William Le Queux (1909) Spies of the Kaiser. Plotting the Downfall of England Spies of the Kaiser was published in 1909, and raised spymania to new extremes. Again, Le Queux’s fantasies had their popularity massively boosted by the Daily Mail’s hype machine. And again the story was presented as non-fiction. [Graeme Shimmin, Le Queux: How […]
Walter Wood (1905) Submarined – Pearson’s Magazine, February 1905 A short story of a disabled British battleship taking refuge and defending itself against a submarine attack by a diver blowing up the submarine with a mine. In Walter Wood’s story, “Submarined,” the lieutenant of a damaged battleship turns the tables on an enemy submarine. The […]
George Griffith (1907) The world peril of 1910, London, F. V. White & Co. Ltd. CHAPTER I – A MOMENTOUS EXPERIMENT On the first day of July, 1908, a scene which was destined to become historic took place in the great Lecture Theatre in the Imperial College at Potsdam. It was just a year and […]
The Riddle by Maldwin Drummond (1985) Nautical Books, London This is the definitive study of the background to the writing of The Riddle of the Sands. It includes details of Childers own sailing experiences and also a detailed account of the reception afforded the book in official circles and Childers involvement in this. Since 1904 […]
Albert Robida (1883) La Guerre au Vingtième Siècle A fantastical view of warfare in the 20C from the French illustrator Robida involving aircraft, tanks, chemical and biological weapons. Robida is said to have shown a penchant for satire even in his youth; by 1873, he had founded his own satirical journal, La Caricature. A decade […]
The Earl of Mayo (1894) The War Cruise of the Aries, Illustrated by William Boulton, Dublin, Edward Ponsonby CHAPTER 1. HISTORY OF THE WAR. In 18__ England was at war with France; and before coming to the history of the cruise of the ‘Aries,’ it is proposed to recount, as briefly as possible, the events […]
Oshikawa Shunro (1900) Kaitei gunkan (The Submarine Battleship) (aka. The Undersea Battleship or The Underwater Battleship) Invasion literature had its impact also in Japan, at the time undergoing a fast process of modernization. Shunrō Oshikawa, a pioneer of Japanese science fiction and adventure stories (genres unknown in Japan until a few years earlier), published around […]
George Griffith (1901) The Raid of Le Vengeur, Pearson’s Magazine – February 1901 Chapter I.–THE DREAM OF CAPTAIN FLAUBERT. It was the third morning after the naval manoeuvres at Cherbourg, and since their conclusion Captain Leon Flaubert, of the Marine Experimental Department of the French Navy, had not had three consecutive hours’ sleep. He was […]
Sir Max Pemberton (1901) The Giant’s Gate, the Story of a Great Adventure Sir Max Pemberton (19 June 1863 – 22 February 1950) was a popular British novelist, working mainly in the adventure and mystery genres. He was educated at St Albans School, Merchant Taylors’ School, and Caius College, Cambridge. A clubman, journalist and dandy […]
Griffith, G. (1904) The Stolen Submarine – serialised in 1904 in Dundee Evening Telegraph. [Other sydications to be checked] Published in book form as The Stolen Submarine: A Tale of the Russo-Japanese War by by F. V. White & Co., Ltd. in London. An advanced French super-submarine is stolen and sold to Russia. ” THE […]