Master of the World, Extraordinary Voyages

A deviously brilliant inventor is out to control the world in this 1904 thriller by the pioneering science fiction author.

Reports of strange occurrences in the mountains of South Carolina have reached the desk of government agent John Strock. Though the Blue Ridge Mountains are not volcanic, rumblings and smoke have led some to fear an eruption. Then new reports emerge of unidentified objects racing across air, land, and water at incredible speeds. Behind it all is a mastermind named Robur whose ambition is as boundless as his genius.

On his quest to stop Robur, Agent Strock is taken captive and finds himself onboard the Terror: a single vehicle with capacities far beyond anything mankind has seen before. Though global powers offer Robur enormous sums for his invention, he chooses to keep it—and its unrivaled power—for himself.