From Amazon
Mary Shelley was the founding mother of science fiction. Was French astronomer Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) the founding father? Over 40 years before John W. Campbell took the helm of Astounding SF, Flammarion was extrapolating fiction from the most advanced science of his day (flavoring it occasionally with transcendental fantasy, a practice not unknown to modern hard SF). He wrote several works of science fantasy, most notably an apocalyptic, visionary novel, Omega: The Last Days of the World (1893), that clearly influenced SF pioneers Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Four decades before Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men was published, Omega unfolded a future history that traversed millions of years to the end of the earth and beyond. But Omega received only two English-language printings.
Now Flammarion's seminal novel has been rescued from oblivion, and it deserves a place in the library of every serious student of SF. But whether modern SF fans will enjoy reading Omega is another matter. Flammarion writes in a leisurely, expository 19th-century style, and he is no Charles Dickens. His opening chapter threatens a comet strike that isn't delivered for more than half the book! However, the pace does pick up considerably in chapter 6 (to which bored readers should immediately turn), and the remainder of his future history is interesting and inventive. --Cynthia Ward
Review
"Students of early science fiction will welcome the University of Nebraska Press''s series Bison Frontiers of Imagination."—Times Literary Supplement
(Times Literary Supplement )
Book Description
Omega, written by astronomer Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), is no less than an epic history of our future—a startling and unforgettable vision of the end of the world. Reasoned scientific speculation combined with probing philosophical inquiry lend credibility and magnitude to this tale of how humankind will physically and culturally evolve over the next several million years.
The end begins in the twenty-fifth century, when a comet threatens to collide with the earth. The consequences of that frightening cosmic event are far-reaching, setting in motion a series of physical, psychic, and social changes that will profoundly affect the planet and its people far into the future. The earth’s surface drastically transforms over time. Cultures radically alter, collapse, and fade away. Nations rise and fall, species become extinct, and human beings find themselves at the end of the world, alone and changed in fundamental ways. This melancholic, poetic science fiction tale of things to come is as compelling and disturbing today as when it was first written.
About the Author
Camille Flammarion was a well-known French astronomer and writer who popularized science in the late nineteenth century. Robert Silverberg, an acclaimed science fiction writer, is the recipient of many awards, including multiple Hugo and Nebula awards.
