The Sunless City

by J.E. Preston Muddock

Dime novel written by J. E. Preston Muddock in 1905. The novel is about a prospector named Josiah Flintabbaty Flonatin who explores a bottomless lake in a submarine, and discovers a land where everything is backwards. The title character is the namesake for the city of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock (or James Edward Preston Muddock), sometimes writing as Dick Donovan and "Joyce Emmerson (Preston) Muddock."

Reviews

[Chad Pab · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a resident of Flin Flon I felt compelled to read this one, simply enough because my hometown is named after the protagonist in this book. I remember learning about it in high school, and even reading a section of it then, but at that time I had no interest in reading and didn't pursue it. Now after coming across it again I have recollections of people describing the book as boring, or very slow until the discovering of the sunless city, and apparently that didn't even last long. All that being said I didn't expect the book to be anywhere close to as good as it actually was! As I started reading I wasn't sure whether I should be taking it seriously or in a lighter funnier sense, primarily because of the main characters name; Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, a man born in a city called Bologna, who searches the center of the earth in his fish vessel! Then the further I read the more interesting it got and suddenly I was so hooked I was setting my alarm earlier in the morning so I could get up to read more. Keeping in mind that this is by no means a thriller I found it to be pretty exciting, and often reading a couple more chapters than I had originally intended. Going along with this fictional story and accepting how ridiculous the first part is, I found later parts of the novel to have a lot of interesting idea's and thoughts to ponder. With a somewhat comical beginning, interesting middle, and awesome ending, I couldn't really say anything bad about it, therefore I'll give it five stars. It's not a shame for our town to be named after this character, after all they could have taken a lot worse of references from this book for our city's name, such as Esnesnon!

[Bee Ostrowsky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my God, where to begin. How about this: there’s one chapter devoted mostly to the male narrator telling the story of how impossible it is for a woman to keep a secret—so impossible that when one woman foolishly tried, the effort literally killed her... but not before she blabbed on her deathbed.

This is the story of Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin (‘Flin Flon’), one of America’s greatest and proudest inventor-explorers, who invents a submarine to explore the interior of the earth, which he reaches by submerging in a lake in the Rocky Mountains named Lake Avernus.

If you think naming the lake for the gateway to the underworld is transparent, wait until you see the language spoken by all the people of the interior of the earth: “Eno dluow tsomla kniht taht eh saw eno fo eht yradnegel stirips ohw era desoppus ot llewd no eht edistuo fo eht htrae.”

The key, of course, is to read each word backwards: “Before releasing you from the mesmeric state I may give you the key to our ancient language. You read from left to right, but we read from right to left, so that with this hint, and if you are diligent, you will soon be able to make yourself understood by our people.” That’s the advice of Mr. Ytidrusba, a priest in the court of King Gubmuh, who lives in the country of Esnesnon. No explanation is ever given of how they tolerate having such insulting names.

Of course the awfulness doesn’t stop there; much ink is wasted on moaning about how awful it is that the government is run by a Parliament of a thousand women, and women treat men there in exactly the ways that men treat women here.

I am heartened to know that the residents of Flin Flon, Manitoba, a town named for the protagonist of this tihsllub, are far better people than anyone portrayed sympathetically in the book.

[Sherry Seymour · Rating 1 out of 5]

I kept hoping that there was going to be a change of Flin’s opinion... but no, this book is deeply sexist and racist.

Thankfully, this book is not in the traditional canon of world literature. Sadly, a town dear to my heart is named after it.

[Veda Kathryne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Super sexist and also casually racist. I'm interested in the potential history of this book as being backlash to sufferage. Flin Flon deserves better!

[Joanne Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this story because the main character is the inspiration for the naming of Flin Flon, Manitoba, and I’ve always wanted to know who this character was and how that came to be.

One thing to keep in mind is that the story was written in 1905, a time when women were treated very differently than they are today. They had far fewer rights and freedoms, and were often viewed as fragile little flowers rather than competent human beings.

The main character is part of a scientific society and embarks on a journey in a submarine—technology that was still very new in the early 1900s. The fact that the author knew enough about submarines to write a believable story was actually kind of impressive. However, I’m not sure why he had to include the animals on board. That part was confusing. He wasn’t eating them, so why were they there? He seemed sad when they died, so maybe they were meant to be food animals—but that’s never made clear. At one point, his ship is confiscated, and there’s still one bunny left alive. It’s never mentioned again, which felt like a loose end that didn’t make sense.

Flin Flon eventually discovers a pre-human society—one that’s “backwards” from his point of view because women rule and men are considered the inferior sex. He gets a bit of a taste of what it’s like to be on the lower rung of the social ladder, and he clearly doesn’t enjoy it. Most men wouldn’t want to be considered the inferior sex, though of course there are matriarchal societies where women do lead.

What stood out to me was that even though women were in power, they were still portrayed through the lens of early 20th-century stereotypes—emotional, petty, and irrational. There’s a scene in Parliament where women are gouging eyes and pulling hair, which is a very exaggerated, stereotypical view of women from that time. So, despite the reversal of power, the author couldn’t escape the societal biases of his era.

I’ve read reviews that criticize the book for the unimaginative language—specifically that the “foreign” language is just English written backwards. But again, we have to consider the context: this was the early 1900s. No one had yet imagined constructed languages like Klingon or Elvish. The author did what he knew, and it worked—if you’re willing to give it a chance.

Yes, from a modern perspective, there are definitely racist and anti-feminist elements that are unacceptable today. But if you can put yourself in the mindset of the time and read it as a product of its era, it’s actually a fairly well-written and enjoyable story. The writing can be overly flowery and drag in places, but that was typical of dime novels—meant to entertain readers who couldn’t afford more “serious” literature. In today’s terms, I’d call it a fluff piece. And that’s exactly how I took it.

It took me a while to get through, since I only read it at bedtime, but overall, it was an entertaining read

[Christina Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

My main reason for reading this book was my association with the city of Flin Flon. I read the book expecting very little, and it exceeded my expectations slightly.

I can understand why so many reviewers hated the book due to the misogyny, but it might be satire?

It was awfully repetitive though. I skimmed more than a few paragraphs and didn't miss anything important.

[Dejaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Misogynistic, racist and ironic. The entire book is absurdist satire... If the author was trying to prove a point, I think they failed.

[Bryan Ens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because one of Canada's towns (Flin Flon, MB) was named after the book's main character. It was not a great read. The devices that the author used were rather silly. E.g. the people of Esnesnon spoke their words in English, except the words were all backwards (Esnesnon is nonsense in reverse). Also, the arguments between characters were long and annoying to read.

I think that this book was supposed to be a satirical look at how horrible things would be if women ruled the world. I suppose that the author's misogynistic viewpoint can be somewhat forgiven due to the time period in which it was written (1905).

If I had named the Manitoba town, I'm sure that I could have found a character name from a much more enjoyable book (although "Flin Flon" is a rather cool sounding name if you ignore the story that it originated from)

[Aaron C. Burke · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Sunless City" is the 1905 novel that gave Canadian mining town Flin Flon (Manitoba) its name. Basically a barely competent light retelling of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth." Author J.E. Preston Murdock strives unsuccessfully to imitate Lewis Carroll's humor and surreal tone from the Alice books. Instead, Murdock's effort seems forced and derivative.
Protagonist Professor Josiah Flin(tabbatey) Flon(atin) is more blundering doofus than amiable adventurer. The novel today is perhaps best known as a footnote or passing reference in the biography of Flin Flon's native son NHL Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke.