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The Human Ant and Other Stories

by Han Ryner
adapted by Brian Stableford

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Han Ryner (1861-1938) was a French anarchist, a philosopher and a startlingly original science fiction writer in pre-Wellsian, French scientific romance; he was once voted the Prince of Storytellers by a popular magazine.

In The Human Ant (1901), a man is miraculously transformed into an ant by a fairy. Trapped into the universe of the ants for a year, he discovers the beauty, intelligence and heroism of this tiny species which, in turn, forces him to reflect upon the sad world of men.

In The Pacifists (1914), a small band of men shipwrecked in the Sargasso Sea encounter a peaceful utopian Atlantean civilization who have domesticated a universal form of energy.

The Human Ant is a relatively mild admonition to humans to broaden their minds and become more sensitively aware of their limitations; The Pacifists is a full-frontal assault on human vanity and so-called civilization.

CONTENTS:
The Human Ant (L'Homme-Fourmi) (1901)
The Prophet's Bride (La Fiancée du Prophète) (1895)
A Transition (Une Transition) (1898)
Sacrifices (1902)
The Son of God (Cinquième Evangile) (1910)
The Promise (La Promesse) (1911)
The Living Corpse (Le Mort-Vivant) (1912)
Apologistes' Dream (Un Songe d'Apologistes) (1923)
The Pacifists (Les Pacifiques) (1914)

Cover by Mandy

Published by Black Coat Press in August 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61227-323-5

The Brian Stableford Website