Survivor

Survivor: A Modern Adventure by Robert Steele Gray is a novel published in hardcover by St. Martin’s Press in 1998; a paperback edition of the book was released in 2000, also by St. Martin’s. In the time-travel adventure story, a middle-aged modern man finds himself in a prehistoric world that demands all of his skills in order to survive. The majority of the action takes place in prehistoric Hot Springs (Garland County). There are numerous references to contemporary local landmarks and a remarkable ending to the story that takes place in the Spa City.

The author, Robert Steele Gray, was born in Texas in 1923 and grew up in Hot Springs, which had been his paternal family’s home for generations. Gray was attending the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) when World War II began. He left college to enlist, spending four years in the U.S. Marine Corps at such spots as Guadalcanal, later serving in the combat zone during the Korean War in 1951–1952. The rest of his life was spent in Houston, Texas, where he had a distinguished career as a reporter, publisher, and nonfiction author before his death in 2018. Survivor was his only work of fiction and may have incorporated some of his wartime survival skills.

In the book, Mark Lewellyn is an average upscale suburbanite in his forties who works in data entry, settling in to watch a Cowboys football game on television from the comfort of his home in Dallas, Texas. Overweight and out of shape, he prefers spending his time with electronic gadgets.

The action begins on the first page amid a severe thunderstorm. Before the football game begins, Mark ventures outside toward his workshop in order to grab a screwdriver to adjust a computer console. He suddenly feels a tremendous explosion and is blinded by white light from a bolt of lightning before losing consciousness.

When Mark awakens, he realizes that the lightning strike has somehow transported him back to the prehistoric world of what Dallas used to be. It is a place full of unfriendly natives, hazards of nature, and hungry wild animals. Knowing there are perils he must overcome if he is to be a “survivor,” he recalls pleasant times when he and his wife had visited Hot Springs, Arkansas. There, they enjoyed the beautiful scenery and relaxed in the thermal baths.

Recalling that it was said to be a place where ancient tribes met in peace to enjoy the healthful springs, he embarks on a trek find it. He particularly hopes to find peaceful people there who might help him stay alive, or at least not kill him on sight. What he encounters in Hot Springs, circa AD 200, is the story that forms the basis for the book.

Survivor contains a number of references to the contemporary city of Hot Springs, such as the Arlington Hotel, Bathhouse Row, Central Avenue, West Mountain, and the quarry at Balanced Rock. A constant element in the book is the enjoyment of the thermal springs by the prehistoric people. In his acknowledgements for the book, Gray thanks several people from Hot Springs—including Mark Blaeuer, former park ranger at Hot Springs National Park, for his explanation of how the Hot Springs area came to be known as the “valley of the vapors.”

The book received positive reviews in both the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Houston Chronicle, which called it a “a rousing tale.” An unrelated television series of the same name premiered in 2000, and with the novel’s plotline of the main character being stranded, some readers have seen thematic parallels to the 2000 movie Castaway, starring Tom Hanks.

For additional information:
Gray, Robert Steele. Survivor: A Modern Adventure. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

Obituary of Robert Gray. Houston Chronicle, September 9, 2018. Online at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/houstonchronicle/name/robert-gray-obituary?id=1964586 (accessed November 20, 2024).

Nancy Hendricks
Garland County Historical Society