The Shaver Mystery Book One!

I remember reading about "the Shaver Mystery" in the comments in science fiction digest way back in the 70's. I never knew exactly what it was, but I knew that serious science fiction writers had a real disdain for the concept. It was some kind of crackpot theory which had given the all field of speculative fiction a bad name, at least that was case according to what I remember from the time, now so long ago. Well, now decades later, I'm finally have enough experience and an opportunity to judge for myself. And it is a crackpot theory of the most delirious kind, but as it turns out, a wildly entertaining one. 

(Richard S. Shaver)

"The Shaver Mystery" is the confabulation of Richard S. Shaver in conjunction with famed science fiction editor Ray Palmer. (Yes, the boys at DC Comics did name the Atom after him.) Palmer was editing Amazing Stories when he was offered a wild yarn which (with the help of editor Palmer) became the novella "I Remember Lemuria" (More on this novel next week). It was the first of the writings of Shaver to be published which put forth the bizarre notion that a vast underground civilization existed, a mere shadow of a once even greater civilization which ruled the Earth and traveled into space with ease. But time had degraded things, thanks in no small part on the Sun which as it aged released deadly toxins which among other things limited man's life span. The underground areas which sprawl across the globe are inhabited by "Deros", dangerous devolved beings who eat man and seek endlessly to do harm to him in other ways with the technology they have inherited from ancient times, and can use but understand very little. 

"Formula From the Underground" kicks off this collection and serves as an adequate introduction to the Shaver Mystery universe. We follow along with our stalwart hero "Harte Manville" (names mean everything) as he enters the underworld and discovers the creatures which dwell beneath. The leader of the creatures is an immense character named "Mula". The creatures in this universe grow as long as they live, so immense size connotes immense age. There is a battle between the less corrupt Mula and his forces and the Horblocks, wretched creatures who prey on all concerned. The formula referred to in the title is one for immortality, and Harte does indeed discover it. 

"Zigor Mephisto's Collection of Mentalia" is an even weirder story in which our de rigueur manly hero is an escaped prisoner and is joined by another man from beneath the world, a mysterious woman and her diminutive servant and they seek none other than Mephisto himself. The relationship of his creature to the devil we know is debated and explored. One of the keys to the Shaver Mystery is that the many diverse myths we are familiar with are all attributable to creatures from beneath the surface. 

"Witch's Daughter" is regarded by the publisher as the strongest of the stories here. In this one our hero Tom Kent comes under the spell of a beautiful woman who herself is the daughter of a powerful sorceress from beneath the surface of the Earth. The trio have somewhat different motivations in this one but finally join forces to defend the whole of the Earth from ancient threats. 

All three of these outlandish tales are from a single issue of Amazing Stories in which the Shaver Mystery holds fort. There is a fourth tale in this monumental issue but it's in the second volume I'll take a gander at next week. The cover above is an amazing evocation of the Shaver Mystery world, filled with technology and cyclopean imagery. These stories reminded me again and again of the work of Jack Kirby, specifically his stuff on The Eternals, and it would not end with that comparison. (More next time.) I was also quite reminded of Wally Wood's Thunder Agents tales which began with deadly Warlords from beneath the surface of the Earth appearing with vast armies and mysterious machines. Telling stories of a strange underworld is common enough, but developing these elaborate civilizations, hidden and deadly is less common. 

What makes these weird yarns offensive to many a science fiction fan is that they are reputed to be true tales, or at the very least true stories that have been revised a bit here and there for dramatic purposes. These are stories that Shaver says really happened or nearly so in a world which really does exist beneath the surface of the Earth. The Deros are real, and they use the ancient machinery at their disposal to interfere with life here on the surface, and further we are all of us subject to coming under their influence. Ray Palmer plays it off as it these stories are versions of true events, and this caused great friction between him and many other editors and writers of science fiction. But what he found out was that these Shaver Mystery tales sold like crazy, and if for no other reason he found it prudent at the time to continue. Later Palmer shifts is focus from science fiction to UFOlogy and other such mysteries. So in some ways there is an intersection between the supposedly true Shaver Mystery and the UFO phenomenon which would erupt into popular culture after 1947.

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