An Open Knowledge Foundation Site
logo Planet Open Knowledge

You are browsing the archive for science fiction.

Mistress of a New World: Early Science Fiction in Europe’s “Age of Discovery”

- October 11, 2018 in Books, early science fiction, empire, imperialism, Literature, proto science fiction, science fiction

Considered by many one of the founding texts of the science fiction genre, The Blazing World — via a dizzy mix of animal-human hybrids, Immaterial Spirits, and burning foes — tells of a woman’s absolute rule as Empress over a parallel planet. Emily Lord Fransee explores what the book and its author Margaret Cavendish (one […]

Comments Off on Mistress of a New World: Early Science Fiction in Europe’s “Age of Discovery”

Omega: The Last Days of the World (1894)

- January 25, 2018 in apocalypse, Camille Flammarion, early science fiction, future, nineteenth century science fiction, retrofuture, science fiction

Science fiction novel by astronomer Camille Flammarion, concerning a near comet miss and a vision of the earth's far distant future.

Comments Off on Omega: The Last Days of the World (1894)

Omega: The Last Days of the World (1894)

- January 25, 2018 in apocalypse, Camille Flammarion, early science fiction, future, nineteenth century science fiction, retrofuture, science fiction

Science fiction novel by astronomer Camille Flammarion, concerning a near comet miss and a vision of the earth's far distant future.

Comments Off on Omega: The Last Days of the World (1894)

Omega: The Last Days of the World (1894)

- January 25, 2018 in apocalypse, Camille Flammarion, early science fiction, future, nineteenth century science fiction, retrofuture, science fiction

Science fiction novel by astronomer Camille Flammarion, concerning a near comet miss and a vision of the earth's far distant future.

Comments Off on Omega: The Last Days of the World (1894)

Émile-Antoine Bayard’s Illustrations for Around the Moon by Jules Verne (1870)

- October 24, 2017 in Alphonse de Neuville, Émile-Antoine Bayard, jules verne, Les Miserables, moon, science fiction, space travel, spaceship

Arguably the very first images to depict space travel on a scientific basis, these wonderful illustrations are the work of the French illustrator Émile-Antoine Bayard.

Comments Off on Émile-Antoine Bayard’s Illustrations for Around the Moon by Jules Verne (1870)

Master of Disaster, Ignatius Donnelly

- October 24, 2017 in apocalypse, Atlantis, Books, catastrophe, disaster, disaster porn, Featured Articles, Ignatius Donnelly, Literature, pseudo-science, Religion, Myth & Legend, Science & Medicine, science fiction

The destruction of Atlantis, cataclysmic comets, and a Manhattan tower made entirely from concrete and corpse — Carl Abbott on the life and work of a Minnesotan writer, and failed politician, with a mind primed for catastrophe. The magnificent civilization of Atlantis shattered and plunged beneath the sea in February 1882. Or, to be more […]

Comments Off on Master of Disaster, Ignatius Donnelly

Ignatius Donnelly: Recipes for Disaster

- September 27, 2017 in apocalypse, Atlantis, Books, catastrophe, disaster, disaster porn, Featured Articles, Ignatius Donnelly, Literature, pseudo-science, Religion, Myth & Legend, Science & Medicine, science fiction

The destruction of Atlantis, cataclysmic comets, and a Manhattan tower made entirely from concrete and corpse — Carl Abbott on the life and work of a Minnesotan writer, and failed politician, with a mind primed for catastrophe.

Comments Off on Ignatius Donnelly: Recipes for Disaster

Bayard and de Neuville’s Illustrations for Around the Moon by Jules Verne (1870)

- September 12, 2017 in Alphonse de Neuville, Émile-Antoine Bayard, jules verne, Les Miserables, moon, science fiction, space travel, spaceship

Arguably the very first images to depict space travel on a scientific basis, by the French illustrators Émile-Antoine Bayard and Alphonse de Neuville.

Comments Off on Bayard and de Neuville’s Illustrations for Around the Moon by Jules Verne (1870)

Émile-Antoine Bayard’s Illustrations for Around the Moon by Jules Verne (1870)

- September 12, 2017 in Alphonse de Neuville, Émile-Antoine Bayard, jules verne, Les Miserables, moon, science fiction, space travel, spaceship

Arguably the very first images to depict space travel on a scientific basis, these wonderful illustrations are the work of the French illustrator Émile-Antoine Bayard.

Comments Off on Émile-Antoine Bayard’s Illustrations for Around the Moon by Jules Verne (1870)

Émile-Antoine Bayard’s Illustrations for Around the Moon by Jules Verne (1870)

- September 12, 2017 in Alphonse de Neuville, Émile-Antoine Bayard, jules verne, Les Miserables, moon, science fiction, space travel, spaceship

Arguably the very first images to depict space travel on a scientific basis, these wonderful illustrations are the work of the French illustrator Émile-Antoine Bayard.

Comments Off on Émile-Antoine Bayard’s Illustrations for Around the Moon by Jules Verne (1870)