French Tales of the Red Planet (Volume 1)

<p>The French have always had a strong affinity for interplanetary fiction since Cyrano de Bergerac released his <em>History of the States and Empires of the Moon</em> in 1657. But none of the celewstial bodies have attracted more attention than the planet Mars.</p><p>We have gathered in this thematic collection five remarkable stories plus a full-length novel from 1908 by H. Gayar devoted to the exploration of Mars and its inhabitants. These range fromas early as 1766 when Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert used a genie to take her heroes to Mars; to 1802 when Nicolas-Edmé Restif de la Bretonne's superpowered hero Multipliandre stopped on the Red Planet during is exploration of the cosmos; and to 1889 when Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny's ambitious Franco-Russian space travelers used a fragment of Mercury torn away by a comet to reach our Fourth Planet.</p><p>These stories are all unique and highly original and provide exemplars of the rich tradition of fantastic voyages in the broad spectrum of French fantastic literature.</p><p></p><p>TABLE OF CONTENTS </p><p>Introduction by J.-M. & Randy Lofficier</p><p>Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert: The Voyages of Lord Seaton to the Seven Planets (1766) (excerpt)</p><p>Nicolas-Edmé Restif de la Bretonne: Posthumous Correspondence (1802) (excerpt)</p><p>X.B. Saintine: Astronomical Journeys (1864)</p><p>Guy de Maupassant: Martian Mankind (1887)</p><p>Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny: The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (1889) (excerpt)</p><p>H. Gayar: The Marvelous Adventures of Serge Myrandhal on Mars (1906)</p><p> </p>