Cavern of the Shining Pool

By Arthur Leo Zagat and John Betancourt

Jay Silton returned to Earth looking like the 20-year-old he had been when he left aboard the spaceship Luna 30 years ago—a spaceship that had been lost with all hands aboard.

Now Jay had a strange tale to tell of another world in a different universe. A world of monsters. There, time ran differently, and while he had been held captive by a strange race of turtle-like aliens, 30 years had passed on Earth...but it had only been a month for him!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Release date: Aug 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667622750

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Table of Contents

THE CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL, by Arthur Leo Zagat

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

INTRODUCTION, by John Betancourt

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

THE CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL,

by Arthur Leo Zagat

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright © 1937 by Popular Library, Inc., renewed 1965.

Originally published in Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct. 1937.

Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.

Published by Wildside Press LLC.

wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com

INTRODUCTION, by John Betancourt

Arthur Leo Zagat (1896-1949) was one of the more talented authors publishing during the Golden Age of science fiction. His writing was always smooth and crisp, with well-drawn characters and none of the clunky, old-fashioned prose that characterized the work of many genre authors in those days.

Although Zagat wrote a substantial body of science fiction (some in collaboration with Nat Schachner), he was truly a general pulp author, and he published more than 500 stories in many genres, including horror, mystery and crime, weird menace, and series hero stories (his heroes were Doc Turner and Red Finder). His work appeared in mainstream markets like Argosy alongside genre stories in Astounding, Dime Mystery, The Spider, Operator 5, and even the sexy adult pulps, such as Spicy Mystery Stories. He published much excellent science fiction in Argosy in the late 1930s and into the 1940s, including the Tomorrow series, set in a near-future, post-holocaust United States.

Zagat was born in New York, went to school at City College, and served in the U.S. military in Europe during World War I. After the war, he studied at Bordeaux University, then graduated from Fordham Law School. He taught writing at New York University.

In 1941, he was elected to the first national executive committee for the Authors League pulp writers’ section. During World War II, he held an executive position in the Office of War Information. After that war, Zagat was active in organizing writers' workshops and other assistance for hospitalized veterans.

Zagat was married to Ruth Zagat; the couple had one daughter, Hermine, from whom I purchased his copyrights a few years ago. He died of a heart attack on April 3, 1949, at his