Tag Archives: book reviews

THE QUEEN OF APPALACHIA (1901): ANCIENT SCI FI

Queen of AppalachiaTHE QUEEN OF APPALACHIA (1901) – Written by Joe H. Borders. This novel features Paul Thornton, a merchant in Kentucky, and his Lost World adventures. While hiking in the wilderness Paul saves a beautiful woman from drowning. The woman is, coincidentally enough, utterly identical to Paul’s girlfriend May Arnold.

The rescued woman says she is Olivet, the Queen of a subterranean land called Appalachia. Several generations earlier, Kentucky pioneers were driven into hiding in a cave to escape hostile Native Americans. The cave was part of an entire network of subterranean tunnels which extend around the world.

A large mass of electricity provides light and heat and “revolves” in time to the Earth’s revolution to approximate day and night in the underground realm called Appalachia by the pioneers. Gold and diamonds are plentiful in Appalachia. Continue reading

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BLACK PANTHER: PANTHER’S RAGE (1973-1975) REVIEW

Black PantherHere’s Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of Don McGregor’s 1973-1975 Black Panther story Panther’s Rage. I’m no comic book expert but in my opinion Panther’s Rage surpasses much of the work done by the overrated and overpraised Alan Moore.

This Marvel Comics figure first appeared in 1966 as a guest star alongside the Fantastic Four and Captain America before joining the Avengers.

Erik Killmonger

“Memes … memes, everywhere.”

Here are chapter by chapter links to my review –

ONE: PANTHER’S RAGE – Prince T’Challa, the Black Panther, returns to his isolated African kingdom of Wakanda to try to put down a violent rebellion led by a Wakandan calling himself Erik Killmonger. CLICK HERE 

TWO: DEATH REGIMENTS BENEATH WAKANDA – The Black Panther battles Venomm, the supervillain in charge of Killmonger’s operation tunneling toward Wakanda City while simultaneously mining and stealing the nation’s vibranium reserves. CLICK HERE 

THREE: MALICE BY CRIMSON MOONLIGHT – Killmonger sends a super-powered woman called Malice to help Venomm escape from the Royal Palace’s prison on the same night that T’Challa is undergoing his renewal of the Panther Herb ritual. CLICK HERE   Continue reading

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BABYLON ELECTRIFIED (1888): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

Babylon ElectrifiedBABYLON 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.

British magnate Sir James Badger wants to reestablish old trade routes leading from Europe eastward through Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. He and his associates plan a railroad but lack of coal in sufficient quantities seems to be a project-killer.

Jack Adams, one of Badger’s colleagues, recommends the new invention of a French electrical engineer and inventor named Cornille. This inventor has designed a method of generating electricity from sunlight aka solar power. He agrees to let his technology be used to construct an electric train for the railroad project. 

Things get underway, with hydroelectric dams built in the mountains of Kurdistan and wind plus tidal power-stations set up in the Persian Gulf. Cornille’s solar tech will be used for the overwhelming majority of the territory to be covered. Continue reading

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LOOKING FORWARD: A DREAM OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1999 (1899) – ANCIENT SCI FI

19th CenturyLOOKING FORWARD: A DREAM OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1999 (1899) – Written by Arthur Bird. This is speculative science fiction looking at world events and scientific advances from 1899 to 1999. Since the U.S. was coming off the 1898 war with Spain that accounts for the way Spain is presented as the major villain on the global scene.

In 1912 Mexico became part of the United States followed by Peru in 1920, Canada in 1930 and by 1935 the U.S. consists of the entire Western Hemisphere. Mexico City – now renamed Washington – has become the new capital of the expanded United States.

America and Great Britain retain their “special relationship” and in this book’s depiction of 1999 the U.K. is ruled by King Alexander II. Britain never lost its old colonies and in fact drove the French, Germans, Belgians and Spanish out of Africa to absorb the entire continent.

France itself was annexed as a German province after losing wars to Germany in 1907 and 1935. Russia conquered China and now rules all of Asia, while Spain – the epitome of evil in this book’s view – has been reduced to a war-torn wasteland following a World War. Continue reading

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ALTERNATE HISTORY: BIETIGHEIM (1886)

BietigheimBIETIGHEIM (1886) – Published anonymously in 1886 this work of alternate history accurately predicted some of the actual results and fallout of the coming First World War (1914-1918). Bietigheim is presented as a series of John Minor lectures about world history as seen from “futuristic” 1932.

First off, a summary of the book’s accurate predictions:

a) Tensions between Germany and assorted other nations cause a war that sweeps up many of the Great Powers as well as several other countries. 

b) American entry into the war proves decisive.

c) The German side loses the war.

d) The old European monarchies fall.

e) In the wake of Germany’s defeat a popular figure arises and rallies millions to him with his plans for the future of Europe and Russia.

Just before the 1890 outbreak of the war Germany and France are pushing their claims to Alsace-Lorraine, Italy is demanding Austria turn over portions of northern Italy, Great Britain and Russia are clashing over preeminence in India and Afghanistan, plus the Slavic nations are feuding with the Ottoman Muslim Turks over their own future and control of the Dardanelles. Continue reading

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FOOL KILLER PART TWENTY-SEVEN: APRIL OF 1920

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE

Fool Killer 1920sPART TWENTY-SEVEN: Here is a look at some of the Fool Killer’s targets from James L Pearson’s April of 1920 issue. As always we find an intriguing mix of attitudes, some of which would please us today or anger us today.

** Democrat Woodrow Wilson’s Attorney General A Mitchell Palmer (as in the Palmer Raids) and his fellow self-appointed censors of supposedly “dangerous” political ideas. Ironically, in 1920 the ideas under assault were Socialist ideas, today it is people espousing Socialism who want OTHER philosophies censored.

           The Fool Killer complained “a little handful of self-appointed bosses around Washington think they must be the sole judges of what a hundred and ten million Americans may read or hear.”

** The New York State Assembly – as usual called “the ASS-embly” – for refusing to seat the five elected members of the Socialist Party. Pearson and his Fool Killer saw this as invalidating the votes of the 60,000-odd New Yorkers who had voted for the candidates. The Assembly refused to seat the elected representatives solely because of the political party they belonged to.

           The Fool Killer pointed out that there were still parts of the South in 1920 where it was considered as disgusting to be a Republican as it was to be a Socialist. The point being “how would the country feel if the state legislatures in the South took it upon themselves to unseat elected Republicans like New York had unseated the Socialists?” Continue reading

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THE STRANGE MANUSCRIPT (1881): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

Strange ManuscriptTHE STRANGE MANUSCRIPT BY _________ M.D. (1881) -Written by Alexander Pitts Bettersworth. The mock author, an M.D. who remains anonymous, upon learning that a comet will strike the Earth in 1883, stores supplies in Mammoth Cave with the help of his black servant Josh. With most of humanity dismissing the threat as a hoax or a mistake, the only other people who join them in the cave are a young woman named Ida and her black servant Chloe.  

The foursome survive the collision with the comet as well as the intense heat which causes some of the rock interior of the cave to melt. When the entrance to the cave indicates that the air temperature has cooled sufficiently the two couples – now romantically involved – venture forth to see what is left of our planet. Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCI-FI: FARMING IN THE YEAR 2000 A.D. (1890)

Overland MonthlyFARMING IN THE YEAR 2000 A.D. (1890) – Written by Edward Berwick. Just when you thought it was safe to read speculative science fiction about life in the future without Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward being referenced, along comes this entry from the Overland Monthly‘s Twentieth Century special.

Where Bellamy focused on city living, this item details an idyllic future specifically from the agricultural angle. All of civilization has become vegetarian, so with no need for grazing land for cattle much more acreage is devoted to raising crops. High-tech machinery cares for and harvests the bounty. Continue reading

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MALDOROR: A NEGLECTED MASTERPIECE OF SURREAL HORROR

“Maldoror and His Smile” by Lord Orlando

Balladeer’s Blog has done a comprehensive examination of The Songs of Maldoror, often referred to as just Maldoror. The original 1868 French language work by the self-designated Count de Lautreamont (real name Isidore Ducasse) was in verse form, which is great for poetry geeks like me but if you prefer prose there are plenty of prose translations available. 

This work of surreal horror was so far ahead of its time that the author himself, in one of the few existing copies of his correspondence, expressed fears that he might be jailed or thrown into an insane asylum and requested that the publisher literally “stop the presses.” Just 88 copies of the book were completed in that initial run and for a few decades The Songs of Maldoror languished in obscurity.  

By the 1890s those few copies of Maldoror had been circulating among the more adventurous literati of the time period and the work began to be hailed as a forgotten masterpiece by Maeterlink, Bloy, Huysmans and de Gourmont. This new acclaim ultimately resulted in a new run of copies – this time in the thousands instead of dozens like the first run. This also accounts for why some reviewers mistakenly refer to The Songs of Maldoror as an 1890s work, despite its original publication date of 1868. Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCI-FI – 3,000 MILES THROUGH THE CLOUDS (1892)

The Boys of New York3,000 MILES THROUGH THE CLOUDS (1892) – Written by Francis W Doughty under a house pseudonym for The Boys of New York magazine, serialized from February 13th to April 2nd.

This story starts out like an imitation of Verne’s Mysterious Island but then becomes its own tale after a while. The action starts in 1864 when Union prisoners in the Confederacy’s infamously hellish Libby Prison make their escape led by Captain Mark Wilbur. Their escape by balloon is aided by a sympathetic Confederate.

A storm blows our main characters – Mark, Noel Dupuy and their African-American friend Sam Sandyman – 3,000 miles to the north, where they finally come down into a crater that leads to a subterranean world. They discover a deserted futuristic city overflowing with jewels and precious metals. Continue reading

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