Claimed!, Gertrude Barrows Bennett
Claimed!, Gertrude Barrows Bennett
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Claimed!
The Tale of Undersea Gods That Inspired Cthulu

Author: Gertrude Barrows Bennett

Series: The Complete Gertrude Bennett

Narrator: Chirag Patel

Unabridged: 4 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Chirag Patel

Published: 10/09/2024


Synopsis

Gertrude Barrows Bennet is better known by her pen-name, Francis Stevens. With a career that only spanned three years between 1917 and 1920, when she stopped writing after her mother's death, she is credited as "the woman who invented dark fantasy". She was a direct influence on H.P. Lovecraft, and in the words of Sam Moskowitz was the "greatest woman writer of science fiction in the period between Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and C.L. Moore"
“Mysterious, beautifully written, at times hallucinatory, and with a creeping atmosphere of dread to spare, "Claimed" is most surely an impressive piece of imaginative work. The author does not shrink from the depiction of violence and bloodshed, either. As in "The Citadel of Fear," here, an ancient god appears in modern times to stir up trouble, but in "Claimed," that god is never named (although Poseidon/Neptune is strongly suggested) or even clearly seen.
[we see] the horrendous fate that befell the continent of Atlantis, and just how the coveted box wound up in the drink to begin with, and it really is some fascinating stuff. Vanaman, Leilah and especially old Robinson, I should add, are all well-drawn characters, with the good doctor being especially likable and sympathetic. Stevens peppers her novel with many memorable and haunting scenes, including an early exploration of the newly risen, barren island where the relic is initially found; a clairvoyant's unfortunate attempt to perform a little psychometry on the arcane object; and, indeed, the entire final 1/3 of the book, comprising as it does a tense chase at sea. The book has great sweep and drive, and is fairly relentless once it gets moving. Personally, I could not wait to get home after work to get back to it, and the evenings that I spent reading "Claimed" were very gripping ones, to be sure.” [Sandy Ferber, fantasyliterature.com]

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sandy on September 26, 2016

At the tail end of my review of Francis Stevens' 1919 novel "The Heads of Cerberus," I mentioned that the author was now a very solid 2 for 2 with me, having loved that book as well as 1918's "The Citadel of Fear," and that I had a feeling that once I took in her 1920 novel, "Claimed," that she woul......more

Goodreads review by Steve on December 11, 2014

Maybe even 2 stars. But this is Stevens' first book, and on top of that you can sense a first rate imagination operating behind the often clunky prose. Stevens' personal story is also noteworthy, in that she turned to writing (pulp!) after the death of her explorer husband (she was a stenographer).......more

Goodreads review by Chloe on November 04, 2024

I went back and forth between 2 and 3 stars but the ending tipped me towards 2. I’m not sure why I finished this. It was forgettable, certainly not scary, not especially strange, and the prose was alright but often clunky. The plot construction was halfhearted and the characters’ motivations didn’t......more

Goodreads review by Bob on November 04, 2024

Heerlijk atmosferische short-read uit 1920, zeker voor de fans van auteurs als Lovecraft en Clark Ashton Smith.......more

Goodreads review by lyn on April 12, 2025

very interesting example of early weird fiction. and by a woman !!! can absolutely see why lovecraft enjoyed this one. im definitely missing the "ineffability" and "incomperhensibility" aspect that lovecraft would go on to perfect — the ending felt very much like the author wanted to explain every s......more