Three Science Fiction Novellas: From Prehistory To The End Of Mankind

Rosny was the pseudonym of the Belgian writer, Joseph-Henri Boëx, who rivals his near contemporary, H.G. Wells, as one of the founding figures of European science fiction. Or at least, his reputation would have rivalled that of Wells if his work had been more widely translated. But he remains little known among Anglophone sf readers simply because so little of his work is available in English. This collection of three short novels is a good introduction to his work. "The Xipéhuz" is set at the dawn of time when a tribe of primitive humans encounter aliens. "Another World" is set in contemporary Holland, where a mutant child has the ability to see an entire race of other beings that are invisible to other humans. And "The Death of the Earth" is set in a distant future where mankind struggles to survive, only vaguely aware that a new race of mechanical beings is waiting to inherit the world. Why it's on the list Rosny is another writer who deserves to be far better known outside of his native Belgium, and it is only through these rare translations that we can discover this extraordinarily original body of work.