When a brilliant inventor tries to control volcanic eruptions with a mechanical valve, his bold experiment threatens to unleash fiery chaos on an unsuspecting world. The Volcanic Valve by W. L. Alden. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Is Humorous Historical Science Fiction a real genre? I have no idea—but if it isn’t, someone better invent it fast, because The Volcanic Valve would be its founding father, spiritual guide, and poster child.

W. L. Alden, born October 9th, 1837, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, wore many hats: journalist, fiction writer, humorist, canoe fanatic (yes, really), and U.S. diplomat in Rome from 1885 to 1890. Somewhere between paddling rivers and negotiating foreign policy, he also found time to be hilarious.

Oddly enough, Alden didn’t dive into science fiction until he was in his mid-50s. Maybe he just needed a few decades to warm up. But once he got going, he cranked out 30 short stories in 10 years—because who needs sleep?

Today’s story, The Volcanic Valve, is inspired by a real event that happened a little more than a decade before it was written. It was published in Pall Mall Magazine in July 1897, The Volcanic Valve by W. L. Alden…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, The professor invented a perfume that would never come off! He didn't know it was irresistible. The Irresistible Perfume by Harold Lawlor.

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