EDISON’S CONQUEST OF MARS (1898): PART TWO

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of Garrett P Serviss’ odd sequel to Fighters From Mars, his blatant imitation of War of the Worlds.

PART TWO

The word from astronomers around the globe indicated that the Martians were making preparations for another attack on the Earth. Panic spread rapidly and a rash of suicides made the news.

Meanwhile America’s Thomas Edison was leading an international team of scientists including Kelvin and Roentgen. The scientists succeeded in reverse-engineering the space-ships of the Martians and proved that the people of Earth could replicate them and form a space fleet of their own. In addition Edison created a disintegrator ray based on concepts from Martian technology.

In a daring test flight Edison and a select crew flew their first spaceship to the moon, landed and returned to the Earth before informing the world that there was hope that humanity could fight the Martians on equal terms this time. Within days most of the world’s leaders decided on holding a summit with President McKinley in Washington, DC to lay out a strategy for constructing a space fleet armed with Edison’s disintegrating weapons.

Interestingly enough, this long before World War One started, Kaiser Wilhelm was depicted in very unflattering terms and his notorious dislike of America’s anti-royalist attitudes was emphasized. Edison and a crew – which once again included Serviss himself as the narrator of the tale – flew high above the Earth in a spaceship to watch the sea ships that were bringing the world leaders to Washington.

In addition to the Kaiser world leaders attending the global summit included Queen Victoria, Czar Nicholas, King Alphonso of Spain, King Oscar of Sweden, Queen Sophia of Norway, King Humbert and Queen Margherita of Italy, King George and Queen Olga of Greece, Abdul Hamid of Turkey, Emperor Tsai Tien of China, Mikado Mutsuhito and Princess Haruko of Japan. From every corner of the globe they came.

Amid much pomp and ceremony the world leaders conferred, using America’s Senate as their meeting room. The heads of state all agreed to donate funds for the construction of a fleet of space ships armed with disintegrator weaponry of all sizes. The narrative includes some entertaining expressions of rivalry and distrust among some of the world leaders despite the overall sense of unity.

With the U.S. providing twice as much as any of the other countries in the world a grand ball is held for all the world leaders before they depart. Meanwhile Edison and Serviss begin overseeing the mammoth construction project. +++

I WILL EXAMINE ADDITIONAL PARTS SOON. CHECK BACK ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK FOR UPDATES.

FOR TEN MORE EXAMPLES OF ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/2014/03/03/ten-neglected-examples-of-ancient-science-fiction/

FOR WASHINGTON IRVING’S 1809 depiction of an invasion from the moon click here: https://glitternight.com/2014/05/05/ancient-science-fiction-the-men-of-the-moon-1809-by-washington-irving/

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