Search Worlds Without End

The book begins with Charon, ferryman of the Styx startled--and annoyed--by the arrival of a house boat on his mystical river. At first afraid that the boat will put him out of business, he later finds out that he is to be appointed the boat's janitor. What follows are eleven stories set on the house boat.

There is no central theme; each chapter features various souls from history and mythology, and in the twelfth chapter the house boat disappears, seguing into the sequel, Pursuit of the House-Boat.

Not even death can keep a good pirate down--but the world's greatest detective might be able to give him a run for his money

The houseboat on the river Styx is the afterlife's hippest meeting spot, and it attracts some of history's greatest luminaries: William Shakespeare, Confucius, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, and Socrates have all spent time together there. But such illustrious men also attract less savory characters from the past. One of these scoundrels, the great pirate Captain Kidd, seizes an opportunity to pick up some cigars from London with the houseboat. Now the vessel is missing, and there's only one dead man skilled enough in deduction to track down Kidd and the boat--the world's foremost detective, Sherlock Holmes.

Meanwhile, Captain Kidd has his hands full, as the stolen boat contains an unexpected set of stowaways who are making his quick jaunt far more difficult than he bargained for.

The Pursuit of the House-Boat is a raucous romp through the underworld.

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922)is without doubt one of the most prolific writers of fantastic novels and stories set in Hades. The three works which comprise his "Hades" series, A Houseboat on the Styx (1895), Pursuit of the Houseboat (1897), and The Enchanted Type-Writer (1899) are acknowledged classics of modern fantasy, precursors to works by Thorne Smith (Topper), Philip Jose Farmer (The Fabulous Riverboat), and many others. The Enchanted Type-Writer stands alone; you do not have to have read the first two novels to enjoy it fully. At the turn of the 20th century, when copyright laws were less rigidly enforced than they probably should have been, Bangs felt free to "borrow" other writers' characters, including two of the most famous.

Table of Contents:

• The Discovery
• Mr. Boswell Imparts Some Late News of Hades
• From Advance Sheets of Baron Munchausen's Further Recollections
• A Chat with Xanthippe
• The Editing of Xanthippe
• The Boswell Tours: Personally Conducted
• An Important Decision
• A Hand-Book to Hades
• Sherlock Holmes Again
• Golf in Hades

Subtitled: Being a True Account of Some of the Recent Adventures Beyond the Styx of the Late Hieronymus Carl Friedrich, Sometime Baron Munchausen of Bodenwerder, as originally reported for the Sunday Edition of the Gehenna Gazette by its special interviewer the late Mr. Ananias formerly of Jerusalem, and now first transcribed from the columns of that journal by J. K. Bangs

Table of Contents:

• Mr. Munchausen - interior artwork by Peter Newell
• vii - Editor's Apology and Dedication - short fiction
• 3 - Encounter the Old Gentleman - short story
• 13 - The Sporting Tour of Mr. Munchausen - short story
• 26 - Three Months in a Balloon - short story
• 37 - Some Hunting Stories for Children - short story
• 49 - The Story of Jang - short story
• 61 - He Tells the Twins of Fire-Works - short story
• 73 - Saved by a Magic Lantern - short story
• 85 - An Adventure in the Desert - short story
• 95 - Decoration Day in the Cannibal Islands - short story
• 105 - Mr. Munchausen's Adventures with a Shark - short story
• 116 - The Baron as a Runner - short story
• 129 - Mr. Munchausen Meets His Match - short story
• 143 - Wriggletto - short story
• 155 - The Poetic June-Bug, Together with Some Remarks on the Gillyhooly Bird - short story
• 168 - A Lucky Stroke - short story

An American traveler of the twentieth century finds himself stranded in Greece, robbed and alone, and takes sanctuary in a cave... that proves to be the entrance to the home of the gods. As the gods' guest, he learns just what the immortal divinities are up to in modern times, with hilarious results. Bangs portrays the gods going about their duties and personal affairs in the terms of American high society, with all the elegance, archness, wit, jealousy, and pettiness of the idle rich. Mythic grandeur and modern wit prove a perfect fit in this sharp satire.

Contents:

• Afterword (Olympian Nights) - (1986) - essay by Brian Stableford
• A Royal Outing - (1902) - shortstory
• An Extraordinary Interview - (1902) - shortstory
• At the Zoo - (1902) - shortstory
• I Am Dismissed - (1902) - shortstory
• I Reach Mount Olympus - (1902) - shortstory
• I Seek Shelter and Find It - (1902) - shortstory
• I Summon a Valet - (1902) - shortstory
• In the Dining-Room - (1902) - shortstory
• Some Account of the Palace of Jupiter - (1902) - shortstory
• The Elevator Boy - (1902) - shortstory
• The Olympian Links - (1902) - shortstory
• Æsculapius, M.D. - (1902) - shortstory