51 Again, this reference is slightly anachronistic; Je suis trop grand pour moi by “Jean Sarment” (Jean Mellemère, 1897-1976) had its première at the Comédie Française on 26 March 1924.
52 Marraine de guerre [wartime godmother] was a phrase derived from the fact that many French women “adopted” a soldier during the Great War, to whom they sent letters and food parcels; the practice was officially encouraged in the interests of maintaining morale.
53 The literal meaning of Barbeau is barbel, and that of Tantes is aunts, but in Parisian argot the name of the bar signifies “The Bar of Pimps and Pederasts.”
54 “Liquette” is a slang term for a chemise or nightgown, but “Sans-Liquette” also embodies a contemptuously feminized echo of “Sans-Culottes,” the nickname applied to the Revolutionary rabble of 1789 and their later analogues.
55 The reference is obviously not to the Pétomane, the celebrated performer Joseph Pujol (1857-1945), who had retired from the stage by 1923, but to some humbler “flatulist.”
56 Francesco, or Francis, La Monaca (1882-1937) was mostly working in ceramics in 1923, but might well have been tempted back to his old métier by a suitable commission.
57 Le Satanisme et la magie by the novelist, occultist and social commentator Jules Bois (1868-1943), which had a preface by J.-K. Huysmans (to whom Bois had supplied useful research materials for his novel Là-Bas), was published in 1895 by Léon Chailley. The comment that Bois had disappeared turned out to be a trifle premature, although he had indeed gone to the U.S.A., where he eventually died.
58 Émile Zola lived in Médan; his house—still a tourist attraction—is reached via the road in question.
59 The Saint-Lazare women’s prison was where prostitutes picked up in police sweeps were sent, usually not for long—but they were routinely examined for venereal disease while there and prohibited from working until supposedly clear, thus inconveniencing their pimps. La Rouquine translates as “the Redhead.”
60 The journalist Albert Dubarry, proprietor of a series of radical Parisian newspapers, most famously La Volonté, was a keen gambler and a regular visitor to the casinos of the Riviera, where Champsaur presumably met him. He was a key supporter of the Radical parliamentarians of the era, including Édouard Herriot (1872-1957), Paul Painlevé (1863-1933) and Joseph Caillaux (1863-1944), all of whom served terms as President of the Council.
61 The entrepreneur Charles Humbert (1866-1927) was the proprietor of Le Journal during the Great War but was brought before a military court in 1918 for alleged financial improprieties; although acquitted, his reputation was irreparably damaged.
62 It is not obvious why Mesdames Desambez and Ossola have different surnames, given that the latter is the widow of the former’s son.
63 French pimps can be likened metaphorically to pike as well as mackerel.
64 Léon Daudet (1867-1942), who followed in the footsteps of his father Alphonse in becoming a novelist, had been a committed Republican in his youth, but had deserted that camp for the far right, serving as editor of the virulently anti-socialist Action Française. He was a député in the National Bloc from 1919-24. Like Champsaur, he dabbled in speculative fiction, for which he had an evident predilection.
65 François Mauriac (1885-1970) was just hitting is stride as a novelist in 1924; Champsaur had no way of knowing that he would go on to with the Nobel Prize for Literature, but given what he thought of Anatole France, would probably have considered that one more reason to dislike him.
66 Basil Zaharoff endowed the Prix Balzac.
67 “Georges Maurevert” was the pseudonym of the journalist and novelist Georges Leménager (1869-1964), who moved from Paris to Nice at the beginning of the century and wrote abundantly for the local newspapers, the Petit Niçois and L’Éclaireur de Nice. Champsaur would have known him for a long time.
68 Madame de Thèbes was the pseudonym of the notorious Parisian clairvoyant and chiromancer Anne Victoria Savigny (c1845-1916).
69 The painter Félix Ziem (1821-1911) produced many scenes of Venice, which he visited every year, as well as other sunny landscapes. Champsaur probably knew him when he lived in Montmartre, and might well have modelled Fabio Canti on him.
70 Ovid; the full quotation is os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus: to man the gods gave an upright countenance, in order to survey the heavens and look up at the stars.
71 In the philosophical essay Bruta animalia ratione uti, usually attributed to Plutarch, the transfigured Gryllos lectures Odysseus at length on the superiority of the animal condition to the human.
72 A Provençal dialect term, roughly equivalent to the English “bloody fool.”
73 In the world of a novel, unlike the real one, it is perfectly possible for a full moon to be on the point of setting at the approach of dawn one night, and to be completely absent from the sky in the dead of the following night.
74 Melaleuca quinquenervia, also known as the paperbark tree or broad-leaved tea tree.
75 The historian Louis-Philippe Anquetil (1723-1808).
76 This improvised portmanteau term banâme is roughly translatable as “soul in exile”
FRENCH SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY COLLECTION
105 Adolphe Ahaiza. Cybele
102 Alphonse Allais. The Adventures of Captain Cap
02 Henri Allorge. The Great Cataclysm
14 G.-J. Arnaud. The Ice Company
61 Charles Asselineau. The Double Life
118 Henri Austruy. The Eupantophone
119 Henri Austry. The Petitpaon Era
120 Henri Austry. The Olotelepan
130 Barillet-Lagargousse. The Final War
103 S. Henry Berthoud. Martyrs of Science
23 Richard Bessière. The Gardens of the Apocalypse
121 Richard Bessière. The Masters of Silence
26 Albert Bleunard. Ever Smaller
06 Félix Bodin. The Novel of the Future
92 Louis Boussenard. Monsieur Synthesis
39 Alphonse Brown. City of Glass
89. Alphonse Brown. The Conquest of the Air
98. Emile Calvet. In A Thousand Years
40 Félicien Champsaur. The Human Arrow
81 Félicien Champsaur. Ouha, King of the Apes
91. Félicien Champsaur. The Pharaoh’s Wife
133. Félicien Champsaur. Homo-Deus
03 Didier de Chousy. Ignis
97 Michel Corday. The Eternal Flame
113 André Couvreur. The Necessary Evil
114 André Couvreur. Caresco, Superman
115 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 1)
116 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 2)
117 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 3)
67 Captain Danrit. Undersea Odyssey
17 C. I. Defontenay. Star (Psi Cassiopeia)
05 Charles Derennes. The People of the Pole
68 Georges T. Dodds. The Missing Link and Other Tales of Ape-Men
125 Charles Dodeman. The Silent Bomb
49 Alfred Driou. The Adventures of a Parisian Aeronaut
-- J.-C. Dunyach. The Night Orchid;
-- J.-C. Dunyach. The Thieves of Silence
10 Henri Duvernois. The Man Who Found Himself
08 Achille Eyraud. Voyage to Venus
01 Henri Falk. The Age of Lead
51 Charles de Fieux. Lamékis]
108 Louis Forest. Someone Is Stealing Children In Paris
31 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega
70 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega & The Shadowmen
112 H. Gayar. The Marvelous Adventures of Serge Myrandhal on Mars
88 Judith Gautier. Isoline and the Serpent-Flower
57 Edmond Haraucourt. Illusions of Immortality
134 Edmond Haraucourt. Daah, the First Human
24 Nathalie Henneberg. The Green Gods
131 Eugene Hennebert. The Enchanted City
10
7 Jules Janin. The Magnetized Corpse
29 Michel Jeury. Chronolysis
55 Gustave Kahn. The Tale of Gold and Silence
30 Gérard Klein. The Mote in Time’s Eye
90 Fernand Kolney. Love in 5000 Years
87 Louis-Guillaume de La Follie. The Unpretentious Philosopher
101 Jean de La Hire. The Fiery Wheel
50 André Laurie. Spiridon
52 Gabriel de Lautrec. The Vengeance of the Oval Portrait
82 Alain Le Drimeur. The Future City
27-28 Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny. The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (2 vols.)
07 Jules Lermina. Mysteryville
25 Jules Lermina. Panic in Paris
32 Jules Lermina. The Secret of Zippelius
66 Jules Lermina. To-Ho and the Gold Destroyers
127 Jules Lermina. The Battle of Strasbourg
15 Gustave Le Rouge. The Vampires of Mars
73 Gustave Le Rouge. The Plutocratic Plot
74 Gustave Le Rouge. The Transatlantic Threat
75 Gustave Le Rouge. The Psychic Spies
76 Gustave Le Rouge. The Victims Victorious
109-110-111 Gustave Le Rouge. The Mysterious Doctor Cornelius
96. André Lichtenberger. The Centaurs
99. André Lichtenberger. The Children of the Crab
72 Xavier Mauméjean. The League of Heroes
78 Joseph Méry. The Tower of Destiny
77 Hippolyte Mettais. The Year 5865
128 Hyppolite Mettais. Paris Before the Deluge
83 Louise Michel. The Human Microbes
84 Louise Michel. The New World
93. Tony Moilin. Paris in the Year 2000
11 José Moselli. Illa’s End
38 John-Antoine Nau. Enemy Force
04 Henri de Parville. An Inhabitant of the Planet Mars
21 Gaston de Pawlowski. Journey to the Land of the Fourth Dimension
56 Georges Pellerin. The World in 2000 Years
79 Pierre Pelot. The Child Who Walked On The Sky
85 Ernest Perochon. The Frenetic People
100 Edgar Quinet. Ahasuerus
123 Edgar Quinet. The Enchanter Merlin
60 Henri de Régnier. A Surfeit of Mirrors
33 Maurice Renard. The Blue Peril
34 Maurice Renard. Doctor Lerne
35 Maurice Renard. The Doctored Man
36 Maurice Renard. A Man Among the Microbes
37 Maurice Renard. The Master of Light
41 Jean Richepin. The Wing
12 Albert Robida. The Clock of the Centuries
62 Albert Robida. Chalet in the Sky
69 Albert Robida. The Adventures of Saturnin Farandoul
46 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Givreuse Enigma
45 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Mysterious Force
43 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Navigators of Space
48 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Vamireh
44 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The World of the Variants
47 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Young Vampire
71 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Helgvor of the Blue River
24 Marcel Rouff. Journey to the Inverted World
132 Léonie Rouzade. The World Turned Upside Down
09 Han Ryner. The Superhumans
124 Han Ryner. The Human Ant
122 Pierre de Selenes. An Unknown World
106 Brian Stableford. The Conqueror of Death
20 Brian Stableford. The Germans on Venus
19 Brian Stableford. News from the Moon
63 Brian Stableford. The Supreme Progress
64 Brian Stableford. The World Above the World
65 Brian Stableford. Nemoville
80 Brian Stableford. Investigations of the Future
129 Brian Stableford. Revolt of the Machines
42 Jacques Spitz. The Eye of Purgatory
13 Kurt Steiner. Ortog
18 Eugène Thébault. Radio-Terror
58 C.-F. Tiphaigne de La Roche. Amilec
104 Louis Ulbach. Prince Bonifacio
53 Théo Varlet. The Xenobiotic Invasion (w/Octave Joncquel)
16 Théo Varlet. The Martian Epic; (w/André Blandin)
59 Théo Varlet. Timeslip Troopers
86 Théo Varlet. The Golden Rock
94 Théo Varlet. The Castaways of Eros
54 Paul Vibert. The Mysterious Fluid
Edited by Peter Gabbani
English adaptation and introduction Copyright 2014 by Brian Stableford.
Cover illustration Copyright 2014 Mike Hoffman.
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ISBN 978-1-61227-351-8. First Printing. December 2014. 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.