The Xenobiotic Invasion

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by Theo Varlet


  29 The term matamore [literally, Moor-slayer, although the intentional analogy with “matador” introduces an ironic note of showmanship] was popularized with reference to a character-type in Spanish historical plays—a person always boating about his supposed heroic exploits against the Moors—and was subsequently used in France to refer to unconvincing self-proclaimed “war heroes” in general.

  30 The fact that Varlet not only invokes these individuals as peripheral characters but attributes definite opinions to them is suggestive of actual acquaintance. Gustave Le Bon, a physicist turned social psychologist, hosted a weekly dinner-party for many years, of a kind that partly replaced the broader salons of the 19th century, to which—following a precedent set long before by Camille Flammarion—he was careful to invite intellectuals of every stripe, poets as well as scientists. If Varlet was an occasional guest, he would almost certainly have met Henri Bergson there, and very probably the physiologist Charles Richet (who signed his literary work Charles Epheyre) and the physicist Jean Perrin, and perhaps Madame Curie too. Varlet was certainly very familiar with Le Bon’s ideas—the latter’s pioneering work on atomic physics is cited later in the text, and the influence of his equally pioneering work on “crowd psychology” is very evident in Varlet’s account of the evolving Parisian reaction to the Great Shutdown.

  31 Although I have not been able to trace it, this article was probably real. Numerous Verdiers served in the French army in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, several of whom rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; there was definitely at least one active in 1930.

  FRENCH SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION

  Henri Allorge. The Great Cataclysm

  G.-J. Arnaud. The Ice Company

  Richard Bessière. The Gardens of the Apocalypse

  Albert Bleunard. Ever Smaller

  Félix Bodin. The Novel of the Future

  Alphonse Brown. City of Glass

  Félicien Champsaur. The Human Arrow

  Didier de Chousy. Ignis

  C. I. Defontenay. Star (Psi Cassiopeia)

  Charles Derennes. The People of the Pole

  Alfred Driou. The Adventures of a Parisian Aeronaut

  J.-C. Dunyach. The Night Orchid; The Thieves of Silence

  Henri Duvernois. The Man Who Found Himself

  Achille Eyraud. Voyage to Venus

  Henri Falk. The Age of Lead

  Charles de Fieux. Lamékis

  Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega

  Edmond Haraucourt. Illusions of Immortality

  Nathalie Henneberg. The Green Gods

  Michel Jeury. Chronolysis

  Octave Joncquel & Théo Varlet. The Martian Epic

  Gustave Kahn. The Tale of Gold and Silence

  Gérard Klein. The Mote in Time’s Eye

  André Laurie. Spiridon

  Gabriel de Lautrec. The Vengeance of the Oval Portrait

  Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny. The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (2 vols.)

  Gustave Le Rouge. The Vampires of Mars

  Jules Lermina. Mysteryville; Panic in Paris; The Secret of Zippelius

  José Moselli. Illa’s End

  John-Antoine Nau. Enemy Force

  Henri de Parville. An Inhabitant of the Planet Mars

  Gaston de Pawlowski. Journey to the Land of the Fourth Dimension

  Georges Pellerin. The World in 2000 Years

  Henri de Régnier. A Surfeit of Mirrors

  Maurice Renard. The Blue Peril; Doctor Lerne; The Doctored Man; A Man Among the Microbes; The Master of Light

  Jean Richepin. The Wing

  Albert Robida. The Clock of the Centuries; Chalet in the Sky

  J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Helgvor of the Blue River; The Givreuse Enigma; The Mysterious Force; The Navigators of Space; Vamireh; The World of the Variants; The Young Vampire

  Marcel Rouff. Journey to the Inverted World

  Han Ryner. The Superhumans

  Brian Stableford (anthologist) The Germans on Venus; News from the Moon; The Supreme Progress; The World Above the World; Nemoville

  Jacques Spitz. The Eye of Purgatory

  Kurt Steiner. Ortog

  Eugène Thébault. Radio-Terror

  C.-F. Tiphaigne de La Roche. Amilec

  Théo Varlet. The Xenobiotic Invasion

  Paul Vibert. The Mysterious Fluid

  English adaptation and introduction Copyright 2011 by Brian Stableford.

  Cover illustration Copyright 2011 by Grillon.

  Visit our website at www.blackcoatpress.com

  ISBN 978-1-61227-054-8. First Printing. November 2011. Published by Black Coat Press, an imprint of Hollywood Comics.com, LLC, P.O. Box 17270, Encino, CA 91416. All rights reserved. Except for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The stories and characters depicted in this novel are entirely fictional. Printed in the United States of America.

 

 

 


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