935. GAMBLES WITH DESTINY. F. V. White; London, 1899. Short stories.
* In his preface the author states that the stories have a common theme, the virile principle in battle with destiny.
* Including [a] Hellville, U. S. A. (Pearson's Weekly, 8 August 1898) Stanley Raeburn, Jr., son of the robber baron Senator Raeburn, has a social conscience and is opposed to the new American imperialism. When he becomes president on a neo—Populist platform, he institutes reforms, cleaning up Congressional corruption and confiscating the fortunes of the over-rich. The result is a rebellion in Chicago, fomented by a league of capitalists, anarchists, and criminals. Raeburn now institutes a sealed-off penal colony, into which the worst criminals are turned, letting them find their own fates. Officially it is Halleyville, Arizona, but popularly it is known as Hellville.
* Raeburn's wife, a foolish religionist, insists on setting up a mission in Hellville. She enters the colony, and despite Raeburn's threats, is apparently killed, for she never emerges. Just as Raeburn is about to shell the area, an enormous meteor flashes down, destroying Hellville.
[b] The Great Crellin Comet. (Pearson's Weekly, Christmas Number 1897) Emerson G. Crellin, American multimillionaire who pursues astronomy as a hobby, sets up the best observatory in the world in the Alleghenies. Chief astronomer is Lennox, a young Englishman who is in love with Crellin's daughter. When the great telescope is first put to use, Lennox discovers that a comet will collide with the earth in about thirteen months, with disastrous results. Lennox, who has read Jules Verne's works, proposes to build a giant gun and shoot an explosive projectile into the head of the comet, destroying it. The comet approaches, a double-format ion with wing-like appendages. It is destroyed by the shot from the earth.
* As a side feature: This story may mark the first count-down (ten to one) in an astronautic context.
[c] A Genius for a Year. ([British] Pearson's Magazine, June 1896, as by Levin Carnac) The wonders of hashish in borderline science-fiction. John Sturman, unsuccessful author, undertakes the cure of his brother who has returned from India as a hashish addict. On learning that hashish will alter creativity, however, John himself tries it. The drug improves his work, but the effect lasts only a year, at which time he dies. As a side effect Sturman occasionally had the sensation of being out of his body.
[d] A Corner in Lightning. ([British] Pearson's Magazinej March 1898) Greed and the damage it does. Sidney Calvert, wealthy entrepreneur, plans to become the richest man in the world. His associate or employee Markovitch, having discovered that electricity is a combination of terrestrial and celestial magnetism, has drawn up plans for an installation (at the north magnetic pole) that will capture and store the magnetism of the earth. Calvert will then be able to sell the world's electricity at his own price. But there are opposed points of view. Professor Kenyon, Calvert's scientific consultant , warns that the plan may have unforeseen results, and urges that it be discontinued if certain warning signs appear. And Calvert's wife considers the whole enterprise shady. Calvert goes ahead, and suddenly the northern hemisphere discovers that it has no more telephone or telegraphic service, that electric apparatus do not work, and that much of civilization has been hampered or destroyed. There are also physiological results: People feel great lassitude, many dying. Calvert is unconcerned until he learns that his newborn daughter died of the electric disorder, and perhaps his wife, too, for there are no ways of communication. Markovitch was supposed to withhold electricity only for a few days, time enough for Calvert to make his demands, but something has gone wrong. The plant explodes, and the captive electricity is released. Calvert is a little repentant.
* Despite some crudities, Griffith's best story. The other stories in the book are negligible.
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