The Mysterious Force and Other Anomalous Phenomena

"That the Earth might swallow its inhabitants, that the seas might drown the continents, that the Sun might go out — they were all conceivable events... but this fantastic death of light, this dying of the colors, which affected the humblest of flames as well as the rays of the Sun, gave the lie to the entire history of men!" In The Cataclysm (1896), the physical laws of nature change in an entire region of France because of the arrival of a strange electro-magnetic entity from outer space. The Mysterious Force (1913) is about the destruction of a portion of the light spectrum by aliens who, for a brief while, share our physical existence. In Hareton Ironcastle (1922), explorers discover a mysterious alien world, fauna and flora, embedded in the Heart of Africa. Contents: Introduction and Afterword by Brian Stableford 1. The Cataclysm (Le Cataclysme, 1896) 2. The Mysterious Force (La Force Mystérieuse, 1913) 3. Hareton Ironcastle's Amazing Adventure (L'Etonnant Voyage de Hareton Ironcastle, 1922) Afterword by Brian Stableford The Scientific Romances of J.-H. Rosny Aîné #3 Black Coat French Science Fiction #45 Translated, annotated and introduced by Brian Stableford