In the years surrounding World War I, a remarkable cluster of stories appeared that experimented with reincarnation, psychic bonds, lost civilizations, and metaphysical time travel. These works — by authors like William Henry Warner, J. U. Giesy, Julian Hawthorne, and David Lindsay — form what I call transitional fantasy, bridging Victorian and Edwardian metaphysical imagination with the emerging pulp weird fiction of the 1920s.
Here is the list of transitional fantasy stories I talk about in this episode. Many of them can be found for free online.
1915—The Star Rover by Jack London.
1915 — beginning of the “Hobart Honey” series by Bertram Atkey.
1917—The Cosmic Courtship by Julian Hawthorne.
1918—1921 Palos of the Dog Star Pack trilogy by J. U. Giesy.
1918—Draft of Eternity by Victor Rousseau.
1919—The Bridge of Time by William Henry Warner.
1921-1922—Billy and Betty and Their Love Through the Ages by Nell Brinkley.
1920—A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay.
1923 — Launch of Weird Tales.
1925—Thus Far by J. C. Snaith.
1927—The Pallid Giant by Pierrepont B. Noyes.
1929—Doctor Fogg by Norman Matson.
Please reach out with any questions inspired by this episode. It’s a complex subject that I hope is presented clearly and logically. But one never can be sure…
I will speak more about these ideas in the future.
In the meantime, here are links to past Rocketeer episodes including some of the stories mentioned today:
My Lucina Press website has a page called Historical Notes which lays out some of these inquiries in progress.
