2018

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

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The novel “The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance”, generally known simply as “The Invisible Man”, by H.G. Wells was published for the first time in 1897. The novel is available on Project Gutenberg’s website.

When a stranger arrives at an inn in the English village of Iping, everyone can immediately notice that he’s not a person like any other. The man is in fact completely covered from head to toe, with a bandaged face and a fake nose. From the very beginning he shows he’s a recluse and the local people start wondering about him.

The stranger’s weirdness increases when what’s supposed to be his luggage have content quite out of the ordinary. The man claims he wants only to conduct a complex scientific research and doesn’t tolerate the innkeeper’s interference. When the woman asks him to pay his rent, the man reveals his invisibility.

Saniwa ensidens

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An article published in the journal “Current Biology” describes a research on a species of reptile called Saniwa ensidens, related to the modern monitor lizards that lived about 49 million years ago in today’s Wyoming, USA. A team of researchers studied fossils of these animals discovered almost 150 years ago, concluding that they had four eyes. The two extra eyes were connected to the pineal and parapineal glands. This is the first discovered case of jawed vertebrate with four eyes.

Berserker by Fred Saberhagen (Italian edition)

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The novel “Berserker” by Fred Saberhagen was published for the first time in 1967. It’s a fix-up of various short stories published in previous years.

During an ancient space war, two species fought each other to their mutual extinction. Of that war there what remained are only spaceships run by artificial intelligences equipped with powerful weapons, the ability to self-repair after suffering damage in battle and to build more spaceships with the characteristics needed for war.

The end of the war for these robotic machines were built for doesn’t stop their activity, which moves towards other species with the aim to lead them to extinction too. Among the sentient species, the Earth-descended humans seem to be the only ones who can fight these enemies they named the Berserkers.

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Dan Simmons was born on April 4, 1948 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. Since the beginning of his career, Dan Simmons has written works of various literary genres, mixing their elements. Strong links with classical literature are present in his science fiction novel “Hyperion” (1989), the first of the Hyperion Cantos also composed of the novels “The Fall of Hyperion” (1990), “Endymion” (1996) and “The Rise of Endymion” (1997) and the novella “Orphans of the Helix” (1999).

During his career Dan Simmons had great success with a number of works of different literary genres. The mix of genres often makes it difficult and restrictive to label Dan Simmons’ works. “The Terror” (2007) is a historical drama based on real events but the author adds fantasy / horror elements. A few weeks ago a TV show that adapted the novel started.

Lady Silence (Nive Nielsen) in The Ladder (Image courtesy AMC Studios / Amazon. All rights reserved)

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“The Ladder” is the third episode of the TV show “The Terror”, an adapatation of a novel by Dan Simmons with the same title, and follows “Gore”.

Note. This article contains spoilers about “The Ladder”.

Captain John Franklin (Ciarán Hinds) and Captain Francis Crozier (Jared Harris) argue about the actions to be taken to save the expedition. Their ideas are conflicting but soon those disagreements become the least of their problems.