A shipwrecked sailor in the Atlantic in 1560 discovers an island that is apparently enchanted but actually the result of an extended (and malevolent) experiment carried out by a mad scientist. Don Diego Rodriguez is an evil scientific genius with technology far in advance of his era. Banished during the Inquisition as a menace to the State, he moves to the New World—before its discovery by Columbus—and sets up a massively booby-trapped island. An intriguing work generically: a miniature Gothic with elements of scientific romance and thriller. Of the many late nineteenth and early twentieth century novels utilizing Gothic techniques and interests, "one of the best examples was Albert Kinross' THE FEARSOME ISLAND (1896), which contained incarnate demons, haunted castles, and other Gothic niceties." - Clareson, The Emergence of American Science Fiction: 1880-1915, p. 85n. These manifestations are rationalized in the light of nineteenth century technology, thus qualifying the book as science fiction. "An interesting account ..." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 951. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1230.