ALL SCI-FI

Steve Joyce · Solar Explorer Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 64

There's a fellow named Brian Stableford. (Some may remember him as an author.) The man has churned out an absolutely incredible amount of translated prototype French Science Fiction. Over the last couple of years, I'm devoured maybe 20 or so of them.

Some misc reactions:

Albert Robida (besides being perhaps the true father of Science Fiction art) has got to be one of the most under-appreciated early s.f. authors ever. He generally strikes a very amusing tongue-in-check tone but in a recent novel that I read called The Engineer Von Satanas waxes more serious (it's about a WWII that was predicted by the author mere years after WWI ended).

Maurice Renard, on the other hand, generally handles more serious topics and was often compared to H.G. Wells. He runs the gamut from Incredible Shrinking Men among the Microbes, to alien invaders to a Moreau-like yarn and more. Have yet to read a novel by him that wasn't at the top of the curve.

Both Robida and Renard were well received back in the day.

Have yet to warm up to J.H. Rosny A??n?? (a third author once more well known) quite as much but some of his work strikes my fancy. My opinion might go up with a larger sample.

Stableford tackles even more obscure writers. It's all published by an outfit called Black Coat Press. I hope that they stick around a long time.

Just one fella's rambling...
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"There is a planet in the Solar System where the people are so stupid they didn't catch on for a million years that there was another half to their planet." - Kilgore Trout.

Robert (Butch) Day · Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 2:32 am Post subject:

I've read many books by ALL of the authors mentioned.
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

Steve Joyce · Solar Explorer Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 64

Glad to hear that I am not alone. I'm curious what some of your opinions are. And did you read them in the original French?

On Renard, I've read Hands of Orlac (source of 2 great films with Veidt and Lorre), Doctor Lerne (sort of Moreau like), The Blue Peril, The Master of Light and am presently reading A Man among the Microbes. Wells and Verne have nothing on this guy imho.

Of Robida's work, I've also read Electric Life, The Clock of the Centuries and a couple of others before my Goodreads days (would have to get them off of the book shelf). The Adventures of Saturnin Farandoul got me hooked and A.R. hasn't disappointed me yet.

Rosny: I found Quest of the Dawn Man average average and a mixed bag of stories in The Navigators Of Space. I find him describing things too much or too stylistic or something. But then he comes along with a really fine short story ("Another World " floated my boat for sure). So, I don't know what to make of the guy. He might have the best reputation of the bunch but, for me, the jury is still out.

One thing is certain. I definitely admire Stableford for what he has done.
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"There is a planet in the Solar System where the people are so stupid they didn't catch on for a million years that there was another half to their planet." - Kilgore Trout.

Custer · Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 12:41 pm Post subject:

I've got a copy of the 1964 Ace paperback of Quest of the Dawn Man by J. H. Rosny the elder - which uses the 1924 edition's translation by the Honourable Lady Whitehead, where it was called The Giant Cat. It's only a 160-page novel... but let me quote the back cover:

Steve Joyce · Solar Explorer Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 64

THE PLURALITY OF IMAGINARY WORLDS The Evolution of French Roman Scientifique by Brian Stableford looks like an absolute treasure. Haven't read it yet but cannot wait. (He apparently covers a lot of the books that he translated as well as going into further depth).
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"There is a planet in the Solar System where the people are so stupid they didn't catch on for a million years that there was another half to their planet." - Kilgore Trout.