Review: The Atlantis Fragments by Donald Sidney-Fryer

reviewed by Barry Hunter.

THE ATLANTIS FRAGMENTS, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Hippocampus Press, $25, 552 Pages, ISBN: 9780982429655

Was the continent of Atlantis real or purely the speculations based on years of myth and fable? That's a question that won't be answered here or in the near future. But what will be discussed here are the three volumes of poetry that Donald Sidney-Fryer has written with the Atlantean continent and peoples as his inspiration.

This omnibus volume was first published in three volumes from three different publishers over a thirty year period and Hippocampus has risen to the occasion of keeping this collection of unique verse available to the poetry lovers, fans of the Lovecraftian Circle, and the science fiction fans who believe there is more to the world than we know today.

There are songs, sonnets, stanzas, and prose that show the life and happenings on Atlantis as well as poems dedicated to some of the people who became special to Sidney-Fryer. There are poems of romance, funeral dirges, long narratives, short missives, and memorials. There are notes to help the reader better understand the complexities of some of the works as well as descriptions of the locales. This is a valuable book not only for making the poetry available to today's readers, but also for its place in increasing the powers of wordsmithing and imagination.