Any fan of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" or "The Mysterious Island" - whether the books or the classic adventure films - should grab a copy of "Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne," edited by Steven R. Southard and Matthew T. Hardesty (BearManor Media). Chosen from a competition sponsored by the North American Jules Verne Society (of which I am a member), the 13 stories derive from, or pay homage to, some of the French writer's best- and least-known works. In Joseph S. Walker's "The Dominion of all the Earth," the now-aged Axel Lidenbrock, from "Journey to the Center of the Earth," is touring the United States giving lectures about his descent into our planet's interior. One afternoon in Chicago, he meets an enigmatic young woman who reveals the earthshaking truth about the gigantic cave man he briefly glimpsed so long ago. With comparable deftness, Kelly A. Harmon's "Trumpets of Freedom" reassembles characters from "The Lighthouse at the End of the World," then adds steampunk robots and that aeronautical buccaneer, Robur the Conqueror

-- Michael Dirda, The Washington Post  (Feb. 24, 2023)