Driven from China by the Boxers, explorer Alcide Tremalet chances upon a secret futuristic city created in the 18th century by French Protestants fleeing persecution. This New Paris, or "Mysteryville," has mastered the use of sound and light. But will his arrival trigger a civil war with those who seek to rejoin, and perhaps conquer, the outside world and those who wish to preserve their isolation? Mysteryville (1905) is one of Jules Lermina's most original novels. This book also includes his macabre classic story Twice Dead (1895). Brian M. Stableford has been a professional writer since 1965. He has published more than 60 science fiction and fantasy novels, as well as several authoritative non-fiction books.