The Perfect World

The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places (1922) is a science fiction novel by Ella M. Scrymsour. Thought to be a fixup novel, or a combination of two separate stories, it proves a curious sampling of many common elements of science fiction, incorporating utopian, lost race, apocalyptic, and interstellar themes. Ultimately, with its exploration of the Great War’s aftermath, it proves an entertaining work of fiction that captures the interbellum anxieties permeating European culture in the early twentieth century.

While working at Grimland Colliery, their family’s successful coalmine, cousins Alan and Desmond Forsyth discover a vast system of underground caves. There, they encounter an ancient race of horned dwarves, exiled Israelites whose civilization has lived underground for three thousand years. Hostile in nature, the dwarves pursue Alan and Desmond through dark, twisted tunnels, forcing the pair to escape by any means necessary. Eventually emerging in Australia, the Forsyth cousins learn that they have missed the Great War, which has devastated the world and ushered in the end of human life itself. At the very last moment, they escape with their uncle, who has invented an airship capable of travelling through space. Together, the trio lands on the planet Jupiter, where they encounter a race of humanoid aliens who have established a utopian civilization. The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places is an entertaining work of science fiction by Ella M. Scrymsour, a relatively unknown writer with a gift for the weird and wonderful.

This edition of Ella M. Scrymsour’s The Perfect World: A Romance of Strange People and Strange Places is a classic of English science fiction reimagined for modern readers. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

© 2021 Mint Editions (Ebook): 9781513277318

Release date

Ebook: 2 March 2021