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

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 FIVE

Next came a sort of cul-de-sac in the story as the entire Earth fleet of one hundred spaceships got trapped in the gravitational pull of a gigantic comet that was headed for a collision with the sun. The comet was full of unknown cosmic energies which were wreaking havoc on the operating systems of each of the space craft.

The captains of each ship were hard- pressed to prevent their vessels from colliding with each other, making for many tense moments.   

Eventually the comet dragged the entire fleet all the way back to the Earth, where Serviss, Edison and the other commanders were able to use the Earth’s gravitational pull to break free of the comet, which continued on its crash course toward the sun.

For a story written in 1898 this section of the tale reminded me of nothing so much as one of the pointless and easily escaped cliffhangers in an old Republic Serial. At any rate the fleet resumed its journey toward Mars on its punitive expedition.

Finally, as the Earth forces neared the Red Planet the vessel with Lord Kelvin as the Science Officer sighted a huge asteroid with a number of crashed and landed Martian ships upon it. The Martians on the asteroid’s surface  now turned their attention on the approaching Earth fleet. +++

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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