Edison's Conquest of Mars

Edison's Conquest of Mars
Dust-jacket from the first book publication
Author(s)	Garrett P. Serviss
Illustrator	Bernard Manley, Jr.
Cover artist	Russell Swanson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Carcosa House
Publication date	1947 (book edition) Magazine serial 1898
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	xxiii, 186 pp
ISBN	NA
OCLC Number	2494245
Preceded by	The War of the Worlds

Edison's Conquest of Mars, by Garrett P. Serviss, is one of the many science fiction novels published in the 19th century. Although science fiction was not at the time thought of as a distinct literary genre, it was a very popular literary form, with almost every fiction magazine regularly publishing science fiction stories and novels. "Edison's Conquest of Mars" was published in 1898 intended to be a sequel to "Fighters from Mars", an un-authorized and heavily altered version of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, but did not achieve the fame of its predecessor. Serviss wrote himself into the story as a professor that Edison consults.

The book was endorsed by Thomas Edison, the hero of the book, though not by Wells. The themes and messages of Serviss's book are diametrically opposed to Wells's original. In it, Edison travels to Mars, his inventions (including the disintegrator ray) allow an Earth spacefleet to destroy the Martians' ability to make war after several exciting battles. There are ship-to-ship battles, and battles between Earth ships and Martian ground forts. This was perhaps the first space opera, although the term did not yet exist; it was perhaps the most literal of the Edisonades.

In the story, communication between spacemen in space needs a wire to be passed between them; spaceships communicate by flags or lights. Although the story was published in 1898 during the early real experiments in radio, it contains no concept of radio.

Besides Edison and Serviss, Edward Emerson Barnard, Lord Kelvin, Wilhelm Röntgen, and Silvanus P. Thompson are all depicted as being involved in building the invasion fleet and its technology. A number of heads of state also appear, including William McKinley and Queen Victoria. Wilhelm II and Mutsuhito are depicted as being treacherous schemers attempting to put their own power ahead of the good of the human race, while the Guangxu Emperor of China is depicted as a child-like stereotype.

The book contains some notable "firsts" in science fiction: alien abductions, spacesuits (called "air-tight suits": see Spacesuits in fiction#Edison's Conquest of Mars), aliens building the Pyramids, space battles, oxygen pills and disintegrator rays.

Plot

After the first invasion, Earth is devastated. Many cities have been destroyed. New York is destroyed as the last Martians lift off Earth. Most Martians died from bacterial illness, but some few survived and left. The now devastated but free Earth begins to rise from the ashes and rejoice as the humans find themselves free again.

The joy quickly disappears as observations of Mars show new dust clouds shooting out of the planet. All disputes are put aside and all nations decide to work together against this common enemy.

Thomas Edison manages to create anti-gravity cars and a disruptor weapon that blasts away molecular structures.

After a test trip to the Moon, the now-united world launches an expedition to Mars to stop the Martians, and maybe even conquer them. Several hundred more ships are made, with a complement of 2000 of Earth's best men. Together, they set off to Mars.

Their first encounter with the Martians is on an asteroid on which the Martians have landed. After a rather quick but costly battle, the Earthmen win. Though the humans first thought the Martians had crashed landed on the asteroid, they soon discover the Martians have come there to mine the asteroid, which is made out of gold. More Martians arrive on the asteroid and after a new battle, the Earthlings manage to capture one of the Martians. The Martian teaches them their language and is rather amused by the Earthmen.

Edison wonders why the Martians have not invented anti-gravity or disruptor weapons, since they clearly have superior minds.

The Earthmen arrive on Mars with a 1000 men, half of what they started with. The Martians soon discover them and cloud the planet with a black fog. Edison and his men manage to land on Hellas Planitia.

Looking for supplies, they rescue a human girl named Aina. She tells the men that her ancestors were brought to Mars as slaves over 9000 years ago, after the Martians had conquered the ancient world. She also tells them that the Martians built the Pyramids and the Sphinx. When the Martians saw Edison coming, the emperor had given the order to execute all human slaves, only Aina survived.

Aina becomes the key to the Martians' downfall as she advises Edison not to attack the Martians openly, but rather open one of the great dams of Mars. Since most of Mars' cities are under sea level, the flood spreads rapidly. The men could not help but think of the similarity to the story of Noah as they see the Martians climbing the hills. About 90% of the populations is killed. The Earthmen state they did not come for revenge, but were forced to strike out of fear that the Martians would attack them again. Edison meets with the emperor and demands his surrender. Though initially resistant, he gives in, and swears not to attack Earth in the future.

They leave the Martians for their devastated world, and come home to an Earth that celebrates their return.

Aliens

Martian Prisoner, teaching the Earthmen their language. 1898 illustration by GY Kauffman.

There are three type of aliens in the book.

The Martians in this version are not like the squid-like Martians described in H.G. Wells's story. These Martians are more humanoid with arms, legs and an enormous head with projector-like eyes and bad looking faces. When they rise, they are 15 feet high (4.572 meters). However this is only the male, for the species exhibits sexual dimorphism. To Earthlings, they appear unpleasant. The Martian women, however, are graceful and beautiful. This can be considered a reflection of the treatment of the sexes at the time-men do all the hard work, and women just look graceful.

The residents of Ceres are at war with the Martians. However, they are only mentioned, except for a female slave who is 40 feet tall. The 'Cerenites' are this height due to the reduced gravity of their world.

When Edison's men land on the Moon, they discover that the Moon was, at one point, capable of supporting life. Only a giant footprint is seen, leaving the reader (and the characters) wondering what was once there.

The book

Nicholas II, Wilhelm II, Queen Victoria and other historical figures. 1898 illustration by GY Kauffman.

Written in first person from the viewpoint of an unspecified character. The book is slow by modern standards, with little action, more focus on details. The book talks very much about the unique happenings as the entire world becomes united against the common foe.

It's rich with technical details, at the same time trying to keep it understandable. There are also a fair share of action. The book was richly illustrated compared to many books of the time. The book was written in as a series of episodes, each one a newspaper article, often leaving the characters on a cliffhanger, trying to get the reader back for each new chapter.

Without debate or explanation the story places America as the natural leader for this operation. The monarchs and public figures of the time are described, though presidents are simply added as "president of...". Kaiser Wilhelm II is mentioned several times and is used as comic relief in the book. Queen Victoria is described as a sensible leader. The other monarchs are simply mentioned.

The Martians are described as very smart; however, they are not much more than arrogant cynical humans. In H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds the Martians are distinctly non-human, and their invasion is due to survival; the humans are no more than animals to them. However the Martians in this book are more humanlike, just thinking a bit faster.

Publication history

1898 illustration by GY Kauffman

• 1898, USA, New York Journal, Pub. date 12 January – 10 February 1898, serialized in 30 parts
• 1947, USA, Carcosa House OCLC 2494245, Pub. date 1947, Hardback, first book publication
• 1954, USA, Hanover House OCLC 2581070, Pub. date 1954, Hardback, abridged version included in The Treasury of Science Fiction Classics, edited by Harold W. Kuebler
• 1969, USA, Powell Publications OCLC 1184448, Pub. date 1969, Paperback, slightly abridged by Forrest J. Ackerman as Invasion of Mars
• 1972, USA, Ace Books, Pub. date 1972 – 1973, Paperback, heavily abridged version serialized in Perry Rhodan, nos. 16 – 22 as The Conquest of Mars
• 2006, Canada, Apogee Books ISBN 0-9738203-0-6, Pub. date August 2006, Paperback, unedited unabridged version with the original newspaper illustrations

See also

• Thomas Edison in popular culture

References

• Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd.. p. 138. 
• Tuck, Donald H. (1978). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 384. ISBN 0-911682-22-8. 

External links

• Edison's Conquest of Mars at Project Gutenberg
• Review of book at War of the Worlds Invasion
• Edison Conquers Mars
• Audiobook at LibreVox