"Edison's Conquest of Mars"

mouseonmoon

"Edison's Conquest of Mars"
by Garrett P. Serviss with Introduction by Robert Godwin
http://www.cgpublishing.com/Books/Edison.html

In H.G. Wells' 1897 " The War of the Worlds" (serialized in newspapers across America), Mars invaded Earth.

In Feb 1898 Hearst papers began running a series titled "Edison's Conquest of Mars", written by Hearst science editor with 'help' from Tom terrific himself as the hero, commensing an 'invasion of Mars' with an armada of space craft from Earth.

quote:

"...the first space battle to ever appear in print. It is the first alien abduction story. The birthplace of the hand-held phaser-gun. It has asteroid mining and the first truly functional spacesuits...."


What's really curious to me, however, is that no one to my knowledge has made a connection between this newspaper series (running in Hearst papers) and the "Great Airship Mystery".

((I wonder if Tesla was battling Time Travelers in some competitors newspapers?))


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scfi buffs may also find this of interest:
The War of the Wenuses / Edison's Conquest of Mars / The Struggle for Empire (Sources of Science Fiction: Future War Novels of the 1890s, Vol. 8) -- by C. L. GRAVES, et al;>