - the
Valhalla of Norse mythology, Shangri-la, Tibet's Shambhalla, the
Belovodia of Siberian shamanism - and as such this novel constitutes
both a thoroughly entertaining and informative read. Willis George
Emerson was an American writer, newspaperman, lawyer, and politician.
Published in 1908, The Smokey God was his sixth book amongst other such
as: The Man who Discovered Himself (1919), The Treasure of Hidden Valley
(1915), and Winning Winds (1885). The Smokey God has been republished
here with an introductory biography of the author.
