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Infinite Anthologies of Vintage Science Fiction

The World's Last Wonder (1901)

Item

Title of Story
The World's Last Wonder (1901)
Story Summary
Australia's first space opera (planetary fiction) featuring two antagonistic space cars in a race to Mars. First published 1901. Vintage Science Fiction from historical Australian newspapers.
Science Fiction Subgenres
Advanced Race
Colonial
Exploration
Alien First Contact
Invention Opera
Planetary
Space Fiction
Space Opera
Xeno
Inventions
Radiomotor
Spacecar
Earthquake Detector (though may operate as a radar)
Similar Science Fiction
Out of the Silent Planet (1938) C. S. Lewis
The Sands of Mars (1951) Arthur C. Clarke
Solaris (1961 Polish) Stanisław Lem
Rocannon's World (1966) Ursula K. Le Guin
Mars (1992) Ben Bova
Story of Your Life (1998) Ted Chiang
(Also Arrival (movie) 2016)
How this Story was Identified
Keycloud
KeyClouds
gravity scientist interplanetary
2 found, one discarded as not science fiction.
Related Paratext
Advertisement for a guidebook to patenting inventions.
Additional Information
"'For the Tocsin"
Attributed Author
Unattributed (Later attributed to John Arthur Andrews)
Author Gender
Male (AustLit) https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A14050
Nationality
Australian
After determining that it must have been written by John Arthur Andrews
Single or Serialised
Serialised
Date Range
1901-02-14-1901-05-16
Number of Installments
14
Complete or Supplemented
Complete
Estimated Word Count
19,400
Length
Novella
Links to Trove
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197525101
The World's Last Wonder Chapter I. Thursday 14 February 1901 page 7. The Tocsin

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197527783
The World's Last Wonder Chapter II Thursday 21 February 1901 page 6. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197523678
The World's Last Wonder Chapter III Thursday 28 February 1901 page 9. The Tocsin Newspaper.

The World's Last Wonder Chapter IV Thursday 7 March 1901. The Tocsin Newspaper. This is is not available on Trove at this time

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197525761
The World's Last Wonder Chapter V Thursday 14 March 1901 page 6. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197526718
The World's Last Wonder Chapter VI Thursday 21 March 1901 page 6. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197523711
The World's Last Wonder Chapter VII Thursday 28 March 1901 page 8. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197527350
The World's Last Wonder Chapter VIII Thursday 4 April 1901 page 3. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197527277
The World's Last Wonder Chapter IX Thursday 11 April 1901 page 3. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197522625
The World's Last Wonder Chapter X Thursday 18 April 1901 page 2. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197527920
The World's Last Wonder Chapter XI Thursday 25 April 1901 page 3. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197524044
The World's Last Wonder Chapter XII Thursday 2 May 1901 page 2. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197526037
The World's Last Wonder Chapter XIII Thursday 9 May 1901 page 2. The Tocsin Newspaper.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197527496
The World's Last Wonder Chapter XIV Thursday 16 May 1901 page 2. The Tocsin Newspaper.
Newspaper Name Location Years
The Tocsin, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1897-1906
Location Town City
Melbourne
Location State Territory
Victoria
Provincial or Metro
Metropolitan
First Republished on InfiniteAnthologies.com
YES
General Subjects
science fiction
vintage science fiction
Australian science fiction
Australian newspaper fiction
Australian fiction
newspaper fiction
creative writing
speculative fiction
fiction
story
Language
English
Format
Pdf
Infinite Anthologies Identifier
IA001
Copyright
CC By 4.0 (original text)
Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Edition)
Edition Creator
Neil Hogan
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19th century speculative science acceleration gradient alien communication alien communication fiction alien first contact alien language fiction alien quarantine anarchist literature anarchist science fiction anarcho-communism anarcho-communist fiction anti-capitalism anti-colonial critique anti-colonial fiction anti-colonial science fiction anti-imperialism asteroid collision astrophysics in fiction atmospheric testing Australian science fiction capitalist satire cometary physics cosmic quarantine dystopian fiction early science fiction early SF Australia early space opera early space travel fiction Edwardian fiction electromagnetic interference entropy extraterrestrial ethics extraterrestrial first contact fiction about Mars forgotten science fiction genre hybrid science fiction gravitational mechanics gravity inversion gravity reversal story insectoid aliens interplanetary fiction interplanetary physics interplanetary travel interstellar communication John Arthur Andrews kinetic energy kinetic propulsion fiction laboratory lost SF classic Mars fiction Mars in fiction Mars in literature Mars landing story Mars science fiction classic Martian atmosphere Martian civilisation Martian contact Martian epistemology Martian geography meteor showers molecular vibration near-miss trajectory Newtonian physics non-Euclidean motion obscure sci-fi novel orbital mechanics outer space adventure philosophical science fiction philosophical SF planetary contact story planetary fiction planetary romance political allegory political science fiction political SF propulsion theory proto-science fiction Radiomotor Radiomotor propulsion story Radiomotor spaceship rarefied atmosphere reactionless drive relativistic mechanics satire satire of capitalism satire of colonialism sci-fi with ethical questions scientific romance scientific satire SF allegory SF from Australia SF instrumentation SF quarantine story socialist science fiction socialist utopia fiction space fiction space navigation space opera space race fiction spaceflight fiction speculative astronomy speculative fiction 1900s spider aliens Spider-Martians steampunk-adjacent fiction technological imagination thermodynamics utopian fiction utopian SF literature vacuum pressure vibrational force fields Victorian science Victorian SF vintage sci-fi vintage science fiction xenolinguistics xenolinguistics science fiction zero point energy zero point energy SF J. A. Andrews Jack Andrews

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