The World Above the World and Other French Scientific Romances

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A balloon ascent to the Heavens... A man with X-ray vision... A utopian metal city built on giant pylons above Paris... A sexless world in which women reproduce parthenogenetically and man is unknown... Is science insane? Unholy? See nine French authors of the 19th century grapple in a ground-breaking fashion with the future themes of science fiction.

All the stories included in this volume predate the first translation into French of H.G. Wells. They are representative of a distinct tradition of romans scientifiques whose cardinal influences included astronomer Camille Flammarion and Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. This edition includes a historical introduction and notes by Stableford.

CONTENTS:
S. Henry Berthoud: A Heavenward Voyage [Voyage au ciel] (1840)
S. Henry Berthoud: The Second Sun [Le Second soleil] (1862)
René de Pont-Jest: Mimer's Head [La Tête de Mimer] (1863)
Alphonse Daudet: Wood'stown (1873)
Camille Flammarion: Love Among the Stars [Un Amour des astres] (1896)
Charles Recolin: The X-Ray [Le Rayon X] (1896)
Michel Corday: The Mysterious Dajan-Phinn [Le Mystérieux Dajan-Phinn] (1908)
Jules Perrin & H. Lanos: A World Above the World [Un Monde sur le monde] (1911)
André Mas: Drymea, World of Virgins [Drymea, monde de vierges] (1923)
Introduction and Notes by Brian Stableford

Cover by Mandy

Published by Black Coat Press in May 2011
ISBN: 978-1-61227-002-9

The Brian Stableford Website