MESSAGES FROM MARS BY THE AID OF THE TELESCOPE PLANT (1892) – Written by Robert D Braine. I shortened the title for the blog post headline. The main character of this novel is a sailor named Nordhausen. After leaving Madagascar our hero winds up shipwrecked on an uncharted island.
While roaming this island Nordhausen finds plants with thick transparent leaves which refract light like lenses do. The sailor breaks off one of the leaves to study it more closely, only to be seized by the island’s native inhabitants, who have been watching him from hiding.
The natives take him through a cave entrance to their hidden village which is a blend of the primitive and the futuristic. For the “sacrilege” of damaging one of the telescope plants Nordhausen is to be executed. The means? A device formed from several of the lens-like leaves which magnify the sunlight into a makeshift heat-ray, like holding a magnifying glass over a piece of paper to catch it on fire.
Our hero is saved at the last minute by a beautiful woman named Raimonda, who wants him spared. When her own words are not sufficient to stay the execution she enlists the King of Mars to persuade the natives to spare Nordhausen.
Raimonda explains to the freed sailor that the island is called Roxana and its inhabitants Roxanans. Long ago two shipwrecked scientists from Europe showed the Roxanans how to use the incredible leaves of the sacred plant to construct telescopes.
The telescopes led to the discovery of intelligent and advanced life on Mars (Oron to the people of the Red Planet) and eventually two-way communication between the islanders and the “Martials” as the book calls the inhabitants of Mars – interchangeably with “Oronites, as the aliens call themselves. Continue reading
AVENGERS Vol 1 #114 (August 1973) 
Synopsis: The villainous Swordsman rejoins the Avengers with a pardon and alongside his mysterious romantic partner Mantis, making her very first full appearance. Mantis is part Vietnamese and part unknown at this point. 
These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
THE CAT – Greer Nelson caught on to a conspiracy to take over the world via armies of women clad in superpower-granting costumes. She donned the prototype and called herself the Cat before taking down the entire sinister organization. 
TIGRA THE WERE-WOMAN – After the Cat’s series got canceled from low sales Marvel added Greer Nelson to their 1970s horror characters as Tigra. The Cat was mortally wounded in a battle with Hydra, but Marvel’s race of cat-people saved her life by granting her an amulet that turned her into Tigra the Were-Woman. 
BABYLON ELECTRIFIED (1888) – Written by Albert Bleunard. In the tradition of his fellow Frenchman, Jules Verne, Bleunard crafted this work of science fiction with an international cast. 
EVA THE ADVENTURESS – This was the second of the novels that Nellie Bly (Elizabeth J. Cochrane) wrote between 1889 and 1895. They were considered lost until being rediscovered in 2021. 
These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
ROLAND BATTLES MOROCCAN CORSAIRS – The Paladins recently freed by Astolpho from the prison of the sorcerer Atlantes all hastened to rejoin Emperor Charlemagne’s army. The war against the Muslim invaders from colonized Spain and North Africa was still raging. 
FLASH VS HIS ROGUES GALLERY – I looked at the 1960s to 1980s stories in which Flash did battle with many of his foes assembled during their Semi-Annual Convention of Flash Villains and its related mayhem. 
BLACK LIGHTNING – Beginning in the 1970s, High School teacher Jefferson Pierce became the costumed superhero called Black Lightning. He used his new powers to fight crime and other dark forces in Metropolis’ Suicide Slums.
These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
A MEXICAN MYSTERY (1888) – Written by W. Grove. (No other name available) This is the first of two novels by Grove. This one features a sentient and evil train referred to only as The Engine. 
The furious Emperor disqualifies Pedro’s Engine and awards the prize to another designer. Da Luz rants and raves to such a bloodthirsty degree that his fiancee Inez dumps him, adding to his anger. Meanwhile, the Mexican people begin regarding the Engine with superstitious awe and claim it is possessed by the Devil. 
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