A Journey in Other Worlds
Encyclopedia
A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future is a science fiction
novel
by John Jacob Astor IV
, published in 1894.
The book offers a fictional account of life in the year 2088. It contains abundant speculation about technological invention, including descriptions of a worldwide telephone network
, solar power
, air travel
, space travel
to the planets Saturn
and Jupiter
, and terraforming engineering projects — damming the Arctic Ocean, and adjusting the Earth's axial tilt
(by the Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company).
In Astor's novel, the future United States is a multi-continental superpower. European nations have been taken over by socialist governments, which have sold most of their African colonies to the U.S.; and Canada, Mexico, and the countries of South America have requested annexation. Race conflict is a thing of the past, since the "dark elements" of the American hegemony have died out.
Space travel is achieved through apergy
, an anti-gravitational energy force. Jupiter proves to be a jungle world, with flesh-eating plants, vampire bats, giant snakes and mastodons, and flying lizards. The Americans discover a wealth of exploitable resources: iron, silver, gold, lead, copper, coal, and oil.
Saturn, in contrast, is an ancient world of silent spirits. The spirit beings provide the explorers with foresight of their own deaths.
A paperback edition of A Journey in Other Worlds was issued in 2003.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV was an American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American War and a member of the prominent Astor family...
, published in 1894.
The book offers a fictional account of life in the year 2088. It contains abundant speculation about technological invention, including descriptions of a worldwide telephone network
Telephone network
A telephone network is a telecommunications network used for telephone calls between two or more parties.There are a number of different types of telephone network:...
, solar power
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
, air travel
Air travel
Air travel is a form of travel in vehicles such as airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, hang gliding, parachuting or anything else that can sustain flight.-Domestic and international flights:...
, space travel
Interplanetary travel
Interplanetary spaceflight or interplanetary travel is travel between planets within a single planetary system. In practice, spaceflights of this type are confined to travel between the planets of the Solar System....
to the planets Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
and Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
, and terraforming engineering projects — damming the Arctic Ocean, and adjusting the Earth's axial tilt
Axial tilt
In astronomy, axial tilt is the angle between an object's rotational axis, and a line perpendicular to its orbital plane...
(by the Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company).
In Astor's novel, the future United States is a multi-continental superpower. European nations have been taken over by socialist governments, which have sold most of their African colonies to the U.S.; and Canada, Mexico, and the countries of South America have requested annexation. Race conflict is a thing of the past, since the "dark elements" of the American hegemony have died out.
Space travel is achieved through apergy
Apergy
Apergy is a fictitious form of anti-gravitational energy described by Percy Greg in his sword and planet novel Across the Zodiac.It is also used by John Jacob Astor IV in his 1894 science fiction novel, A Journey in Other Worlds....
, an anti-gravitational energy force. Jupiter proves to be a jungle world, with flesh-eating plants, vampire bats, giant snakes and mastodons, and flying lizards. The Americans discover a wealth of exploitable resources: iron, silver, gold, lead, copper, coal, and oil.
Saturn, in contrast, is an ancient world of silent spirits. The spirit beings provide the explorers with foresight of their own deaths.
A paperback edition of A Journey in Other Worlds was issued in 2003.
See also
- Across the ZodiacAcross The ZodiacAcross the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record is a science fiction novel by Percy Greg, who has been credited as an originator of the Sword and planet sub-genre of science fiction.- Plot :...
- Annals of the Twenty-Ninth CenturyAnnals of the Twenty-Ninth CenturyAnnals of the Twenty-Ninth Century: or, The Autobiography of the Tenth President of the World-Republic is a science fiction novel written by Andrew Blair, and published anonymously in 1874....
- The Great RomanceThe Great RomanceThe Great Romance is a science fiction and Utopian novel, first published in New Zealand in 1881. It had a significant influence on Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, the most popular Utopian novel of the late nineteenth century.-The book:...
- Journey to MarsJourney to MarsJourney to Mars the Wonderful World: Its Beauty and Splendor; Its Mighty Races and Kingdoms; Its Final Doom is an 1894 science fiction novel written by Gustavus W. Pope. The book has attracted increased contemporary attention as a precedent and possible source for the famous Barsoom novels of...
- Journey to VenusJourney to VenusJourney to Venus the Primeval World; Its Wonderful Creations and Gigantic Monsters is an 1895 science fiction novel written by Gustavus W. Pope. The book was a sequel to Pope's novel of the previous year, Journey to Mars. The Venus volume features the same hero and heroine, Lt. Frederick Hamilton,...
- A Prophetic RomanceA Prophetic RomanceA Prophetic Romance: Mars to Earth is an 1896 utopian novel written by John McCoy, and published pseudonymously as the work of "The Lord Commissioner," the narrator of the tale...