Two by Murray Leinster
Feb. 27th, 2010 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randy_byersBlack Dog Books published a thin volume in what they call the Signature Series with two science fiction novellas by Murray Leinster that were originally published in Thrill Book magazine in 1919. The two stories are related, featuring recurring characters: Teddy Gerrod, a young scientist; Evelyn Hawkins, his beloved who is also a scientist; and Richard Davis, a military pilot. The second story introduces a love interest for Davis, Nita Morrison, an heiress.
These are both scientific puzzle stories, with lots of scientific exposition. "A Thousand Degrees Below Zero" is about a mad scientist with delusions of grandeur who invents a device that cools things close to absolute zero. He places the devices in harbors and reservoirs in an attempt to blackmail governments into making him world emperor. Our young scientists must figure out how his device works and how it can be destroyed. The evil genius has also invented a type of helicopter, and there are dogfights between it and the hottest new fighter biplane that the US government has developed, with extra added improvements by our genius heros.
The second story, "The Silver Menace", is about a strange phenomenon causing the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent rivers to turn into a fetid silver sludge. It turns out to be a microscopic animacule that rapidly reproduces and can even encroach on land. Once again the scientists must figure out a solution to the problem, which is rapidly engulfing the world. (Strangely, it turns out that the critters are allergic to "Indian Love Call".)
I didn't find these stories all that interesting. On the positive side is the crisp writing and tight ideation. Leinster is also notable for featuring female characters who are smart and who contribute to the problem-solving, even if they are still secondary to the males. He is perhaps like Howard Hawks in the way his women get to be one of the boys, sort of. Compared to Homer Eon Flint in the same era, for example, he handles the formulaic romantic aspects of the stories relatively smoothly. Despite these felicities, however, the stories *are* pretty formulaic and lacking in dramatic interest. Not really my cuppa, and nothing as good as Leinster's "The Runaway Skyscraper" (1919), "The Mad Planet" (1920), or "The Red Dust" (1921), which are all masterworks of early science fiction.
One thing I haven't been able to determine is whether this is the extent of Leinster's pre-Amazing science fiction. He wrote in a lot of other genres for the early pulps, and in looking at his story bibliography (Steven Silver maintains a very good one at the Murray Leinster Home Page), I'm not seeing anything else pre-1926 that screams out that it's science fiction. Anybody else know?
These are both scientific puzzle stories, with lots of scientific exposition. "A Thousand Degrees Below Zero" is about a mad scientist with delusions of grandeur who invents a device that cools things close to absolute zero. He places the devices in harbors and reservoirs in an attempt to blackmail governments into making him world emperor. Our young scientists must figure out how his device works and how it can be destroyed. The evil genius has also invented a type of helicopter, and there are dogfights between it and the hottest new fighter biplane that the US government has developed, with extra added improvements by our genius heros.
The second story, "The Silver Menace", is about a strange phenomenon causing the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent rivers to turn into a fetid silver sludge. It turns out to be a microscopic animacule that rapidly reproduces and can even encroach on land. Once again the scientists must figure out a solution to the problem, which is rapidly engulfing the world. (Strangely, it turns out that the critters are allergic to "Indian Love Call".)
I didn't find these stories all that interesting. On the positive side is the crisp writing and tight ideation. Leinster is also notable for featuring female characters who are smart and who contribute to the problem-solving, even if they are still secondary to the males. He is perhaps like Howard Hawks in the way his women get to be one of the boys, sort of. Compared to Homer Eon Flint in the same era, for example, he handles the formulaic romantic aspects of the stories relatively smoothly. Despite these felicities, however, the stories *are* pretty formulaic and lacking in dramatic interest. Not really my cuppa, and nothing as good as Leinster's "The Runaway Skyscraper" (1919), "The Mad Planet" (1920), or "The Red Dust" (1921), which are all masterworks of early science fiction.
One thing I haven't been able to determine is whether this is the extent of Leinster's pre-Amazing science fiction. He wrote in a lot of other genres for the early pulps, and in looking at his story bibliography (Steven Silver maintains a very good one at the Murray Leinster Home Page), I'm not seeing anything else pre-1926 that screams out that it's science fiction. Anybody else know?
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Date: 2010-02-27 07:03 pm (UTC)They're not the only ones.
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Date: 2010-02-27 09:41 pm (UTC)