29 The term matamore [literally, Moor-slayer, although the intentional analogy with “matador” introduces an ironic note of showmanship] was popularized with reference to a character-type in Spanish historical plays—a person always boating about his supposed heroic exploits against the Moors—and was subsequently used in France to refer to unconvincing self-proclaimed “war heroes” in general.
30 The fact that Varlet not only invokes these individuals as peripheral characters but attributes definite opinions to them is suggestive of actual acquaintance. Gustave Le Bon, a physicist turned social psychologist, hosted a weekly dinner-party for many years, of a kind that partly replaced the broader salons of the 19th century, to which—following a precedent set long before by Camille Flammarion—he was careful to invite intellectuals of every stripe, poets as well as scientists. If Varlet was an occasional guest, he would almost certainly have met Henri Bergson there, and very probably the physiologist Charles Richet (who signed his literary work Charles Epheyre) and the physicist Jean Perrin, and perhaps Madame Curie too. Varlet was certainly very familiar with Le Bon’s ideas—the latter’s pioneering work on atomic physics is cited later in the text, and the influence of his equally pioneering work on “crowd psychology” is very evident in Varlet’s account of the evolving Parisian reaction to the Great Shutdown.
31 Although I have not been able to trace it, this article was probably real. Numerous Verdiers served in the French army in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, several of whom rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; there was definitely at least one active in 1930.
FRENCH SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION
Henri Allorge. The Great Cataclysm
G.-J. Arnaud. The Ice Company
Richard Bessière. The Gardens of the Apocalypse
Albert Bleunard. Ever Smaller
Félix Bodin. The Novel of the Future
Alphonse Brown. City of Glass
Félicien Champsaur. The Human Arrow
Didier de Chousy. Ignis
C. I. Defontenay. Star (Psi Cassiopeia)
Charles Derennes. The People of the Pole
Alfred Driou. The Adventures of a Parisian Aeronaut
Henri Duvernois. The Man Who Found Himself
Achille Eyraud. Voyage to Venus
Henri Falk. The Age of Lead
Charles de Fieux. Lamékis
Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega
Edmond Haraucourt. Illusions of Immortality
Nathalie Henneberg. The Green Gods
Michel Jeury. Chronolysis
Octave Joncquel & Théo Varlet. The Martian Epic
Gustave Kahn. The Tale of Gold and Silence
Gérard Klein. The Mote in Time’s Eye
André Laurie. Spiridon
Gabriel de Lautrec. The Vengeance of the Oval Portrait
Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny. The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (2 vols.)
Jules Lermina. Mysteryville; Panic in Paris; The Secret of Zippelius
José Moselli. Illa’s End
John-Antoine Nau. Enemy Force
Henri de Parville. An Inhabitant of the Planet Mars
Gaston de Pawlowski. Journey to the Land of the Fourth Dimension
Georges Pellerin. The World in 2000 Years
Henri de Régnier. A Surfeit of Mirrors
Maurice Renard. The Blue Peril; Doctor Lerne; The Doctored Man; A Man Among the Microbes; The Master of Light
Jean Richepin. The Wing
Albert Robida. The Clock of the Centuries; Chalet in the Sky
J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Helgvor of the Blue River; The Givreuse Enigma; The Mysterious Force; The Navigators of Space; Vamireh; The World of the Variants; The Young Vampire
Marcel Rouff. Journey to the Inverted World
Han Ryner. The Superhumans
Brian Stableford (anthologist) The Germans on Venus; News from the Moon; The Supreme Progress; The World Above the World; Nemoville
Kurt Steiner. Ortog
Eugène Thébault. Radio-Terror
C.-F. Tiphaigne de La Roche. Amilec
Théo Varlet. The Xenobiotic Invasion
Paul Vibert. The Mysterious Fluid
English adaptation and introduction Copyright 2011 by Brian Stableford.
Cover illustration Copyright 2011 by Grillon.
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ISBN 978-1-61227-054-8. First Printing. November 2011. Published by Black Coat Press, an imprint of Hollywood Comics.com, LLC, P.O. Box 17270, Encino, CA 91416. All rights reserved. Except for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The stories and characters depicted in this novel are entirely fictional. Printed in the United States of America.