The Bald Giants

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THE BALD GIANTS
Thirty-Nine French Scientific Romances
 
Edited & translated by Brian Stableford

Cover by Mike Hoffman 

Stories by Alfred Capus, Louis Champeaux, Gustave Geffroy, Edmond Haraucourt, Albert Keim, Pierre Mille, André Monselet, Maurice Montegut, Joseph Montet, René Morot, Maurice Renard, Gabriel Tarde, Louis Ulbach and Adrien Vély.

 

This anthology collects stories belonging, at least approximately, to the genre of scientific fiction, which were published in various periodicals between 1886 and 1938. Many of them were never reprinted in book form.

The early stories—which are arranged in the chronological order of their publication—were produced in an era of relative optimism with regard to scientific advancement, when the rewards of scientific research were widely seen as a cornucopia; but even where that notion is explicit within the stories, it is generally fitted with a compulsory irony.

Attitudes changed because of the legacy of the Great War, which considerably eroded confidence in the future and provided a graphic illustration of the fact that technological advancement favored the power to destroy as well as the ability to construct.

Some of the notions deployed in those experimental ventures subsequently became clichés, but were not at the time of their publication, and deserve credit for their pioneering spirit, as well as their fast pace and easy readability.

 
CONTENTS: 
Introduction
Doctor Sublimini by Louis Ulbach
The Triumph of Science by Joseph Montet
The Isle of Satyrs by Maurice Montegut
In the Year 2000 by André Monselet
The Bald Giants by Gabriel Tarde
The Bicycle-Man by Alfred Capus
The Immortal Man by Gustave Geffroy
Days of the Future Year by Maurice Montegut
Another Planet by Maurice Montegut
The Two Augurs by Edmond Haraucourt
The Last Men by Edmond Haraucourt
The Point of Honor by Edmond Haraucourt
Memoirs of a Bacillus by Edmond Haraucourt
The Last Pope by Edmond Haraucourt
In Passing: Et Nunc et Semper by Pierre Mille
In Passing: Conte de fées by Pierre Mille
The Sirens by Pierre Mille
The Victory Song by Pierre Mille
The New Race by Albert Keim
Memoirs of an Ephemeron by Edmond Haraucourt
The Ruination of the Anthropogenic Institute by Adrien Vély
The Master of Death by Louis Champeaux
The Last Idyll by Albert Keim
In Passing: Among the Tchouktchis by Pierre Mille
A Futurist Story by Pierre Mille
Drosera Cannibalis by René Morot
Suzannah by Maurice Renard
The Future by Maurice Renard
In Passing: Interview with the Pole Star by Pierre Mille
Gardner and the Invisible by Maurice Renard
An Adventure in the Forest by Maurice Renard
The Dinornis Egg by Maurice Renard
Sirens by Maurice Renard
The Aerolith by Maurice Renard
The Enchanted Mirror by Maurice Renard
The Oysters and the Sleeper by Maurice Renard
The Scientific Adventure of Ambroise Peupiot by Maurice Renard
The Fantastic Eye by Maurice Renard
The Year 2000 by Maurice Renard