Avventura nello Spazio & Mondi intrecciati

Avventura nello Spazio
Editor: Sandro Pergameno
Translator: Annarita Guarnieri
Publisher: Della Vigna, 27 gennaio 2015
Pagination: 204 p. ; 21 cm.
Series: La Botte Piccola ; n. 22
Note: Bibliography
ISBN: 978-88-6276-133-8; 978-88-6276-251-9(ebook)
Contents:
Avventura nello Spazio (Locked Worlds)
Mondi intrecciati (Across Space)

In questo volume abbiamo riunito due romanzi brevi degli anni Venti, finora inediti in italiano, di Edmond Hamilton: “Avventura nello spazio” e “Mondi intrecciati”. “Avventura nello spazio” (1926): si tratta della seconda storia di Hamilton ad apparire su Weird Tales. Racconta di eventi scientifici grandiosi e sbalorditivi: Marte è stato spostato dalla sua orbita e si muove in rotta di collisione verso la Terra. Un astronomo solitario riesce però a mettere insieme una serie di fatti apparentemente scollegati e si dirige alla volta dell’Isola di Pasqua, dove sta avvenendo qualcosa di molto strano. Da qui alla scoperta di un’antica civiltà marziana il passo è breve… In “Mondi intrecciati” (1929) abbiamo invece un classico esempio di dimensioni parallele. I nostri eroi si avventureranno in quello strano mondo, tra città inconsuete, creature mostruose o meravigliose e armi micidiali, per cercare di salvare la nostra Terra da un’invasione. Completa il volume un’ampia bibliografia dell’autore.

The Collected Edmond Hamilton, Volume One

The Metal Giants and Others, The Collected Edmond Hamilton, Volume One
Edmond Hamilton
Introduction by Robert Weinberg
Illustrated by C.C. Senf, Frank R. Paul, Hugh Rankin, Joseph Doolin
ISBN-10 1893887316
ISBN-13 9781893887312
720 pp. Hardcover
Publisher: Haffner Press; First edition (July 1, 2009)
Introduction by Robert Weinberg
“The Monster-God of Mamurth” (Weird Tales, Aug ’26)
“Across Space” (Weird Tales, Sep, Oct, Nov ’26)
“The Metal Giants” (Weird Tales, Dec ’26)
“The Atomic Conquerors” (Weird Tales, Feb ’27)
“Evolution Island” (Weird Tales, Mar ’27)
“The Moon Menace” (Weird Tales, Sep ’27)
“The Time-Raider” (Weird Tales, Oct, Nov, Dec ’27, Jan ’28)
“The Comet Doom” (Amazing Stories, Jan ’28)
“The Dimension Terror” (Weird Tales, Jun ’28)
“The Polar Doom” (Weird Tales, Nov ’28)
“The Sea Horror” (Weird Tales, Mar ’29)
“Locked Worlds” (Amazing Stories Quarterly Spr ’29)
“The Abysmal Invaders” (Weird Tales, Jun ’29)

Book review:

  • Locus, April 2010, by Richard A. Lupoff

OPUS#002 Across Space

OPUS: #002
Title: Across Space
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1926
Type: novella
Across Space (Part 1 of 3) (1926) – Edmond Hamilton
Across Space (Part 2 of 3) (1926) – Edmond Hamilton
Across Space (Part 3 of 3) (1926) – Edmond Hamilton
“A shaft of red light stabs the sky, and Mars hurtles in flaming destruction straight toward Earth”-TOC of part 1
“As I whirled around, my eyes met a sight that froze the words on my lips in sheer surprize and terror.”-part 1
“A three-part weird-scientific serial – strange beings in Rano Kao volcano pull the planet Mars from its orbit.”- TOC of part 2
“As I whirled around, my eyes met a sight that froze the words on my lips in sheer, surprize and terror.”-part 2
“A three-part weird-scientific serial – strange beings under Easter Island pull the planet Mars from its orbit”-TOC of part 3
“A great red ray of light stabs across space toward Mars from the crater of Rano Kao volcano on Easter Island, carrying with it the magnetic force of Earth’s northern magnetic pole against the southern magnetic pole of Mars. The red planet is pulled from its orbit and hurtles straight toward Earth.
Dr. Whitley and Professor Allan try to save the Earth from destruction, but are captured by the bat-winged men from Mars who live in the crater of the extinct volcano, and are carried to their city in the bowels of the Earth. There they learn the details of the Martians’ scheme from Dr. Holland, who has been captured years before. The captives plan to escape from their guards (strange, mechanically constructed creatures created by the bat-winged Martians), in a desperate attempt to save the Earth. If they fail – and the chances are a million to one against them – in a few days the atmosphere of Mars will touch that of Earth, and the world will be overrun by Martians flying from their planet to Earth, armed with a crumbling ray to destroy humanity.”-part 3

「九月から三カ月にわたって発表された<<宇宙を渡って>>シリーズは、この若い作家のあらゆる可能性を示すものだった。売り子が新聞を振り上げながら大声をはりあげている。語り手のアランがふと目をやると、その新聞には大きな活字で”世界の終わり”という見出しが出ている。この時から意外な出来事がはじまるのである。アランはすぐ新聞を買い求めて、公式声明を読む。(中略)けれども衝突は起こらないのである。火星は接近しているのではなかった。実は、地球上には、黎明期以来火星から追放され、地下都市で生活している火星人がいたのである。彼らの科学によって、火星は地球に引き寄せられているのだった。この火星人の存在は、私たちにはまったく知られていない。彼らはイースター島の巨石像に似ている。というのは、この巨石像は、火星人が地球の土を踏んでいた時代の名残りだったのである(イースター島にある巨石像の期限に関して、公認の科学が伏せている新事実を明らかにするのだと主張する作家は少なくなく、この種の馬鹿げた説明は今日ひきもきらぬ有様である)」- ジャック・サドゥール著; 鹿島茂,鈴木秀治訳『現代SFの歴史』(早川書房, 1984.12) p. 117
「最初に掲載されのは「マムルスの邪神」だが、先に売れたのは「宇宙横断」だった。これは人類が誕生するよりも前に地球に植民していた火星人が、いまも地下の洞窟で生きているという話。彼らは地球を乗っとって、火星を地球近くの軌道まで動かす計画に取りかかっていた。この作品にはハミルトンが十代のころから愛読していたマンジー系雑誌の影響がうかがえるが、彼はその後またたくまに、こうした種類のSFの第一人者としての地位を確立していく。」 – マイク・アシュリー著; 牧眞司訳『SF雑誌の歴史 : パルプマガジンの饗宴』(東京創元社, 2004.7) p. 159
Publications:

  • Weird Tales, Vol. 8, no. 3, September 1926, (Sep 1926, ed. Farnsworth Wright, publ. Popular Fiction Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, $0.25, 144pp, magazine) Cover: E. M. Stevenson; Illust: Olnick
  • Weird Tales, Vol. 8, no. 4, October 1926, (Oct 1926, ed. Farnsworth Wright, publ. Popular Fiction Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, $0.25, 144pp, magazine) Cover: C. Barker Petrie, Jr.; Illust: None
  • Weird Tales, Vol. 8, no. 5, November 1926, (Nov 1926, ed. Farnsworth Wright, publ. Popular Fiction Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, $0.25, 144pp, magazine) Cover: E. M. Stevenson; Illust: Olnick
  • The Metal Giants and Others: The Collected Edmond Hamilton, Volume One, (Jul 2009, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Haffner Press, 1-893887-31-6, $40.00, xx+693pp, hc, coll) Cover: Joseph Doolin

Reviews:

  • Review by Everett F. Bleiler (1991) in Science Fiction: The Early Years

ebook of part 1: https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV08N03192609
ebook of part 2: https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV08N03192609
ebook of part 3: https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV08N05192611