Robert Darvel, a young and penniless French engineer at the turn of the twentieth century, is an amateur astronomer obsessed with the planet Mars. Transported by a combination of science and psychic powers to Mars, Robert must navigate the dangers of the Red Planet while trying to return to his fiancee on Earth. Through his travels, we discover that Mars can not only support life but is also home to three different types of vampires. This riveting combination of science fiction and the adventure story provides a vivid depiction of an imagined Mars and its strange, unearthly creatures who might be closer to earthly humans than we would care to believe. Originally published in French as two separate volumes, translated as The Prisoner of the Planet Mars (1908) and The War of the Vampires (1909), this vintage work is available to English-language audiences unabridged for the first time and masterfully translated by David Beus and Brian Evenson.

The modern literary archetype of the mad scientist was wonderfully incarnated in the French proto-science fiction saga of The Mysterious Dr. Cornelius, a sprawling novel serialized in eighteen volumes in 1912-13, written by the prolific Gustave Le Rouge, author of The Vampires of Mars and The Dominion of the World. Dr. Cornelius Kramm and his brother, Fritz, rule an international criminal empire called the Red Hand. Cornelius is a brilliant surgeon, nicknamed the "Sculptor of Human Flesh" because of his diabolical ability to alter people's likenesses through the science of carnoplasty. One of Cornelius' agents is the sadistic sociopath Baruch Jorgell, the son of millionaire Fred Jorgell. Cornelius uses his surgical prowess to change Baruch's face, making him unrecognizable. But the Red Hand's growing, global, evil web eventually causes the creation of an alliance of heroes, who band together to fight it: Dr. Prosper Bondonnat, a brilliant French biologist and botanist; American billionaire William Dorgan and his son, Harry, who is in love Baruch's kind-hearted sister, Isadora; and finally, Lord Burydan, a colorful, freebooting adventurer. Gustave Le Rouge (1867-1938) was one of the authors who most embodied the evolution of modern science fiction, moving it away from its juvenile beginnings by incorporating real emotions into his stories, bridging the gap between Vernian and Wellsian science fiction.

The modern literary archetype of the mad scientist was wonderfully incarnated in the French proto-science fiction saga of The Mysterious Dr. Cornelius, a sprawling novel serialized in eighteen volumes in 1912-13, written by the prolific Gustave Le Rouge, author of The Vampires of Mars and The Dominion of the World. Dr. Cornelius Kramm and his brother, Fritz, rule an international criminal empire called the Red Hand. Cornelius is a brilliant surgeon, nicknamed the "Sculptor of Human Flesh" because of his diabolical ability to alter people's likenesses through the science of carnoplasty. One of Cornelius' agents is the sadistic sociopath Baruch Jorgell, the son of millionaire Fred Jorgell. Cornelius uses his surgical prowess to change Baruch's face, making him unrecognizable. But the Red Hand's growing, global, evil web eventually causes the creation of an alliance of heroes, who band together to fight it: Dr. Prosper Bondonnat, a brilliant French biologist and botanist; American billionaire William Dorgan and his son, Harry, who is in love Baruch's kind-hearted sister, Isadora; and finally, Lord Burydan, a colorful, freebooting adventurer. Gustave Le Rouge (1867-1938) was one of the authors who most embodied the evolution of modern science fiction, moving it away from its juvenile beginnings by incorporating real emotions into his stories, bridging the gap between Vernian and Wellsian science fiction.

The modern literary archetype of the mad scientist was wonderfully incarnated in the French proto-science fiction saga of The Mysterious Dr. Cornelius, a sprawling novel serialized in eighteen volumes in 1912-13, written by the prolific Gustave Le Rouge, author of The Vampires of Mars and The Dominion of the World. Dr. Cornelius Kramm and his brother, Fritz, rule an international criminal empire called the Red Hand. Cornelius is a brilliant surgeon, nicknamed the "Sculptor of Human Flesh" because of his diabolical ability to alter people's likenesses through the science of carnoplasty. One of Cornelius' agents is the sadistic sociopath Baruch Jorgell, the son of millionaire Fred Jorgell. Cornelius uses his surgical prowess to change Baruch's face, making him unrecognizable. But the Red Hand's growing, global, evil web eventually causes the creation of an alliance of heroes, who band together to fight it: Dr. Prosper Bondonnat, a brilliant French biologist and botanist; American billionaire William Dorgan and his son, Harry, who is in love Baruch's kind-hearted sister, Isadora; and finally, Lord Burydan, a colorful, freebooting adventurer. Gustave Le Rouge (1867-1938) was one of the authors who most embodied the evolution of modern science fiction, moving it away from its juvenile beginnings by incorporating real emotions into his stories, bridging the gap between Vernian and Wellsian science fiction.

The Dominion of the World (1900) represents a transition from classic Vernian anticipation to the pulp serials of the 1920s and 1930s. It is also the only science fiction work that sought to dramatize the "Transatlantic Peril," positing a fundamental difference of culture and attitude between the United States and Europe. Despite some of its outlandishness, hindsight has lent the world imagined by Gustave Guitton and Gustave Le Rouge (The Vampires of Mars) a certain prophetic quality. In the fourth and final volume of the series, Harry Madge's brigade of psychic spies sent to infiltrate Europe on behalf of the secret cabal of American billionaires, led by William Boltyn, is sowing chaos and despair, but the invention of a new "psychic accumulator" by Arsene Golbert enables good will to triumph, banishing hatred, ambition, cupidity and egotism, and opening the doors to a new utopian society...

The Dominion of the World (1900) represents a transition from classic Vernian anticipation to the pulp serials of the 1920s and 1930s. It is also the only science fiction work that sought to dramatize the "Transatlantic Peril," positing a fundamental difference of culture and attitude between the United States and Europe. Despite some of its outlandishness, hindsight has lent the world imagined by Gustave Guitton and Gustave Le Rouge (The Vampires of Mars) a certain prophetic quality. In Volume 1, a secret cabal of American billionaires, led by William Boltyn, would like nothing more than to crush Europe, or at least subject it to harsh economic domination, and eventually become masters of the world. To that end, they scheme to use a deadly array of highly advanced weapons invented by Engineer Hattison and an army of psychics under the command of the sinister Harry Madge. Their grand plan, however, is opposed by the heroic endeavors of a handful of Frenchmen...

The Dominion of the World (1900) represents a transition from classic Vernian anticipation to the pulp serials of the 1920s and 1930s. It is also the only science fiction work that sought to dramatize the "Transatlantic Peril," positing a fundamental difference of culture and attitude between the United States and Europe. Despite some of its outlandishness, hindsight has lent the world imagined by Gustave Guitton and Gustave Le Rouge (The Vampires of Mars) a certain prophetic quality. In the second volume of the series, as France seemed headed for war with England over colonial disputes in Africa, the secret cabal of American billionaires, led by William Boltyn, schemes to stop French scientist Arsene Golbert from completing his plans for a subatlantic railway. Meanwhile, in his secret citadel of science hidden in the Rocky Mountains, mad engineer Hattison has created an invincible army of "iron men," robots that will ensure the billionaires' victory...

The Dominion of the World (1900) represents a transition from classic Vernian anticipation to the pulp serials of the 1920s and 1930s. It is also the only science fiction work that sought to dramatize the "Transatlantic Peril," positing a fundamental difference of culture and attitude between the United States and Europe. Despite some of its outlandishness, hindsight has lent the world imagined by Gustave Guitton and Gustave Le Rouge (The Vampires of Mars) a certain prophetic quality. In the third volume of the series, after the destruction of engineer Hattison's secret citadel, the secret cabal of American billionaires, led by William Boltyn, hires the sinister Harry Madge, who plans to attack Europe with the aid of a brigade of hypnotists and psychic spies. Only French scientist Olivier Coronal, the inventor of the terrestrial torpedo, stands in the way of the final success of the Billionaires' Conspiracy...

Sandwiched between Arnould Galopin's Doctor Omega (1906) and Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars (1912), Gustave Le Rouge's masterpiece, Le Prisonnier de la Plante Mars (1908) and its sequel, La Guerre des Vampires (1909), are a Martian Odyssey in which young engineer Robert Darvel is dispatched to Mars ny the psychic powers of Hindu Brahmins. On the Red Planet, Darvel runs afoul of hostile, bat-winged, blood-sucking natives, a once-powerful civilization now ruled by the Great Brain. The entity eventually sends Darvel back to Earth, unfortunately with some of the vampires. The second volume deals with the war of the vampires back on Earth. Planetary romance blends here with "cosmic horror" as the characters switch from swashbuckling he-men to helpless bundles of gibbering terror.