The Sunken World

The Sunken World launches with a vanished submarine, a missing crew, and a rumor so impossible it feels like a dare: beneath the Atlantic, an entire hidden civilization may have survived. After the experimental U.S. war sub X-111 disappears on a North Sea mission, the mystery lies dormant until a strange, altered survivor appears in Washington, claiming to be one of the lost men and beginning a tale that moves from wartime suspense to breathtaking discovery. Harkness recounts the X-111's disastrous maiden voyage—mechanical failures, enemy pursuit, flooding, and a desperate plunge into lightless depths. As the crew sinks past eerie marine life and ghostly luminous creatures, fear gives way to awe when they glimpse a vast sunken city of domes, temples, columns, and streets shining beneath the sea. That impossible world is Atlantis, where the narrator is ushered into a sophisticated society ruled by ceremony, selective service, and a radically different idea of work. Blending science fiction, lost-civilization wonder, and sharp social satire, the novel asks what civilization is worth—and what kind of life truly counts as progress. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.