Jules Lermina (1839-1915), began his career as a journalist in 1859. He was arrested for his socialist political opinions, and received Victor Hugo's support. He published a number of Edgar Poe-inspired collections, Histoires Incroyables [Incredible Tales] (1885), Nouvelles Histoires Incroyables [New Incredible Tales] (1888) and a short novel, L'Élixir de Vie [The Elixir Of Life] (1890). Le Secret des Zippelius [The Secret Of The Zippelius] (1893) featured the controlled disintegration of water. His two-volume La Bataille de Strasbourg [The Battle Of Strasburg] (1895) was one of the first novels on the infamous theme of the "yellow peril". In L'Effrayante Aventure [Panic in Paris] (1910), Lermina used Bulwer-Lytton's vril-force to create a vril-powered flying machine. The novel also features the resurrection of prehistoric monsters frozen in ice in caverns under Paris. Mystère-Ville (1905), written under the pseudonym of William Cobb, and illustrated by Albert Robida, was about protestants who had fled France and created a secret, futuristic city in a hidden Chinese valley. Lermina also penned sequels to popular classics: Le Fils de Monte-Cristo [The Son of Monte-Cristo] (1881), Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo [The Treasure of Monte-Cristo] (1885) and Les Mystères de New York [The Mysteries of New York] (1874), also written under the pseudonym of William Cobb. He also created the indomitable Toto Fouinard, whose adventures were serialized in 1908-09. novels: Panic in Paris / The Elixir of Life (2009), To-Ho and the Gold Destroyers (2010) Mysteryville (2010)