Help me find this story?
January 11, 2010 12:28 PM Subscribe
[StoryIdentificationFilter] It's mostly sci-fi and has to do with the disappearance of the Maya. And I can't remember what it is.
I remember listening to an audiobook in the 1990s which contained a short story/novella about an explorer whose expedition got lost in the rainforest, then stumbled upon an ancient Mayan temple. The temple contained some sort of portal to another world, where the Mayas had gone and were still living. The reason their civilization disappeared in our world is that they all fled in the face of the European invasion.
I seem to recall there being something vaguely sinister about the proceedings, but exactly what escapes my memory. The protagonist eventually returns to our world but is unable, despite his best efforts, to rediscover the temple.
I can't for the life of me remember the author, and my google-fu is failing me. Help!
I remember listening to an audiobook in the 1990s which contained a short story/novella about an explorer whose expedition got lost in the rainforest, then stumbled upon an ancient Mayan temple. The temple contained some sort of portal to another world, where the Mayas had gone and were still living. The reason their civilization disappeared in our world is that they all fled in the face of the European invasion.
I seem to recall there being something vaguely sinister about the proceedings, but exactly what escapes my memory. The protagonist eventually returns to our world but is unable, despite his best efforts, to rediscover the temple.
I can't for the life of me remember the author, and my google-fu is failing me. Help!
Response by poster: No, it isn't. I don't remember anything terribly religious about the story, if that helps.
posted by valkyryn at 12:50 PM on January 11, 2010
posted by valkyryn at 12:50 PM on January 11, 2010
I feel like I've read this story. It isn't in Jeff Vandermeer's Secret Life anthology, is it?
If you don't figure it out I can find it in my books later.
posted by selfnoise at 12:51 PM on January 11, 2010
If you don't figure it out I can find it in my books later.
posted by selfnoise at 12:51 PM on January 11, 2010
Best answer: Is it The Edmund Keating Tapes?
"An interviewer makes a series of tape recordings with a man named Edmond Keating who tells a tale of being the only returning member of an expedition to the Yucatan in 1949, sent out to discover the truth behind the Mayan civilization's collapse. While investigating the interior of the largest Mayan pyramid ever discovered four members of the expedition are trapped behind a huge metal door. Keating's claim is that it was the entrance to a parallel dimension, a doorway in which the entire lost race of Mayans had passed through to establish a new way of life."
posted by iconomy at 1:07 PM on January 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
"An interviewer makes a series of tape recordings with a man named Edmond Keating who tells a tale of being the only returning member of an expedition to the Yucatan in 1949, sent out to discover the truth behind the Mayan civilization's collapse. While investigating the interior of the largest Mayan pyramid ever discovered four members of the expedition are trapped behind a huge metal door. Keating's claim is that it was the entrance to a parallel dimension, a doorway in which the entire lost race of Mayans had passed through to establish a new way of life."
posted by iconomy at 1:07 PM on January 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
And because I am anal, here is the rest of the summary, whcih I forgot to copy/paste:
"Keating's claim is that it was the entrance to a parallel dimension, a doorway in which the entire lost race of Mayans had passed through to establish a new way of life."
And it's Edmond with an O, not Edmund with a U. Because I am anal, I had to mention that.
posted by iconomy at 1:22 PM on January 11, 2010
"Keating's claim is that it was the entrance to a parallel dimension, a doorway in which the entire lost race of Mayans had passed through to establish a new way of life."
And it's Edmond with an O, not Edmund with a U. Because I am anal, I had to mention that.
posted by iconomy at 1:22 PM on January 11, 2010
Kate Wilhelm, "Whatever happened to the Olmecs"? F&SF, Oct 1973?
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:32 PM on January 11, 2010
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:32 PM on January 11, 2010
Response by poster: iconomy's got it. Thanks guys, that's been bugging me for years!
posted by valkyryn at 5:08 PM on January 11, 2010
posted by valkyryn at 5:08 PM on January 11, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:48 PM on January 11, 2010