Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne - Steven R. Southard (Poseidon's Scribe)

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Eighty Days – Day 80

This, fellow voyagers, marks the 80^th day of Phileas Fogg’s journey around the world, 150 years after the fictional tale. Will Detective Fix finally arrest the bank robber he’s been chasing the whole way around? Will Princess Aouda go on to live with her cousin in Holland? Will Fogg return to the Reform Club in time to win his wager?

In New York, Fogg had missed the departure of the China, and found—from consulting his ‘Bradshaw’—that no other steamer would reach London in time. They stayed overnight at the St. Nicholas Hotel (perhaps a reference to the upcoming Christmas holiday?) on Broadway. In the morning, Fogg found the ship Henrietta about to leave, bound for Bordeaux. The captain never took passengers, but changed his mind when Fogg offered 2000 pounds apiece for the four of them.

Fogg ended up paying off the crew to perform a mutiny and they confined Captain Speedy to his quarters, while Fogg ordered a course change toward Liverpool. When the coal gave out, Fogg purchased the ship from Speedy and ordered everything above the waterline burned. On December 21 at 1:00 am, the Henrietta arrived in Queenstown, Ireland. The four travelers took a train to Dublin and a steamer to Liverpool, arriving at 11:40 am. There, Detective Fix arrested Fogg.

Imprisoned in the Custom House, Fogg waited, without apparent emotion. At 2:33 pm, Fix freed him, saying police had arrested the real bank robber three days earlier. Fogg knocked the detective to the floor. He, Aouda, and Passepartout took a train to London, but arrived at 8:50pm, 5 minutes too late to win his wager. Back in his London flat, he had discussions with Aouda the next day, and she proposed marriage to him. If her proposal seems rather sudden, remember that this novel followed the adventure format, not the romance formula.

Fogg accepted and sent a delighted Passepartout to make arrangements with Reverend Samuel Wilson at Marylebone Parish for a wedding the next day, Monday. When Passepartout found out it was only Saturday, he dragged Fogg to a carriage and they made it to the Reform Club just in time to win his wager. By traveling east, he’d gained a day and hadn’t noticed it. He’d covered 24,544 miles in exactly 80 days.

When Verne had Fogg consult the ‘Bradshaw,’ he referred to Bradshaw’s Guide, a book of railway and steamship timetables, published from 1839 to 1961.

The St. Nicholas Hotel existed, having opened in 1853 as the first NYC building to cost over $1M. It closed in 1884 and luxury condos occupy that site on Broadway today.

The port of Queenstown in Ireland changed its name to Cobh in 1920.

Marylebone Parish existed. An Anglican church, it stands about 1.2 miles NNW of Fogg’s mansion at 7 Saville Row. Fogg asked Passepartout to contact the Reverend Samuel Wilson, but I found no record of that name in connection with that church. Charles Eyre served as its rector from 1857 to 1882.

Fogg’s group required 8 days to travel from New York to London, but today you can fly that route in about 7 hours. Throughout this blogtour, I’ve contrasted Fogg’s trip with modern-day flying times. For the entire circumnavigation, those flight times total 102 hours. If we assume an average layover time of 1.5 hours for each of the 16 stops, the total time is 126 hours, or a bit over 5 days. Of course, if you’re interested in the shortest possible time without mimicking Fogg’s route, that’s a bit over 44 hours, accomplished on commercial flights (including the Concorde) by David Springbett in 1980.

This post completes our blogtour, but need not end your enjoyment of Verne. I recommend almost all of his novels. If you prefer a more modern style, I recommend Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. Just published, it’s the first anthology of fiction ever produced by the North American Jules Verne Society. I also recommend you join that group if you’d like to know more about Verne.

In the end, Phileas Fogg spent about as much money as he won. He’d seen nothing of the world he’d just circumnavigated except the insides of steamships and railway cars, where he’d played countless games of whist. However, he’d won the love of a charming spouse, and Verne asks us to ponder whether we, too, would circle the globe for even less a prize than that. Is love, after all, the greatest adventure?

Thank you for traveling Around the World in Eighty Days with—

Poseidon’s Scribe

December 21, 2022Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Extraordinary Visions has Launched

At long last, the North American Jules Verne Society has produced its first-ever anthology of new fiction. Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne just got published today. As of today, it’s available from the publisher, BearManor Media, in paperback and hardback, and from Amazon in both versions.

The anthology includes stories by Mike Adamson, Joel Allegretti, Gustavo Bondoni, Demetri Capetanopoulos, Brenda Carre, Eric Choi, Christopher M. Geeson, Kelly A. Harmon, David A. Natale, Alison L. Randall, Janice Rider, Michael Schulkins, and Joseph S. Walker. Credit goes to artist Amanda Bergloff for the splendid cover image.

The stories derive not only from Verne’s better-known novels, but also from the obscure ones many are unfamiliar with. These stories may prompt you to sample Verne’s lesser-known writings.

In addition, an image taken from the original illustrations of Verne’s novels accompanies each story. One appendix lists the sources of these illustrations, and another appendix provides the complete bibliography of Verne’s works.

I’m honored to have served as a co-editor for this volume. I’m proud of the result, and should mention my co-editor, Rev. Matthew T. Hardesty, and the others who served on the anthology team: Dana Eales, Arthur Evans, Alex Kirstukas, Andrew Nash, Reggie Van Stockum, and the Society’s current president, Dennis Kytasaari.

Even 117 years after Jules Verne’s death, his works continue to inspire and delight writers and readers alike. Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne comes highly recommended by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

December 13, 2022Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Eighty Days – Day 66

150 years have passed since the publication of Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, and we’ve been making the trip in blogpost form. Today, we’ve wound up in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Phileas Fogg and his group have come 19,017 miles since leaving London on October 2, about 77.5% of the distance, but 82.5% of his time has elapsed, putting him in danger of losing his wager.

They left Ogden, Utah on the 5^th and stopped at Fort Bridger in Wyoming Territory at 10:00am on the 6^th. Early on the 7^th, they stopped at Green River Station, where Princess Aouda saw Colonel Stamp Proctor riding the same train. Fogg had endured an altercation with Proctor back in San Francisco. At 11:00am, the train reached Bridger Pass, at the continental divide. By 12:30pm they passed in sight of Fort Halleck.

Not long after that, the train stopped. A signalman from Medicine Bow declared the bridge a mile ahead too weak to bear the train’s weight. The train’s engineer proposed to cross the bridge at high speed. Here, Verne portrayed Americans as overconfident and rash. Passepartout (the stand-in for Verne’s French reading audience) tried to propose sending passengers ahead on foot across the bridge first, followed by the train, but nobody listened to him. Instead, they backed up the train, accelerated to 100 miles an hour, and screamed across the bridge, which collapsed just behind them.

All the stations mentioned by Verne existed. Fort Bridger closed in 1890 and Fort Halleck had been abandoned in 1866. Medicine Bow, of Carbon County, Wyoming, grew around the railroad. Small at the time, it still contains less than 300 people today. Just to the north runs the Medicine Bow River, and several dozen miles to the south you’ll find the Medicine Bow Mountains. The lodgepole pine trees on these mountains made fine railroad ties.

Why the name ‘Medicine Bow?’ Native Americans considered the site ideal for disease-prevention ceremonies, and valued the trees there because the wood produced excellent bows and arrows. Upon learning this, European settlers combined the two thoughts into one name.

Medicine Bow achieved some fame when paleontologist William Harlow Reed discovered the bones of Dippy the Dinosaur there in 1898. A year later, Butch Cassidy and his ‘Wild Bunch’ pulled off a famous train robbery nearby.

Was Verne’s dramatic bridge collapse possible? He cited a train speed of 100 miles an hour. At that time, trains in the U.S. traveled around 25 mph due to the poor condition of tracks laid in haste. No steam locomotive attained 100 mph until the Flying Scotsman did it in 1934. Also, Verne wrote that the bridge collapsed just after the train crossed. Engineers know that collapse occurs when imposed stresses exceed a structure’s ability to withstand them. However, 100 mph is 147 feet per second, so a train traveling at that speed would cross a 147-foot bridge in just one second. It does take a little time for a bridge to collapse, so if the train traveled at that speed over a bridge of that length, it might just clear the far side before the bridge lost its ability to support the train’s weight. The scene is not inconceivable.

In 1872, it took two days for Fogg’s party to travel by train from Ogden to Medicine Bow. Today, you could drive that distance in a little over five hours along Interstate 80. Or you could fly to nearby Casper in just over an hour.

Soon, you Jules Verne fans will be able to purchase an anthology by the North American Jules Verne Society. When published, Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne will contain stories by modern authors, each based on novels by the famous French author. All I have is the cover image now, but keep checking my blog for news.

With the bridge-jumping incident behind him, Fogg shouldn’t encounter any more problems as he tries to regain lost time. Nothing but clear, problem-free track from here through Omaha and on to Chicago. The two of us better keep an eye on things, you and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

December 7, 2022Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Eighty Days – Day 40

Welcome back to my blog-tour Around the World in Eighty Days, a celebration of the 150^th anniversary of Jules Verne’s classic novel. At the moment, we’re near Shanghai, about three miles from that city’s harbor. So far, 50% of Fogg’s 80 days has elapsed, and he’s traversed 11,619 miles, or 48.8% of the distance.

Things are a big snarled, but hang with me. Fogg and Aouda lost Passepartout in Hong Kong. Detective Fix had gotten the servant so drunk and drugged that he’d passed out in an opium den. Fogg missed the steamer Carnatic, due to sail from Hong Kong to Yokohama, where he needed to catch the large, trans-Pacific steamship SS General Grant.

He boarded the tiny sailing ship Tankadere bound for Shanghai after her captain assured him the General Grant started from Shanghai before sailing to Yokohama. He and Princess Aouda both hoped Passepartout had somehow gotten aboard the Carnatic without them.

During the trip to Shanghai, Fogg dined with Detective Fix, never knowing Fix intended to arrest him when the warrant caught up. A typhoon battered the small ship and it seemed they’d reach Shanghai too late to embark aboard the SS General Grant. Just three miles from the harbor, they sighted the huge American steamship on its way out of port. They signaled with a distress flag and cannon, hoping the ship would approach and allow a transfer of passengers.

In 1872, Shanghai held a population of about 700,000, led by a ‘circuit intendant’ named Shen Bingcheng. They abolished the office title of circuit intendant around 1906, and sometime later began calling them mayors.

Today, Shanghai surpasses all other Chinese cities in population, with 24.9 million. It ranks as the second most populous city in the world, and contains the world’s busiest port. Gong Zheng serves as its mayor.

Getting from Hong Kong to Shanghai today doesn’t require sailing for four days in a small sailing ship during a typhoon. You can fly between the two in less than 14 hours, including an 8-hour stop in Chengdu.

If this blogpost series has stirred your interest in Jules Verne, you’ll enjoy reading an upcoming anthology called Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. It’s the first fiction anthology produced by the North American Jules Verne Society. Here’s what its cover will look like, and as soon as it’s published, you’ll see an announcement at the society’s website and here at my blog.

Let’s see if Fogg, Aouda, and Fix will be able to board the General Grant. If they do, they might reach Yokohama by November 14, if you can believe navigational calculations performed by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 11, 2022Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Eighty Days – Days 35 and 36

Today we continue the 150^th anniversary commemoration of Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. We’re following along with Phileas Fogg and we just reached Hong Kong aboard the steamship Rangoon. So far, we’ve traveled 10,819 miles, or 44.1% distance in just 43.9% of the time.

Detective Fix boarded the Rangoon in secret, having left instructions to forward the warrant for Fogg’s arrest to Hong Kong. The ship stopped in Singapore to load coal on October 31. On the northbound passage, a tempest delayed the ship’s arrival until 1:00 pm on November 6. Fogg’s next ship, the Carnatic, was supposed to have left for Yokohama on the 5^th, but was delayed until the 7^th for boiler repairs.

Fogg and Aouda secured rooms in a hotel. He discovered Aouda’s cousin had left China and gone to Holland, so Fogg promised to take her there, after reaching London to win his bet. He sent Passepartout to purchase three tickets on the Carnatic.

Upon meeting Fix, Passepartout bought four tickets, but was told the ship would depart early, that night, the 6^th, rather than the next morning. Fix lured Passepartout into a tavern—really, an opium den—and plied him with drinks and opium until he passed out.

The next morning, the 7^th, Fogg found the Carnatic gone, and Passepartout missing. He made arrangements to sail on the tiny Tankadere, a twenty-ton, two-masted craft.

By 1872, Hong Kong had grown into a major shipping port with a population approaching 122,000. Since the end of the Second Opium War in 1860, Britain had controlled the city. Sir Arthur Kennedy served as the city’s Colonial Administrator.

Today, Hong Kong, one of the world’s most densely populated places, teems with 7,291,600 people. Designated the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, the region’s Chief Executive is John Lee and its Chief Secretary is Eric Chan.

From what I could determine, the SS Rangoon existed. According to this site, this one, and this one, after her launching in 1863, she sailed for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) until being wrecked in 1871 (before the events of our story).

Modern travelers need not cruise aboard a steamship for 12 days from Kolkata to Hong Kong. A flight takes less than 8 hours, and that includes a 2-hour stop in Bangkok.

Interested in all things Jules Verne? Did you know there’s a North American Jules Verne Society? It’s a sort of JV fan club. Check it out here. Also, I’m pleased to reveal the cover image for the society’s upcoming anthology, Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. This anthology includes stories from today’s authors who captured the wonder and adventure of Verne in their tales. Read short stories by Mike Adamson, Joel Allegretti, Gustavo Bondoni, Demetri Capetanopoulos, Brenda Carre, Eric Choi, Christopher M. Geeson, Kelly A. Harmon, David A. Natale, Alison L. Randall, Janice Rider, Michael Schulkins, and Joseph S. Walker. Artist Amanda Bergloff, created the cover art. In a few months, you should be able to buy the anthology itself. Stay tuned to my blog for news.

200 miles separate Hong Kong from Shanghai, and the Tankadere makes between 8 and 9 knots. If nothing unforeseen occurs, we should make it there by November 11. The captain, John Bunsby, has just hoisted sails at 3:10 pm. Though Passepartout is missing, you’d better get aboard, along with Fogg, Aouda, Fix, and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 6, 2022Poseidon's ScribePermalink

An Extraordinary Cover Reveal

You’re expecting another episode in my blogpost series following the path of Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days. Sorry, but he and his companions are still on their way from Kolkata to Hong Kong aboard the Rangoon.

Today, I’m revealing the cover for the upcoming anthology Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. This is the first fiction anthology produced by the North American Jules Verne Society. I’m proud to have been, along with Father Matthew Hardesty, a co-editor for this project.

In the cover image, artist Amanda Bergloff captured the far-reaching imagination of Verne in her depiction of a squid, balloon airship, deep-sea diver, compass, and moon.

Within the anthology, you’ll find short stories by today’s authors, each exploring some aspect of the vast Verne oeuvre, each echoing the excitement and adventure of that French Father of Science Fiction. It includes tales by Mike Adamson, Joel Allegretti, Gustavo Bondoni, Demetri Capetanopoulos, Brenda Carre, Eric Choi, Christopher M. Geeson, Kelly A. Harmon, David A. Natale, Alison L. Randall, Janice Rider, Michael Schulkins, and Joseph S. Walker.

The Society is working with the publisher to finalize the anthology itself. It’s expected to launch sometime in the next few months. To find out when and where you can buy this extraordinary anthology, stay tuned to the Society’s website, or to this website by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 30, 2022Poseidon's ScribePermalink

27 Ways to Celebrate Jules Verne’s Birthday

Just two more days until Jules Verne’s birthday on February 8th. He’ll turn 194. How will you celebrate?

I have a few ideas for you. For convenience, I’ll separate them into categories.

Low-Cost At-Home Activities

Read (or re-read) one of his books. Perhaps the best way to celebrate.
Join the North American Jules Verne Society.
Watch a movie inspired by one of Verne’s books. There are dozens to choose from, some available on the internet.
Toast to Verne with some French wine, and, as the wine takes effect, imagine taking an extraordinary voyage of adventure to some far-off, exotic location.
Play a game of whist with three fellow Verne enthusiasts. (Verne’s characters often played that game.)
Write your own fictional adventure story set in a place you’ve never been.
Imagine a trip back through time to meet Jules Verne. What would that conversation be like? What would you ask him? What might he ask you?
Do what Verne did in writing Paris in the 20^st Century—imagine what your own city or town will look like a century from now, in the year 2122.
Find a globe or world map. Say you have to reach a specific location, but have only the latitude (as with The Children of Captain Grant), or just the longitude. Imagine the adventures you’d have as you searched along one line.
Imagine Verne time-travelled to 2022 and you could talk to him. What about our world would you show him first? What might fascinate him most?
Bake a birthday cake for Jules Verne. It could depict (or be in the shape of) a balloon, a submarine, a moon projectile, or anything else from his novels.
Compose, and sing, a birthday song for Jules Verne. For the lyrics, try to work in titles of his novels or character names.
Dress up as your favorite Verne character.
Write a poem in honor of Jules Verne
Write a letter to Jules Verne, wishing him a happy birthday.
Draw your own illustration of your favorite Verne character, vehicle, or scene.
Many people have their own version of what the Nautilus might have looked like. Pick your favorite from this website maintained by Michael & Karen Crisafulli, and draw your own.

More Involved Activities

Build a model of one of his vehicles. A search of the internet will give you many to choose from.
Build and launch a balloon made from a garbage bag, safely following instructions on this site, or this one. Imagine you’re aboard it, floating high in the air, for five weeks.
Use a 3D printer to print a Verne-inspired vehicle, or hire someone to print it for you.
Find a suitable cave and go on your own journey to the center of the Earth, (or as close as you can get).
Join a local model rocketry club. (Not the same as launching a manned projectile from a cannon, but it’s cheaper and safer.)
Visit the nearest submarine museum and tour its featured submarine. Note the differences between it and the Nautilus.

Activities for the Truly Dedicated

Jules Verne often set his stories on islands. Plan and take your own trip to an island somewhere.
Visit Verne’s birthplace and museum in Nante, France.
Visit Verne’s gravesite in Amiens, France.
Make a bet with some friends about how fast you can travel around the world, then win the bet.

Later this year, the North American Jules Verne Society will have an anthology published under the title of Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. Among the millions of people eagerly awaiting that event are you and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

February 6, 2022Poseidon's ScribePermalink

8 (+2) Science Fiction Predictions for 2022

Yes, it’s true, not all of my previous year’s predictions have proven accurate. But some have. Rest assured, though. I’ve abandoned the flawed methods I used back then. Those crystal balls, tea leaves and tarot cards are for amateurs.

I spent all of 2021 working on a special astrological chart for science fiction literature. After all, it’s only natural to turn to the stars for scifi trends, right? Here are my predictions for 2022:

Games and Virtual Reality. This recent trend will continue in 2022 as authors explore the landscape of these settings. Moreover, readers will enjoy the escapism aspect of these stories.

UFOs/UAPs. As the government promises to release data on UFOs or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, scifi authors will capitalize on the public’s interest in these sightings.

Pandemic. After predicting this last year, I realize I was a year ahead of myself (it happens, in this prognostication biz). 2022 will be the year for pandemic scifi. Expect bizarre diseases with weird symptoms.

Post-pandemic. As we emerge from the COVID-19 Pandemic, scifi writers will give us tales of humanity returning to normal after devastating pandemic diseases.

Private space exploration and tourism. Another example of me misreading the tarot cards. It wasn’t 2021, but will be 2022 when we read scifi novels featuring billionaire-funded space travel, both for tourism and exploration.

Humor. We’ll see a welcome surge in funny scifi, just in time to meet the public’s need for a lighter mood.

CliFi. Many readers and scifi writers share concerns about climate change, which will inspire new novels about how humanity copes.

AI. Artificial Intelligence will continue to prompt the scifi of 2022 as it has for years now. I predict stories involving the whole spectrum of AI, from specialized AI capable of one type of task, to general AI similar to human intelligence, all the way to superintelligence.

Personal Predictions

As a bonus, here are two prophesies involving me:

The North American Jules Verne Society will publish its first anthology of short stories, titled Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. I’m on the editorial team.
My collection of short stories about the future history of seasteading, titled The Seastead Chronicles, will be published in 2022.

A year from now, you’ll be amazed at how such accurate predictions were even possible. You’ll be begging for a copy of my secret scifi astrology chart and the instructions for using it. You’ll be kicking yourself for having ever doubted—

Poseidon’s Scribe

December 26, 2021Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Status of Two Anthos

You writers have been busy! In turn, your writing has been keeping me busy, as a co-editor for two different anthologies at the same time. Here’s a quick update on the two books I’ve been involved with, in good news/bad news format.

First, the bad news. Pole to Pole Publishing is cancelling its planned Re-Enlist anthology. I was co-editing this one along with a wonderful friend, author, and editor, Kelly A. Harmon. The book was to include futuristic/military/dark reprint stories. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive enough suitable stories to fill the anthology.

Many thanks to those who did submit stories. Among them were some great tales.

On the bright side, no one can keep Pole to Pole Publishing down for long. They plan to come up with new calls for submissions for future anthologies soon, and they’ll be announced here. It’s even possible that I’ll get to be involved as a co-editor again.

Now for the good news. The open submissions window for the anthology Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne just closed, and we got a flood of submissions. By a flood, I mean 120, way above what I expected, and they included many wonderful stories. I’m part of the editing team for this book, and we’re busy choosing which stories to take.

I also thank all those who submitted to that anthology. So many good tales, and we’ll have to make some tough decisions. We can’t take them all.

This anthology is being sponsored by the North American Jules Verne Society, and the society’s leadership was pleased to learn of the huge response by writers who took the time to write and send their stories. It demonstrates the lasting impact Jules Verne’s novels continue to have on people today.

If all goes well, that anthology will be published later this year, and I’ll announce that event on this blog.

Although I continue to write my own fiction, I figured it was time to give you a status update from the editing desk of—

Poseidon’s Scribe

May 9, 2021Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Happy Birthday, Jules Verne!

He’s looking good, for a 193-year-old.

That’s the thing about great writers of the past, they still speak to us. In a sense, they live forever.

Would you expect there’d be an active fan club devoted to you, in a foreign country, 116 years after your death? In Verne’s case, there are several. The one I’m most familiar with is the North American Jules Verne Society.

A couple of months ago, I mentioned the NAJVS is sponsoring an anthology of short fiction, the first of those it’s ever done. The working title for the anthology is Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. I’m fortunate enough to be part of the editing team.

That call for submissions is still active and NAJVS will be accepting stories (and artwork) until April 30. For more details, click here.

So far, we’ve received some good story submissions. However, we could use more stories based on the full range of Verne’s oeuvre. To start creative fluids coursing through your veins, allow me to mention that Jules Verne wrote about:

A 35-day balloon trip over Africa (Five Weeks in a Balloon)
A voyage to the North Pole with a mutiny, an ice palace, and a volcano (The Adventures of Captain Hatteras)
A hike many miles underground, encountering a subterranean ocean and prehistoric animals (Journey to the Center of the Earth)
A journey to the Moon aboard a projectile launched from a cannon (From the Earth to the Moon)
A globe-girdling quest for a lost father, knowing only his geographic latitude (In Search of the Castaways)
A trek across Russia by courier who can’t see where he’s going (Michael Strogoff)
A comet slicing off a chunk of the Earth, with people and animals still on it (Off on a Comet)
A family living underground for a decade (The Child of the Cavern)
Two men using their halves of an inheritance to establish rival utopian cities (The Begum’s Fortune)
A steam-powered mechanical elephant marching across India (The Steam House)
A ship-sized helicopter operated by a mad scientist (Robur the Conqueror)
An attempt to alter the Earth’s axis (The Purchase of the North Pole)
A mysterious Count in a Transylvanian castle, that might have inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula (The Carpathian Castle)
A man-made, propeller-driven island (Propeller Island)
A vehicle that operates on land, on and beneath the water, and in the air (Master of the World)
A plan to flood the Sahara Desert to create an inland sea in North Africa (Invasion of the Sea)
A description of Paris nearly 100 years in Verne’s future. (Paris in the Twentieth Century)

Oh, yeah. Verne also wrote a book about a submarine (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). In fact, the above list is way, way incomplete.

Still, something on that list should nudge a neuron in your noggin, move your muse to murmuring, and cause you to commence clacking on your keyboard.

Today, his birthday, is a fine day to channel your inner Verne. Allow him to inspire you to write a great story, or create a cover image. Send it in. Eagerly waiting to read your tale or view your art is a group of NAJVS editors, who happen to include—

Poseidon’s Scribe

February 8, 2021Poseidon's ScribePermalink