The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures
edited by Mike Ashley and Eric
Brown
(US edition: Carroll & Graf, $12.95, 498 pages, trade paperback; published
in March 2005. UK: Constable & Robinson, )
 2005
marks the centenary of Jules Verne's death. Verne is best remembered
for his scientifically detailed "voyages extraordinaires" -- such as
Voyage au centre de la Terre and Vingt mille lieues sous les
mers -- which contributed to the birth and development of science
fiction, in particular hard science fiction, a subgenre characterized
by its heavy use of scientific exposition.
To mark the occasion, coeditors Mike Ashley and Eric Brown have assembled
The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures, collecting 23 stories
by current writers who revisit Verne's settings and characters.
These stories are light-hearted, often mischievous. Several of them
struggle with the racism and sexism endemic to the source material,
some with mordants results.
Some contributors play further metafictional games by throwing other
writers into the mix. George Orwell makes a spectacular appearance in
Eric Brown's "Six Weeks in a Balloon", a taut alternate history
thriller. H.G. Wells -- Verne's literary rival (who championed an altogether
different kind of science fiction, in which metaphor matters more than
science) -- makes several appearances, most notably in Stephen Baxter's
"Columbiad", an evocative tale that cleverly bridges the gap
between the lunar exploration novels of both authors.
Other gems include Keith Brooke's merciless social satire, "Doctor
Bull's Intervention", and Paul Di Filippo's "The Mysterious
Iowans", a utopian speculation that hilariously mimics Verne's
expository prose style.
My favourite selection is Molly Brown's "The Selene Gardening
Society", which recounts -- with acid wit and unusual imagination
-- the later lives of Verne's space travellers from De la Terre à
la Lune.
Interspersed between the stories, which are ordered to mirror the chronology
of Verne's output, is an authoritative commentary that follows the course
of Verne's life and career. Together the stories and the commentary
comprise a creative and informative tribute to Verne's legacy.
Originally published, in slightly different form, in
The Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 9 April 2005.
Claude Lalumière's Fantastic Fiction
is a series of
capsule reviews first published in the Saturday Books
section of The Montreal Gazette.
Elsewhere in infinity plus:
Elsewhere on the web:
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