VERRILL, A(lpheus) Hyatt

(1871-1954)

   US naturalist, explorer and writer, most of whose 100 or so books were nonfiction. He also wrote juveniles, of which the Boy Adventurers sequence is of some sf interest; relevant titles are The BoyAdventurers in the Land of El Dorado (1923), The Boy Adventurers in the Land of the Monkey Men (1923) and The Boy Adventurers in the Unknown Land (1924). The Radio Detectives Under the Sea (1922) is the most sf-like of his Radio Detectives children's sequence. His adult novels explore similar territory. The Golden City (1916) and The Bridge of Light (1929 AMZ Quarterly; 1950) are of interest as typical LOST-WORLD stories; they areset in South America, where AHV did much of his real-life exploration (whose extent he reportedly exaggerated). 9 novels in all appeared in AMZand AMZ Quarterly 1926-35, though only 2 have reached book form, Bridge of Light and When the Moon Ran Wild (1931 AMZ Quarterly as AHV; 1962 UK) asby Ray Ainsbury (it is not known why this title was thus ascribed). AHV's work shows the marks of a somewhat desultory interest in fiction, and of the PULP-MAGAZINE markets he served, but does vividly dramatize his professional concerns.

   JC

   Other works: The Trail of the White Indians (1920).

   See also: ANTHROPOLOGY.