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Edison's Conquest of Mars
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Following in the footsteps of one of the greatest science fiction masterpieces ever written, this long-forgotten sequel to "The War of the Worlds" boasts Thomas Edison as its hero. Originally published in the late 1800s, this is one of the rarest and most important cornerstones of the science fiction genre. Turning the original Wells tale on its head, this novel weaves a d
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Paperback, 264 pages
Published
August 1st 2010
by Collector's Guide Publishing
(first published 1898)
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Liked the story's gung ho spirit.
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Not one of the great books of science fiction history, this is arguably War of the Worlds and Thomas Edison fan fiction. Nevertheless, it introduced such science fictional concepts as space suits, asteroid mining, disintegrator pistols, and alien abduction (yes, Mars does need women!) Serviss presents a very lush and wet version of Mars, where the canals exist primarily to direct the waters where they want them -- an idea which didn't really have any scientific support even at the time. The lang
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To begin with, Serviss can't write worth a hoot. His prose is awful. Second, the idea that Edison would invent anything on his own to thwart a Martian invasion, or any other kind, is PATENTLY ridiculous. (See what I did there?) The man is on record as a thief who stole and cheated others constantly by taking credit for others ideas and work (You might call him a modern-day Steve Jobs). I might buy into this if it had been called 'Tesla's Conquest' since he would have more credibility. Sadly thou
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I picked this one up for two reasons: The novelty that came with learning of a contemporary sequel to The War of the Worlds that I'd never heard of, and the idea of an 1890s story depicting interplanetary warfare with, as the book jacket promised me, "a cornucopia of technical ingenuity."
As a sequel to The War of the Worlds, the book doesn't hold up very well. Not only is it a totally different kind of story, but it ignores virtually all the commentary on humanity that made Wells' book a classic ...more
As a sequel to The War of the Worlds, the book doesn't hold up very well. Not only is it a totally different kind of story, but it ignores virtually all the commentary on humanity that made Wells' book a classic ...more
In 1898 there was no copyright for foreign publishers in the U.S., so this was an unauthorized but legal sequel to War of the Worlds-- fanfiction, essentially, and it reads like it. It is a breathless description of events, without any real characters or dialogue worth mentioning, but fun in an over-the-top steampunk adventure kind of way.
After the events of War of the Worlds, the surviving Martians leave for Mars on a rocket whose launch blast completely destroys New York City. While the world ...more
After the events of War of the Worlds, the surviving Martians leave for Mars on a rocket whose launch blast completely destroys New York City. While the world ...more
Vale a pena ler este livro para ter uma ideia do que foram as edisonades, um sub-género literário inspirado na fama do inventor Edison que o colocava como personagem de mirabolantes aventuras em que as suas invenções eram determinantes para o final feliz. Talvez uma comparação actual possa ser feita com obras que colocam personagens históricos reais em aventuras ficcionais de género fantástico. O termo edisonade foi criado por John Clute e Peter Nicholls precisamente para designar este género de
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This was published a year after The War of the Worlds. It is sort of a sequel.
Thomas Edison, the savior of humanity, quickly invents spaceships an disintegraters and and off go a fleet of about 100 shops. First stop is the moon and then to Mars.
At the moon and at Mars they make discoveries that would delight the hosts of Ancient Aliens.
A little attempted genocide and about half the ships get back to Earth.
We are safe from further Martian attack and also attacks from the people of Ceres.
It's kind ...more
Thomas Edison, the savior of humanity, quickly invents spaceships an disintegraters and and off go a fleet of about 100 shops. First stop is the moon and then to Mars.
At the moon and at Mars they make discoveries that would delight the hosts of Ancient Aliens.
A little attempted genocide and about half the ships get back to Earth.
We are safe from further Martian attack and also attacks from the people of Ceres.
It's kind ...more
This is such a weird book. It's basically self-insert fanfiction but it has some interesting ideas. The Martians are described as evil because they're colonialists but the book is celebratory of American exceptionalism, which is also a colonialist ideology? It's got some funny stuff about phrenology towards the end as well, and a woman who gets married to a soldier THREE DAYS after he gets her back to earth. Wouldn't she want to have at least some time to figure out what sort of person she would
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No tripods.
Never found rather enthusiasm to reach the end. It’s from the 19th century apparently, maybe that’s why the style wasn’t right me.
Considering that this was written in 1898, it was years ahead of its time. I found it very entertaining.
How can I not read this based on the ludicrous title alone?
For this reading I found myself going to the past to read of the future. From 1898: “Edison’s Conquest of Mars” by Garrett P. Serviss is a sequel to H.G. Well’s “The War of the Worlds.”
I stumbled on this book at the local Barnes & Noble as I perused the shelves.
It’s a fascinating read. While the style was not modern, more than once I’d find myself checking the validity of this book on the internet because of what it was foretelling for the time it was written: spacesuits, spaceship battles, ra ...more
I stumbled on this book at the local Barnes & Noble as I perused the shelves.
It’s a fascinating read. While the style was not modern, more than once I’d find myself checking the validity of this book on the internet because of what it was foretelling for the time it was written: spacesuits, spaceship battles, ra ...more
This book has been called a sequel to The War of the Worlds, but it is at best a thematic sequel. The Martians are quite different from Wells’ Martians, and, in fact, Serviss’ story was initially serialized only about six weeks after the conclusion of the serialization of The War of the Worlds. (However, Serviss was a journalist used to working quickly and on deadline, so it is possible that he was able to start writing his book before Wells was finished.)
Edison’s Conquest of Mars is about what ...more
Edison’s Conquest of Mars is about what ...more
This book, while not actually a true sequel to War of the Worlds can still be "envisioned" as one. The martians look nothing like they do in Wells' book, but the descriptions don't really give this away, its the illustrations that do. However, I gave that a hearty "forget" you, and pictured the martians as I felt. (Aren't books great?) As for the actual story line, the "SCIENCE!!!" used in it is rather interesting and really made me think, and many commonly used science fiction ideas are establi
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I finally gave up on this one. As fanfic of War of the Worlds, it is entertaining, but I kept putting it down and abandoning it for months. It is, as mentioned in the Cracked article that turned me onto it, the precursor to many of the common terms we hear in science fiction movies/books/TV/graphic novels today ("Reverse the polarity!", Ray guns, and the like), and features a veritable cast of characters out of the greatest minds of the 19th century (nevermind that Tesla and Edison would have st
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It's difficult to believe that this was written at the end of the 19th century, decades before mankind had any first- or second-hand knowledge of what lay beyond the earth; in fact, in an era when controlled flight of aircraft beyond gliders didn't exist. Serviss describes spacesuits, the effects of weightlessness, the makeup of comets, etc. to an eerie degree of accuracy.
If the afterword is to be believed, this was seminal in other ways as well: among other tropes, this may have been the first ...more
If the afterword is to be believed, this was seminal in other ways as well: among other tropes, this may have been the first ...more
Hmmm one should take the line The sequel to War of the Worlds with a big pinch of salt! The two are as chalk and cheese-Serviss's martians are merely giant humans, repulsive but human nonetheless. Mars itself is watery, not barren-completely different to Wells's approach! Still a decent enough story, if a bit cliched in parts-but then, this was written in 1898! The social aspects are still better than E E Smith's treatment in Triplanetary from 1920-less sexism and chauvinism, and better science
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I discovered this little-known sequel to War of the Worlds from an article on Cracked.com. The prose is formidable, reminiscent of HP Lovecraft's, but without all the tentacles. Have to wonder what Thomas Edison thought about being portrayed as a combination genius inventory and military mastermind.
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Light Victorian fare (though American). Thomas Edison's elevation to savior of the world is rather amusing, especially as he endorsed the novel himself (surprise, surprise). Reads similar to Edgar Rice Burroughs' style, though ERB is the better writer, IMO.
Still, for SF fans, an interesting read as this includes the first fictional mention of spacesuits, asteroid mining, and more, so if you're a fan of the genre, this has some worth. ...more
Still, for SF fans, an interesting read as this includes the first fictional mention of spacesuits, asteroid mining, and more, so if you're a fan of the genre, this has some worth. ...more
This book was pretty good. The story was entertaining, although it kinda had issues towards the end. There were a few things that were brought up but not really explored enough. Also, it's only vaguely a sequel to War of the Worlds, as amongst other things the nature of the Martians is changed. It's a pretty fast read, though, and fairly entertaining.
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A fan-fic sequel to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds and not as good as the original. Following the failure of the Martian invasion in War of the Worlds, American scientist Thomas Edison devises a disintegration ray gun and an electrical spacecraft(Why he didn't use these the first time...?) to be used in a united world invasion of Mars in order to prevent further attacks.
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I'm not sure if I'll ever finish this book. But it is an interesting glimpse into early 20th century spec fiction, and fans of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne will see much they recognize here.
If you're looking for a slice of life, peek back through time, this is definitely it. But it's definitely no Under the Moons of Mars, or Star Wars. ...more
If you're looking for a slice of life, peek back through time, this is definitely it. But it's definitely no Under the Moons of Mars, or Star Wars. ...more
Oh deary me. A treasure trove full of science fiction firsts, but also a piece of militaristic propaganda for nastyman Edison. From the description of the electric drive of the ships to the mechanism of the final battle, most of the book is hard to take seriously with the Aryan couple at the end maybe taking the wedding cake.
Listened to podcast from http://librivox.org. So that's what happened after the Martians attacked the earth in "War of the Worlds". Interesting view of Mars in 1898. Thank you Mr. Edison. (Must read "War of the Worlds" and other narrations of the Martian attacks on earth.)
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Here's a real oddity: a knock-off of H.G. Wells' WAR OF THE WORLDS, published in America in 1898, featuring Thomas Edison as the main character (with his permission, no less). Some basic sf tropes and themes are introduced in the book, but it really hasn't aged well.
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Oct 08, 2012
Michael
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read_2012,
ketchup-scifi
Sometimes bad in a good way, but mostly bad.
...so an attempt was made at a sequel to "War of the Worlds" I wonder how the protagonist, Edison, fears, I must read it sometime "War of the Worlds" is one of my favs...
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How very... Verne. And old. But not without its charm, in a quaint, Wyndham-like way. Vastly dated now, nonetheless an intriguing look into prevailing attitudes of the day.
Edison's Conquest of Mars by Garrett P. Serviss (2007)
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Garrett Putman Serviss was an American astronomer, popularizer of astronomy, and early science fiction writer. He majored in science at Cornell and in 1876 joined the staff of the The New York Sun newspaper, working as a journalist until 1892. Serviss showed a talent for explaining scientific details in a way that made them clear to the ordinary reader, leading Andrew Carnegie to invite him to del
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