Radium Age Sci- Fi: 1. Best – Hi. Lobrow. MORE LIT LISTS: 5. Best Scientific Romances (1. At first, I called this neglected period the Pre- Golden Age, but later I coined the phrase Radium Age . At io. 9, I published a short series of semi- exhaustive posts on the following topics: Radium Age Supermen . At the time, I took notes for subsequent posts on, e.
Science Fiction Films are usually scientific, visionary, comic-strip-like, and imaginative, and usually visualized through fanciful, imaginative settings.
Air Battles, Antigravity, Interplanetary Voyages, Lost Worlds, Mad Scientists, Time Travel, and Utopias. I collected a roomful of books by Olaf Stapledon, William Hope Hodgson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sax Rohmer, Karel . Lovecraft, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle, David Lindsay, John Taine, Jack Williamson, S. Fowler Wright, Gustave Le Rouge, A.
Robert William Chambers (May 26, 1865 – December 16, 1933) was an American artist and fiction writer, best known for his book of short stories entitled The King in. Find the monthly TCM movie schedule and programming guide and learn what classic movies will be shown on Turner Classic Movies this month. Edmund Gwenn, Actor: The Trouble with Harry. There are very few character actors from the 1930s, '40s or '50s who rose to the rank of stardom.
- MORE LIT LISTS: 50 Best Scientific Romances (1864–1903)
- Lost Horizon, by James Hilton, free ebook. It was typical of Conway that he let the others waken for themselves, and made small response to their.
- Heading for a newly inherited island, the boys are shipwrecked and marooned on an atoll which has just emerged from the sea.
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Merritt, Murray Leinster, Jean de La Hire, Maurice Renard, Philip Wylie, Aldous Huxley, and many less well- known science fiction authors from the time. However, since then I’ve moved onto other projects. Throughout 2. 01. I did exactly that. Scroll down, to see the full list. Please let me know what 1. And, if you’d like to support the cause, please visit the Hi.
Lo. Books homepage; you’ll find Amazon links for all of our Radium Age series. PS: Interested in learning more? I can’t recommend enough Everett F. Bleiler’s Science- Fiction: The Early Years (1.
Bradley Lane’s Mizora: World of Women (1. Walter Besant’s The Revolt of Man (1. Albert Robida’s Le Vingti. Abbott’s Flatland (1. Richard Jeffries’s After London (1. W. H. Hudson’s A Crystal Age (1.
Edward Bellamy. Hyde (1. Walter Besant’s The Inner House (1. William Morris. Shiel’s The Purple Cloud (1. RADIUM AGE SCI- FI: THE OUGHTS (1.
Verne, Wells, Kipling, Arnold, Baum and some others who published science fiction from 1. In an alternative- history version of England (it’s set in 1.
When Auberon Quin, a man who aspires to live life like a medieval adventure, becomes king, he mandates that each of London’s neighborhoods become an independent state, complete with unique local costumes. Everyone goes along with the conceit until young Adam Wayne, a born military tactician, takes the game too seriously.
War rages throughout the city . Fun fact: Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins is known to have admired The Napoleon of Notting Hill. H. G. Does The Food of the Gods belong on a list of the 1. Best Radium Age Science Fiction novels? I originally determined that the genre’s pioneering Scientific Romance era ended in 1. H. G. The First Men in the Moon (1. Wells’s last terrific sf novel; The Food of the Gods is his first un- terrific one.
Un- terrific Wells is still pretty damn good. A chemical intended to make chickens grow larger accidentally causes plants, wasps, earwigs, and rats to grow as well. Fun fact: The 1. 97. Marvel Classics Comics edition of the story is great.
Jules Verne. In this sequel to Verne’s 1. Robur the Conqueror, FBI(- ish) Chief Inspector Strock arrives in North Carolina to investigate what appears to be an imminent volcanic eruption.
Meanwhile, a supercar is spotting traveling at 1. New England. The brilliant inventor Robur is back, and this time he has invented a ten- meter long multi- purpose vehicle, The Terror. Determined to have it for military purposes, the feds first attempt to buy the machine, then attack Robur. With a captive Strock aboard, Robur escapes in The Terror over Niagara Falls, then challenges God by heading into a Caribbean thunderstorm.
Fun fact: Is this one of Verne’s best novels? I include it here to demonstrate the context from which Radium Age science fiction emerged. Here we see one of the genre’s pioneers, at the end of his career (and life), questioning man. Originally published in English in The Indian Ladies Magazine of Madras, Hussain’s story depicts a peaceful, crime- free utopia in which women run everything and men are secluded . What’s more, the women use advanced technology that makes possible laborless farming and flying cars; they have solved the problem of solar energy, and control the weather. Most impressively, perhaps: The workday is two hours long, since men used to waste six hours of each day in smoking!
Fun fact: One of the first examples of feminist science fiction. The author was a Muslim feminist, writer, and social reformer who lived in British India. Rudyard Kipling’s With the Night Mail (1. Kipling’s novella follows the exploits of an intercontinental mail dirigible battling the perfect storm. Between London and Quebec we learn that a planet- wide Aerial Board of Control (A. B. C.) now enforces a technocratic system of command and control not only in the skies but in world affairs.
It’s an impressively nuanced portrait of a future in which dirigibles . Kipling goes so far as to include excerpts from the Aerial Board of Control Bulletin, complete with letters to the editor, book reviews, and advertisements.
Both titles have been reissued by Hi. Lo. Books, with an Introduction by Matthew De Abaitua and an Afterword by Bruce Sterling. Edwin Lester Arnold’s Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation (1. In this satirical, nightmarish, episodic update of Gulliver’s Travels, Lieut. Gullivar Jones, an arrogant US Naval officer, travels to Mars (a jungle planet, not the desert planet of other Mars sci- fi) via magic carpet. There, he gains super strength and telepathic powers, and proceeds to stumble into and out of trouble.
There is a war brewing between the beautiful, innocent, sophisticated Hither Folk and the barbaric, industrious Thither Folk; Gullivar fails to prevent the war, and flees back to Earth. He also attempts to claim a vast tract of Mars for himself, travels down a river of death, fails to outwit or defeat his enemies, and doesn’t win the hand of beautiful Princess Heru.
Fun fact: Arnold was best known in his own time for the 1. The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician. Note that Edgar Rice Burroughs’s first John Carter novel was likely inspired by Lieut. Gullivar Jones; and the flying cities of Flash Gordon and other, later sci- fi, find their precusor here, in the city of Laputa.
Reissued by Bison Frontiers of Imagination. Gregory Casparian’s An Anglo- American Alliance (1. In 1. 96. 0, Aurora Cunningham, daughter of Great Britain’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and Margaret Mac. Donald, daughter of an American senator, meet at a Ladies’ Seminary and fall in love. However, because they fear social ostracism and negative publicity .
Spencer and Aurora marry, and live happily ever after. Fun fact: An Anglo- American Alliance is, as far as I’ve heard, the first lesbian and transgender science fiction novel. The genre wouldn’t see this theme treated openly again until the 1. L. The third Oz book, and the first in which we meet one of Baum’s most delightful characters: “He was only about as tall as Dorothy herself, and his body was round as a ball and made out of burnished copper.
Also his head and limbs were copper, and these were jointed or hinged to his body in a peculiar way, with metal caps over the joints, like the armor worn by knights in days of old.” From a printed card attached to its neck, Dorothy learns that Tiktok is a “Patent Double- Action, Extra- Responsive, Thought- Creating, Perfect- Talking Mechanical Man Fitted with out Special Clock- Work Attachment. Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live.” Though one of the earliest fictional appearances of true machine intelligence, Tiktok is not a free agent like his equally metallic, yet living new friend, the Tin Man . Leonid, a scientist- revolutionary active in the Russian Revolution of 1. Menni . Leonid, it seems, has been selected by the Martians to visit them .
Mars, Leonid discovers, is a post- revolutionary society . The “red star” also boasts nuclear fusion and propulsion, atomic weaponry, computers, blood transfusions, and (almost) unisexuality. However, the Martians have run out of resources and are considering an invasion of either Earth or Venus!
Sent home, after he kills one of the Martians who threaten to colonize Earth, Leonid rejoins the revolutionary struggle. Fun fact: Bogdanov (1. He followed this novel with a prequel in 1. Engineer Menni, which detailed the creation of the communist society on Mars.
Gustave Le Rouge. Amateur astronomer Robert Darvel arranges to have himself transported to Mars in a capsule propelled (how else?) by a psychic energy produced by thousands of Indian yogis gathered together as one cosmic soul. Among other observations he makes about the Mars’s flora (carnivorous grass) and fauna (giant crabs, jelly- like octopi with pseudo- human faces), Darvel discovers that the planet is inhabited by dull- witted humanoids who are herded and harvested by three species of vampire creatures. The vampires are controlled by squid- like, invible beings haunting an abandoned city. Even worse, a Great Brain, which inhabits a crystal mountain surrounded by magnetic storms, is controlling the squid- vampire creatures! Mars, it seems, is like an evil version of Oz; L.
Frank Baum’s books began appearing in 1. Darvel finally returns back to Earth, with some of the invisible vampires in tow. Fun fact: Reissued by Bison Frontiers of Imagination. Maurice Renard’s Docteur Lerne, sous- dieu (Doctor Lerne, Undergod, 1. Returning to the castle where he grew up, after many years away, Nicolas Vermont is surprised to discover that his uncle Fr. Nicolas defies both injunctions.
A Symbolist- esque homage to H. G. Wells’s The Island of Doctor Moreau. Fun fact: This was Renard’s first novel. The poet Apollinaire was a fan: “A little marvel of fantasy: charming, cultivated, and effortlessly learned.”Jack London. Between the (near- future) years of 1.
MS presented here by a far- future historian, an oligarchy known to its foes as the Iron Heel arose in the United States. The Iron Heel has an amazing city built .
Fun fact: Sci- fi historians believe that The Iron Heel influenced Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty- Four. Whether or not that’s the case, Orwell himself described London as having made “a very remarkable prophecy of the rise of Fascism.”E.
Title: Lost Horizon. Author: James Hilton.
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To contact Project Gutenberg of Australia go to http: //gutenberg. GO TO Project Gutenberg Australia HOME PAGEby. James Hilton. First UK edition: Macmillan & Co., London, 1. First US edition: William Morrow & Co., New York, 1. Filmed by Columbia, 1.
This e- book edition: Project Gutenberg Australia, 2. Rutherford wrote novels; Wyland was one of the Embassy secretaries; he. Tempelhof—not very cheerfully, I fancied. It seemed likely that nothing but the fact of being three celibate.
Englishmen in a foreign capital could have brought us together, and I had. I. remembered in Wyland Tertius had not diminished with years and an M. V. O. The probability. Wyland and me our one mutual emotion—a touch of.
The evening, however, was far from dull. We had a good view of the big. Lufthansa machines as they arrived at the aerodrome from all parts of Central.
Europe, and towards dusk, when arc flares were lighted, the scene took on a. One of the planes was English, and its pilot, in. Wyland, who did not at. When he did so there were introductions all around, and. He was a pleasant, jolly youth named. Sanders. Wyland made some apologetic remark about the difficulty of.
Sibleys and flying. Sanders laughed and answered: . Don't forget I was at Baskul. About ten o'clock Wyland left us for a moment. Rutherford, into the sudden hiatus.
I know the. place slightly. What was it you were referring to that happened there? Most impudent thing I ever heard of. The blighter waylaid the. Gave the mechanics the proper signals, too, and was up. The trouble was, he never came back. We were. evacuating civilians from Baskul to Peshawar owing to the.
The place was in a bit of. I don't suppose the thing could have happened. Still, it DID. happen—and it goes some way to show that clothes make the man, doesn't. The Indian Survey people had been using it for high- altitude flights. Kashmir. That was the queer part about it. Of course, if the fellow. I suppose they all got killed, somehow.
There are. heaps of places on the frontier where you might crash and not be heard of. How many passengers were there? Three men and some woman missionary. Or perhaps it doesn't matter now—it. It was hushed up.
I mean, about the way the thing happened. Wouldn't have sounded. The government people merely gave out that one of their machines was. Sort of thing that didn't attract an awful.
I'm afraid I spilled the Baskul yarn—I hope you don't. It was plain that he was. I always thought you air fellows were put on your honor not. I was at Peshawar at the time, and I can assure you of that.
Did you. know Conway well—since school days, I mean? Did YOU come. across him much? He had a most exciting. Rowing Blue and a leading light. Union and prizeman for this, that, and the other—also I reckon. I ever heard. Amazingly many- sided fellow, the.
Jowett would have tipped for a future premier. Yet, in. point of fact, one never heard much about him after those Oxford days. Of. course the war cut into his career. He was very young and I gather he went. Didn't do at all badly, got a D. S. O. Then I believe he.
Oxford for a spell as a sort of don. I know he went east in. His Oriental languages got him the job without any of the usual.
He had several posts. History will never disclose the amount of sheer brilliance wasted. F. O. Wyland's. attitude as we made our farewells was still one of official propriety. Sanders was very cordial and he said he hoped to. I was catching a transcontinental train at a very dismal hour of the early.
Rutherford asked me if I would care to. He had a sitting room, he said, and we could. I said it would suit me excellently, and he answered: . We can. talk about Conway, if you like, unless you're completely bored with his.
But he was. extraordinarily kind to me on one occasion. I was a new boy and there was no. It was only a trivial. I've always remembered it. I have often found since. Conway, even quite formally and for a moment. He was certainly remarkable.
He was tall and extremely. A rather sentimental headmaster once. He gave a Speech Day oration in. Greek, I recollect, and was outstandingly first- rate in school theatricals. Something a bit Philip- Sidney- ish. Our civilization.
I made a remark of this kind. Rutherford, and he replied: . I suppose some. people must have called Conway that, people like Wyland, for instance. I. don't much care for Wyland. I can't stand his type—all that primness.
And the complete head- prefectorial mind, did. Little phrases about 'putting people on their honor' and. Empire were the fifth.
St. But, then, I always fall foul of these sahib. It was a peculiar experience for me. Sanders tell that story about the affair at Baskul.
You see, I'd. heard it before, and hadn't properly believed it. It was part of a much more. I saw no reason to believe at all, or well, only one. NOW there are TWO very slight reasons. I daresay. you can guess that I'm not a particularly gullible person. I've spent a good.
I know there are queer things in the. It would be like. Tit- Bits. I'd rather try my luck with. I said as much, and he. As we. went up to the fifth floor he said: .
At least he wasn't a few months ago. In the corridor a few seconds later I responded: ? I'm always. wandering about. I hadn't seen Conway for years. We never corresponded, and I.
I tried to picture it. I. had been visiting a friend in Hankow and was returning by the Pekin express.
She was traveling to Chung- Kiang. I knew a little French, she seemed to. As a matter of. fact, I haven't much sympathy with ordinary missionary enterprise, but I'm.
Romans stand in a. Still, that's by the. The point is that this lady, talking to me about the mission hospital at. Chung- Kiang, mentioned a fever case that had been brought in some weeks back. European, though he could give no account of. His clothes were native, and of the poorest kind.
He spoke fluent. Chinese, as well as pretty good French, and my train companion assured me. English with a refined accent. I said I couldn't imagine such a.
We joked about these and other matters. I happened to be. This, of course, seemed then as unlikely as that I should climb. Everest, and when the train reached Chung- Kiang I shook hands with genuine.
As it happened, though, I. Chung- Kiang within a few hours. The train broke down a mile or. So there was. half a day to be lived through in Chung- Kiang—which made me decide to.
I suppose one of the hardest things for a non- Catholic to realize is. Catholic can combine official rigidity with non- official.
Is that too complicated? Anyhow, never mind, those mission. Before I'd been there an hour I found. Chinese Christian doctor sat down.
French and. English. Afterwards, he and the Mother Superior took me to see the hospital. I had told them I was a writer, and they were.
I might put them all. We walked past the beds while the doctor explained the cases. I had. forgotten all about the mysterious patient with the refined English accent. Mother Superior reminded me that we were just coming to him.
All I. could see was the back of the man's head; he was apparently asleep. It was. suggested that I should address him in English, so I said 'Good afternoon,'. I could think of. The man. looked up suddenly and said 'Good afternoon' in answer. It was true; his. But I hadn't time to be surprised at that, for I had. I was certain he.
I'd paused to think about it, I might well have come to the. Fortunately I acted on the impulse. I called out his name and my own, and though he looked at me.
I was positive I hadn't made any. There was an odd little twitching of the facial muscles that I had. Balliol we used to. Cambridge blue than an Oxford.
But besides all. that, he was a man one simply didn't make mistakes about—to see him. Of course the doctor and the Mother Superior. I told them that I knew the man, that he was English. They agreed, in a rather amazed. They weren't able to make. Conway could possibly have arrived at Chung- Kiang. I didn't succeed, but.
When I told him. quite frankly who I was and who he was, he was docile enough not to argue. He was quite cheerful, even, in a vague sort of way, and seemed.
To my suggestion that I should take him home. It was a little unnerving, that apparent. As soon as I could I arranged for our departure. Indeed, it seemed to me that for Conway's sake the. I'm glad to say I succeeded in that.
It could have been jam. We sailed down. the Yangtze to Nanking, and then took a train for Shanghai. There was a Jap. liner leaving for 'Frisco that same night, so we made a great rush and got on. He was just brilliant—there's.
After the war people said he was different. I, myself, think. But I can't help feeling that with all his gifts he ought to have. All that Britannic Majesty stuff isn't my idea of a. And Conway was—or should have been—GREAT.
You. and I have both known him, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say it's. And even when he and I met in the middle. China, with his mind a blank and his past a mystery, there was still that. I told him as much as I knew about. He remembered everything quite clearly since his arrival at. Chung- Kiang, and another point that may interest you is that he hadn't.
He told me, for instance, that he knew he must have had. India, because he could speak Hindostani.
He was at. our dining table and sometimes talked with Conway in German. That will show. you how outwardly normal Conway was. Apart from his loss of memory, which. He played well, of. Brahms and Scarlatti, and a lot of Chopin. Once or twice I. glanced at Conway and judged that he was enjoying it all, which appeared very. At the end of the program the show.
Sieveking bestowed. I thought, upon a few enthusiasts grouped round the piano.