ANOTHER WORLD (1873) – This highly detailed account of life in Montalluyah (“God’s own city”), the capitol city of Mars, was written by British author Benjamin Lumley under the pen name Hermes. The book is presented as excerpts from historical accounts, including a biography of the Great Martian Reformer Tootmanyoso.
Mars is depicted as geographically similar – but far from identical – to Earth. Water on Mars is violet colored, hills are more numerous, and there are several species of plants, animals and insects not found on Earth. Technology on the Red Planet is far beyond Earth’s, due largely to the way Martian science learned to extract the “innate electricity” in every object, even unliving ones.
As the Earthling “Hermes” translates Martian documents, he finds that much is made of the historical figure Tootmanyoso. Before the coming of that great man, Mars was prone to war, crime, poverty and disease. Continue reading
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