Twenty thousand years ago, the North Pole was orientated toward a star in Cygnus. On the plains of Europe the mammoth was about to become extinct, while the emigration of the large wild beasts toward the Land of Light and the northward flight of the reindeer were coming to an end. The aurochs, the urus and the red deer were grazing forests and savannahs. The colossal cave-bear had perished in the depths of its caverns a long time ago. This is the fourth in a series of seven volumes translated and annotated by Brian Stableford presenting the classic works of J.-H. Rosny Aîné, the second most important figure in French science fiction after Jules Verne. Until now, Rosny, a member of the Goncourt literary academy, has best been known to the English-speaking public for his prehistoric thriller, Quest for Fire. Rosny gave nobility to the prehistoric novel with classic works such as Vamireh (1892), Eyrimah (1893) and Nomai (1897), in which he combined the notions of modern drama with the ability to depict Man's early days in a colorful, yet believable fashion, straddling the line between mainstream literature and fantasy.