The Coming Race

Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873)

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803-1873) was an English novelist, poet, playright, and politician. Lord Lytton was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the infamous incipit "It was a dark and stormy night." .

The Coming Race drew heavily on his interest in the occult and contributed to the birth of the science fiction genre. Unquestionably, its story of a subterranean race of men waiting to reclaim the surface is one of the first science fiction novels. The novel centres on a young, independently wealthy traveler (the narrator), who accidentally finds his way into a subterranean world occupied by beings who seem to resemble angels, who call themselves Vril-ya. The hero soon discovers that they are descendants of an antediluvian civilisation who live in networks of subterranean caverns linked by tunnels. The narrator suggests that in time, the Vril-ya will run out of habitable spaces underground and will start claiming the surface of the earth, destroying mankind in the process, if necessary. (Summary compiled from Wikipedia)

Genre(s): Science Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Chapters 01-02 Maire Rhode
00:13:19
Play 02 Chapters 03-04 Maire Rhode
00:07:58
Play 03 Chapters 05-06 Maire Rhode
00:26:49
Play 04 Chapters 07-08 Maire Rhode
00:20:16
Play 05 Chapter 09 Maire Rhode
00:27:16
Play 06 Chapters 10-11 Maire Rhode
00:18:15
Play 07 Chapter 12 Maire Rhode
00:21:31
Play 08 Chapters 13-14 Maire Rhode
00:14:16
Play 09 Chapter 15 Maire Rhode
00:27:03
Play 10 Chapter 16 Maire Rhode
00:29:59
Play 11 Chapter 17 Maire Rhode
00:32:10
Play 12 Chapter 18 Maire Rhode
00:22:48
Play 13 Chapters 19-20 Maire Rhode
00:14:11
Play 14 Chapter 21 Maire Rhode
00:10:22
Play 15 Chapter 22 Maire Rhode
00:16:44
Play 16 Chapters 23- 24 Maire Rhode
00:28:17
Play 17 Chapter 25-Part 1 Maire Rhode
00:22:32
Play 18 Chapter 25-Part 2 Maire Rhode
00:19:54
Play 19 Chapter 26 Maire Rhode
00:18:19
Play 20 Chapters 27-28 Maire Rhode
00:13:53
Play 21 Chapter 29 Maire Rhode
00:09:57