Bertram Mitford's
The Sign of the Spider

Order through Amazon
Order through Amazon UK
Order through B & N

Bertram Mitford
ISBN 1-930585-28-4
Retail $12.95 (USD)
228 pp. / Paperback

Classic Cryptofiction:

Boy meets girl. Boy leaves girl. Boy meets another girl. Boy meets big freaking spider-creature.

The Sign of the Spider is a classic British adventure novel, first published in 1896. Bertram Mitford takes the genre of imperialistic adventure stories and turns it on its head, creating an anti-hero as protagonist and weaving throughout the story a deliberate look at racial attitudes and cultural differences within colonial-period Africa. (Note: this book does contain racial epithets within the context of creating racist characters and so would not be suitable for younger readers.) Mitford doesn't shrink from showing humanity at its worst, but manages to spin a tale that is compelling in plot and characterization.

This novel is also classic cryptofiction. The arachnid-beast that provides the climax struggle is arguably one of the most fascinating creatures to appear in an early adventure novel.