Valley of the Croen by Lee Tarbell, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure (Paperback)

Lee Tarbell's "Valley of the Croen" brought headline news to the pages of "Amazing Stories" magazine the year it was published, 1949. Korea was on the brink of war. And people claimed to see flying saucers all over, the result of pilot Kenneth Arnold's history-making report of silvery disks in the sky over Mount Rainier in Washington state. Tarbell combines these elements -- and more -- in the tale of an Indiana Jones-like adventurer, Carl Keele, on the hunt for a hidden valley in Korea . "Unknown people, virgin forest, beautiful women and plenty of gold," he muses. "Sounds too good to be true," and sure enough, The complications include a war among alien races, mole-men, insect armies, the world in peril, and the deadliest risk of all: The poor guy's dilemma in choosing which of two stunning visitors from space to marry. Each is a curvy argument that flying saucers should visit the earth more often. Keele can only hope the legends about Zoorph magic are true, in a story that brings back all the gosh-wow of a bygone and bug-eyed era of science fiction.