The Thames Valley Catastrophe

The Thames Valley Catastrophe PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ISBN: 872661281X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 25

Get Book Here

Book Description
One Londoner and an American geologist are out for a bicycle trip in the Thames valley. They talk about natural disasters and volcanic eruptions and how thankful they are that such things do not happen in these regions and at these times. The next morning will however prove them wrong and the Londoner will have to ride for his life to escape a catastrophic volcanic eruption. Grant Allen was a Canadian writer who lived in the period 1848 – 1899. His writing career began around 1876 when he published a series of essays on science. His first books, "Physiological Aesthetics" and "Flowers and Their Pedigrees" took up this subject as well. Grant Allen was also a pioneer in science fiction. He wrote about thirty science fiction novels in the period 1884-1899. In his later works, Allen also took up some revolutionary theories for the time regarding marriage. "The Woman Who Did" which depicts the life of an independent woman who takes care of her child on her own became a bestseller.

The Thames Valley Catastrophe

The Thames Valley Catastrophe PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ISBN: 872661281X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 25

Get Book Here

Book Description
One Londoner and an American geologist are out for a bicycle trip in the Thames valley. They talk about natural disasters and volcanic eruptions and how thankful they are that such things do not happen in these regions and at these times. The next morning will however prove them wrong and the Londoner will have to ride for his life to escape a catastrophic volcanic eruption. Grant Allen was a Canadian writer who lived in the period 1848 – 1899. His writing career began around 1876 when he published a series of essays on science. His first books, "Physiological Aesthetics" and "Flowers and Their Pedigrees" took up this subject as well. Grant Allen was also a pioneer in science fiction. He wrote about thirty science fiction novels in the period 1884-1899. In his later works, Allen also took up some revolutionary theories for the time regarding marriage. "The Woman Who Did" which depicts the life of an independent woman who takes care of her child on her own became a bestseller.

The Thames Valley Catastrophe Illustrated

The Thames Valley Catastrophe Illustrated PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 34

Get Book Here

Book Description
A strange and unexpected disaster happens in the Thames Valley...

The Thames Valley Catastrophe (Annotated)

The Thames Valley Catastrophe (Annotated) PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Grant Allen's work "The Thames Valley Catastrophe" was first released in 1901. A general synopsis or description of the book can be found below: A science fiction book titled "The Thames Valley Catastrophe" examines what happens after a catastrophic event occurs in the Thames Valley, especially in London. The narrative takes place in a future in which there has been a tremendous volcanic eruption that has caused profound social and environmental disruption. The Thames Valley floods as a result of the eruption's chain of events, which drastically alters both society and the surrounding area.The story tracks the protagonists' experiences as they deal with the obstacles the calamity brings about as it happens. The story examines how people and society deal with the fallout from a significant natural disaster by fusing aspects of science fiction, adventure, and social commentary.Known for his works in a variety of genres, such as popular science and science fiction, Grant Allen combines his experience in science and literature with his writing to produce a gripping story that captures the hopes and fears of the period it was written.

The Thames Valley Catastrophe (Illustrated Edition)

The Thames Valley Catastrophe (Illustrated Edition) PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 33

Get Book Here

Book Description
A strange and unexpected disaster happens in the Thames Valley...

The Thames Valley Catastrophe Illustrated

The Thames Valley Catastrophe Illustrated PDF Author: The Thames Valley Catastrop Grant Allen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 34

Get Book Here

Book Description
an excerpt from the story: I rode for very life, with grim death behind me. Once well across the bridge, and turning up the hill, I saw Ward on the parapet, with his arms flung up, trying wildly to save himself by leaping into the river. Next instant he shrivelled I think, as the beggar had shrivelled; and it is to this complete combustion before the lava flood reached them that I attribute the circumstance (so much commented upon in the scientific excavations among the ruins) that no cast of dead bodies, like those at Pompeii, have anywhere been found in the Thames Valley Desert. My own belief is that every human body was reduced to a gaseous condition by the terrific heat several seconds before the molten basalt reached it. Even at the distance which I had now attained from the central mass, indeed, the heat was intolerable. Yet, strange to say, I saw few or no people flying as yet from the inundation. The fact is, the eruption came upon us so suddenly, so utterly without warning or premonitory symptoms (for I deny the earthquake shocks), that whole towns must have been destroyed before the inhabitants were aware that anything out of the common was happening. It is a sort of alleviation to the general horror to remember that a large proportion of the victims must have died without even knowing it; one second, they were laughing, talking, bargaining; the next, they were asphyxiated or reduced to ashes as you have seen a small fly disappear in an incandescent gas flame. This, however, is what I learned afterward. At that moment, I was only aware of a frantic pace uphill, over a rough, stony road, and with my pedals working as I had never before worked them; while behind me, I saw purgatory let loose, striving hard to overtake me. I just knew that a sea of fire was filling the valley from end to end, and that its heat scorched my face as I urged on my bicycle in abject terror.

The Thames Valley Catastrophe - Original Edition

The Thames Valley Catastrophe - Original Edition PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 52

Get Book Here

Book Description
Two bicyclists, one a Londoner, the other an American geologist named Ward, out for a pleasant bicycle trip in the idyllic Thames valley, meet at a small village inn on the west bank of the Thames. Their parlor chat turns to the subjects of mountains and volcanic eruptions, and the difference between small vent-hole eruptions and large fissure eruptions. The Londoner speaks: "Let us be thankful," I said, carelessly, "that such things don't happen in our own times." He eyed me curiously. "Haven't happened, you mean," he answered. "We have no security that they mayn't happen again to-morrow. These fissure-eruptions, though not historically described for us, are common events in geological history - commoner and on a larger scale in America than elsewhere. Still, they have occurred in all lands and at various epochs; there is no reason at all why one shouldn't occur in England at present.

The Thames Valley Catastrophe by Grant Allen Annotated

The Thames Valley Catastrophe by Grant Allen Annotated PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 37

Get Book Here

Book Description
Two bicyclists, one a Londoner, the other an American geologist named Ward, out for a pleasant bicycle trip in the idyllic Thames valley, meet at a small village inn on the west bank of the Thames. Their parlor chat turns to the subjects of mountains and volcanic eruptions, and the difference between small vent-hole eruptions and large fissure eruptions. The Londoner speaks: "Let us be thankful," I said, carelessly, "that such things don't happen in our own times." He eyed me curiously. "Haven't happened, you mean," he answered. "We have no security that they mayn't happen again to-morrow. These fissure-eruptions, though not historically described for us, are common events in geological history -- commoner and on a larger scale in America than elsewhere. Still, they have occurred in all lands and at various epochs; there is no reason at all why one shouldn't occur in England at present." Cycling the next morning, stopping on a river bridge, the Londoner hears a frantic cry and sees a man running on the river tow path as though being pursued by a wild animal. "I glanced back to see what his pursuer might be; and then, in one second, the whole horror and terror of the catastrophe burst upon me. Its whole horror and terror, I say, but not yet its magnitude. I was aware at first just of a moving red wall, like dull, red-hot molten metal. ... I think I can recollect that my earliest idea was no more than this: "He must run, or the moving wall will overtake him!" Next instant, a hot wave seemed to strike my face. It was just like the blast of heat that strikes one in a glasshouse when you stand in front of the boiling and seething glass in the furnace. At about the same point in time, I was aware, I believe, that the dull red wall was really a wall of fire. ... a second wave from behind seemed to rush on and break: it overlaid and outran the first one. This second wave was white, not red -- at white heat, I realized. Then, with a burst of recognition, I knew what it all meant. What Ward had spoken of last night -- a fissure eruption!" How will he escape? Is Ward toasted? Will the torrent of molten rock follow the river valley to London? Can he warn people in time to flee and save lives? Will London be destroyed? ... ! So don't wait! Scroll up and buy now.

The Thames Valley Catastrophe, and My New Year's Eve Among the Mummies (Dodo Press)

The Thames Valley Catastrophe, and My New Year's Eve Among the Mummies (Dodo Press) PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781409917175
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 48

Get Book Here

Book Description
Professor Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen (1848-1899) was a science writer, author and novelist; an able upholder of the theory of evolution. Born near Kingston, Ontario, Canada, the son of an emigrant Anglo-Scottish Protestant minister and grandson of the fifth Baron of Longueuil, he studied at King Edwardas School in Birmingham, and Merton College in Oxford, both in the United Kingdom. He also studied in France and in his mid-twenties became a professor at Queenas College in Jamaica. His first books were on scientific subjects, and include Physiological Asthetics (1877) and Flowers and Their Pedigrees (1886). In Allenas many articles on flowers and perception in insects, Darwinian arguments replaced the old Spencerian terms. After assisting Sir W. W. Hunter in his Gazeteer of India in the early 1880s, Allen turned his attention to fiction, and between 1884 and 1899 produced about 30 novels. He was also a pioneer in Canadian science fiction, with the 1895 novel The British Barbarians and his short story The Thames Valley Catastrophe which describes the destruction of London by a sudden and massive volcanic eruption.

Anticipations

Anticipations PDF Author: David Seed
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815626404
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume of essays examines early, primarily nineteenth-century, examples of science. fiction. The essays focus particularly on how this fiction engages with such contemporary issues as exploration, the development of science and social planning. Several of the writers discussed (Mary Shelley, Poe, Verne, Wells) have been proposed by literary historians as the founders of science fiction. The aim in these essays, however, is not to privilege one individual, but rather to look at the gradual convergence of a number of different genres and at the process of continuing influence of one writer on his/her successor. The collection strikes a balance between a discussion of the established names within the field and less well known works such as Symzonia and The Battle of Darking. The volume concludes with a consideration of the utopias and dystopias of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris

Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris PDF Author: Emelyne Godfrey
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137523409
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is about the fiercely contrasting visions of two of the nineteenth century’s greatest utopian writers. A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary study, it emphasizes that space is a key factor in utopian fiction, often a barometer of mankind’s successful relationship with nature, or an indicator of danger. Emerging and critically acclaimed scholars consider the legacy of two great utopian writers, exploring their use of space and time in the creation of sites in which contemporary social concerns are investigated and reordered. A variety of locations is featured, including Morris’s quasi-fourteenth century London, the lush and corrupted island, a routed and massacred English countryside, the high-rises of the future and the vertiginous landscape of another Earth beyond the stars.