Capped by a silver figure of Cerberus, the three-headed hound that guards the gates of Hell, an ancient glass vial contains ordinary-looking dust. Once inhaled, however, the dust exhibits extraordinary powers, transporting a trio of adventurers from the early twentieth century to the year 2118. The time-travelers emerge into Philadelphia's brutal totalitarian state, where the city hall is a temple, a statue of William Penn is worshipped as an idol, and the citizens are crushed under the religious tyranny of the Penn Service and its Superlatives.
This 1919 classic was the first...

Published only once in book form a half-century ago in a collector's edition of 1500 copies, this great science-fantasy sells for more than $100 today. Written by the woman whose pseudonym was Francis Stevens, it has been hailed as the first alternate history novel. Fantasy master H. P. Lovecraft hailed Francis Stevens as among "the top grade of writers." "The Heads of Cerberus" tells of "an alternate-world Philadelphia, reached by a handful of this-world people. This Philadelphia is one in which the political corruptors have become ruthless autocrats, ruling through phony "civic service"...

Claimed opens with the recovery of a mysterious artifact, a strange box bearing an undecipherable inscription, from an uncharted island following an undersea volcanic explosion that nearly dooms the ship that discovers it. Brought back to civilization, the box is purchased by a crotchety old millionaire who quickly comes to regret it. Horrible apparitions of the sea appear at night and frightening dreams plague the old man, his niece and the young doctor who's serving him. While the doctor does what he can to learn of the box's origin and the meaning of the strange writing, the nonstop...

The Citadel of Fear by Francis Stevens It tells the tale of two adventurers, an Irishman and an American, who come upon the lost Aztec city of Tlapallan, in the wilds of Mexico. One is taken over by an evil god while the other falls in love with a woman from Tlapallan. Back in the states, the possessed man begins to use magic to mutate civilians. At the home of the Irishman's sister, a rampaging monster trashes the house one night, and that is only the beginning of one incredibly wild ride with many twists and breathtaking surprises. Nightmare creatures, battling Aztec gods and indoor swamps....

Gertrude Barrows Bennett (1883-1948) was the first major female writer of fantasy and science fiction in the United States, publishing her stories under the pseudonym Francis Stevens. Bennett wrote a number of highly acclaimed fantasies between 1917 and 1923 and has been called ""the woman who invented dark fantasy."" Her most famous books include Claimed (which Augustus T. Swift, in a letter to The Argosy called ""One of the strangest and most compelling science fantasy novels you will ever read"") and the lost world novel The Citadel of Fear. Bennett also wrote an early dystopian novel, The...