The Smoky God, 1908

One of the more unusual books in the history of hollow earth fiction was published in 1908. Entitled The Smoky God, or, A Voyage to the Inner World, it was written by Willis George Emerson (1856 - 1918).

In it, Norse fishermen among whom is Olaf Jansen, are driven far north by a storm. They enter an unknown interior world based on Symmes' theory of concentric spheres and polar voids. They encounter an advanced race of giants who have a highly developed civilisation and who use the energy of the sunlike core, or, the 'Smoky God'.

In the end, Jansen returns to the surface. Years later on his deathbed, he gives the manuscript of his story to Emerson, who published it, as Emerson writes in his forword. As is the case with Etidorpha and the Goddess of Atvatabar, the illustrations merit attention.