I found a batch of Galaxy Science Fiction Novels (digest format) this Summer while I was organizing a donation for SUNY at Buffalo. Two of the novels were S. Fowler Wright’s The Amphibians (1924) and its sequel The World Below (1929), both examples of vintage story-telling. S. Fowler Wright’s two works will remind you of H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine. In both of these adventures, a 20th Century man (named George!) is sent 300,000 years into the future. He searches for two other missing time travelers. Wright creates an intriguing future with weird flora and fauna. It quickly becomes apparent that S. Fowler Wright was not a big fan of technology. The future world finds humans divided into amphibians and giant Dwellers who rule the largest landmass. One of the amphibians agrees to help George on his quest. Much of The Amphibians and The World Below consists of long philosophical sociological arguments between George and the amphibian. A third book was planned to complete the trilogy, but Wright never got around to writing it.
Wow, that takes me back a bit (at least 30 year – and in fact more) as I think i read one of these in Italian when I was a teen – love the hardback cover – if my copy had been half as nice I;d probably still have it!
Sergio, I’ve only seen THE AMPHIBIANS and THE WORLD BELOW in the Galaxy Science Fiction Novels format. They never made it to real U. S. mass market publishers like ACE or BALLANTINE or Lancer.
As Bill Crider would say, George and the Amphibians would be a good name for a rock band.
I picked up a number of Wright’s mysteries in Cherry Tree paperbacks in England but never saw these. which frankly sound more interesting than most of the mysteries. Some of the latter were published as by Sydney Fowler, by the way.
I’ve heard of S. Fowler Wright’s mysteries, but never saw one. These science fiction novels have some tedious sections as the human and the amphibian debate philosophical issues.
New to me, but honestly sounds pretty boring. Somehow “vintage storytelling” sounds like something I’d have to labor through.
You’re right on the money, Rick. These “classics” took some persistence to finish.
Wow. Is there a better name for a hero than George? I think not.
BTW, All of Wright’s works are available online at http://www.sfw.org/
Jerry, thanks for the heads-up on the S. Fowler Wright link! I’ve heard about his mysteries, but I’ve never actually seen one. I’ll have to check it out.
Ha! Wright is one of those whose work I’d (of course) heard of, but haven’t come across on my own…I wasn’t previously aware that THE WORLD BELOW was a sequel…thanks for the review, and the warning! That Other pair of amphibian sf/fantasy classics, Capek’s WAR WITH THE NEWTS and THE ABSOLUTE AT LARGE, are, in counterpoint, utterly delightful to read still if even remotely well-translated…
Love that jacket. Art deco tight down to the font.
Todd, you’re right about WAR WITH THE NEWTS and THE ABSOLUTE AT LARGE. THE AMPHIBIANS and THE WORLD BELOW are on the other end of the spectrum.
Kelly, the GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS covers had a unique design, very different from the covers on the other digest magazines of that time.
Kelly’s right. Those are super nifty covers.
And, of course, the last of this series of Galaxy Novels, the ones kinda sorta co-published by softcore line Beacon (as I’ve commented here recently, unrelated to the later lefty press Beacon), had rather more pedestrian, if cheesy, covers…
You’re right, Todd. The last books in the GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL series had a soft-core feel to them. I donated those to SUNY at Buffalo back in 1995.