First of all I will say that I skipped the five chapters that were excerpts from
novels as I had read two of the novels already and the others I prefer not to read
out of context though I hope to someday read the novels they belong to. I also
think an important disclaimer for this collection of "Victorian Science Fiction"
is that many of the stories are only in the ballpark of the Victorian era. Some,
like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, were still very popular readings during the
Victorian era all though Frankenstein came out nearly twenty years before Queen
Victoria's reign. I do think Frankenstein was a great inclusion to demonstrate the
effect the work had on later science fiction. The final four stories were published
after the Victorian era, the final entry comes 12 years after Queen Victoria's
death. Though once again I think they're fantastic inclusions and the fact that
these stories are collected in chronological order of publishing makes for a
fantastic journey through Victorian science fiction. This really is a stellar
anthology and a huge recommendation to anyone who loves Horror or Science Fiction
of any kind, especially classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde etc.
Here are my individual reviews of the stories:
-Man-Bats on the Moon: This story was the least interesting of them all and not
very exciting. Reading from the modern day without a great knowledge of the culture
of the era it's hard to understand what the author was going for. It seems to be
written as a scientific journal and thus is, I suppose, purposefully dull. The
narrator lists out their discoveries in a very scientific and tedious manner. I'm
not sure if it's an honest attempt at sounding true or supposed to satirize the
scientific writing of the time but I found myself giggling at the laborious over
indulgent writing style. Take a deep breath and try to digest the words written
almost to impress the reader so as to convince us that they should be believed. I
even felt like this was an early example of trolling, my biggest piece of evidence
for this was a particularly funny section. After the narrator painstakingly
explains each and every discovery they made in god awful tacky detail he then
explains that they shared these findings in a written statement. This statement
makes up the rest of the story and the first half of this statement is a
reiteration of every detail of their findings which they had already listed (of
course because these findings had been told to the reader of the story and not the
intended reader of the statement itself). I found this endlessly funny and I really
do think the only explanation is either that the author was trolling the readers or
just wrote a really horrible story unintentionally. The payoff for this story is
exactly what you would think, there are man-bats and they are on the moon, meh.
After reading this story I was not too excited for the rest of the book but this
was luckily the weak point.
-The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar: This story by Edgar Allen Poe is by no
surprise well written. There really aren't characters in the sense that you learn
anything about their life or personality. It's a for the most part dry account of
a creepy happening and is effectively creepy at it. It's pretty good but won't
leave a lasting impression on me.
-The Telescopic Eye: This story feels like a do-over of the Man Bats on the Moon.
It is greatly improved because of the high concept of having an eye with an
extremely distant focal point. The writing style is also less self-indulgent and
scientific. The result of the story however is no more interesting and there are
disappointingly no man-bats on the moon of this story. Don't worry I swear this
book gets better.
-The Automaton Ear: If this author was not inspired by Frankenstein I would be
greatly surprised. The obsessive mad scientist protagonist of this story takes the
concept of sound never really disappearing over time but simply becoming inaudible
to the human ear and he creates a hearing piece that can harness these sounds from
the past. The thought experiment here is explored really well and the story that
surrounds it is also very thrilling. This story was fantastic!
-The Monarch of Dreams: This story uses the Frankenstein type of mad scientist
character to explore the world of dreams. We end up with a ton of amazing surreal
scenes that are described expertly. I found myself as wrapped up in the man's work
as he and anticipating his next dream in step with him. I will be thinking about
this story for a long time.
-The Senator's Daughter: This is the first of two stories in the collection by
Edward Page Mitchell. This story is really unique. The actual story, characters,
and interactions are essentially just a vessel to present the setting which is a
futuristic (at the time) 1937 U.S.A. The amazing ease with which the author
incorporates unheard of inventions and political relationships and platforms is
amazing. With hardly any exposition the author invites us into a totally foreign
future, especially to readers of the time. I loved this story not mainly for the
story or the setting but for the execution.
-The Clock That Went Backwards: Mitchell's second story in the collection. This
story goes into the past rather than the future and yet the past in this isn't how
it seems. At the time it was published these concepts must have been revelations to
readers, today not so much but it is still a very fun well written story.
-A Wife Manufactured to Order: A sizzling criticism of what men want in a woman and
an assurance that they don't really know what they want. This is a super fun
science fiction story with a sharp edge.
-Mysterious Disappearances: Maybe even a more descriptive title than Man-Bats on
the Moon, this story consists of three accounts of mysterious disappearances
wherein someone seemed to, by all evidence, have vanished into thin air never to
be seen again. After the accounts a silly little "scientific" explanation of how
this type of thing may actually be possible. The accounts are fun and the story is
short so it's a nice little story.
-The Monster of Lake LaMetrie: This story felt almost like a pulp monster story
from the cold war era, think creature from the black lagoon. The only thing that
made it feel Victorian was the brain transplanting. This story was very bad. It
was boring, the monster was stupid looking and I can't imagine a time when the
idea of transferring a guys brain into a monster would have been enough payoff
for such a dull story.
-The Thames Valley Catastrophe: This story is so unlike any of the others. It's a
disaster story of massive scale. This is a certified thriller. The plight of the
protagonist throughout the story is exhilarating. The scene is amazing. Read this
cool story.
-Wireless: This one is fantastic. It's supernatural, surreal, and atmospheric. The
scenes are so well described by Kipling and the developments leave you on the edge
of your seat. It's super eerie and neat.
-The Hall Bedroom: This is like the '1408' of 1905. This story is creepy and fun.
It's supernatural but in a very mild way. The only fault I could give this story
is the intro and the outro. This story like so many of the era insists on being a
diary account and another character has to consciously introduce the diary of the
protagonist and yet doesn't seem to have read it. Also who is this supposed to be
submitted to? I suppose whatever magazine it was first published in. Apart from
that silliness which is part of most of these stories it's cool.
-The Five Senses: This one is Like 'Dr. Jekyll' meets the 'Automaton Ear'. It's
cool. But not as cool as 'Dr. Jekyll' or 'Automaton Ear'.
-The Horror of Heights- Holy crap is this story exhilarating. The intensity with
which the narrator describes his acts keeps you sweating and clenching the pages
of the book. The story is fun enough but the writing is the work of a true master.
I look forward to reading more from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
