Author | Olaf Stapledon |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | Secker and Warburg |
Publication date | 1947 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Pages | 84 |
The Flames (subtitled "A Fantasy") is a science fiction novella by British writer and philosopher Olaf Stapledon. It was published by Secker and Warburg in 1947.
The story takes the form of a long letter written by one old university friend to another. The recipient of the letter, known only as "Thos" (a college nickname, short for "Doubting Thomas") introduces the strange document, from a friend known only as "Cass" (another nickname; short for "Cassandra", an allusion to the friend's apparently prophetic abilities). Cass is regarded as a harmless eccentric by his friends, but Thos notes that his prophecies and preoccupations, wild as they may seem, have a habit of coming true. Thos also notes, ominously, that Cass's letter "bears the address of a well-known mental home".
Cass's letter, which forms the bulk of the novel, describes his contact with a bizarre form of alien species. Whilst holidaying in the Lake District, Cass is inexplicably drawn to a lump of rock, which he pockets and takes back with him to his room. There, he is driven to place the rock on the fire, and this action releases a bizarre form of alien life - a living flame, which has been trapped in the rock for millennia.
The flame reveals itself to be one of an ancient alien race who originated in the photosphere of the sun. Solar catastrophe has distributed the ancient race throughout the planets of the solar system, and the flame-beings can only be woken by intense heat. The flame and Cass discourse at great length about typically "Stapledonian" topics - the life of the spirit, the role of the individual and the purpose and meaning of the universe. Over the succeeding nights they develop a strange friendship, in which Cass reactivates the flame in his hearth, (which slumbers in the cold rock of the firebrick) with a hot coal fire.
Eventually, the flame reveals that it has grand plans for Cass - it wishes him to be an ambassador for his people, and explains that the flame and his race have been manipulating events on Earth in order to better their chances of survival, manipulation that included the unfortunate suicide of Cass's wife. The flame proposes that Cass aid in introducing the flames to humankind. In exchange for a permanent home on earth - a zone of extreme heat - the flames will use their telepathic powers to assist mankind. Cass agonises over this offer for two days, and comes to the decision that humanity must stand or fall on its own merits, without outside help or control. He reactivates the flame and douses it violently with cold water. The rapid change in temperature kills the ancient being at once.
Cass, torn with regret and doubt, but set in his course of action, begins finding and killing the little flame creatures wherever he can find them. Posing as a journalist, he visits a foundry where locomotives are made and attempts to shut off the furnace. He is arrested and placed in a mental home.
Thos takes up the final part of the narrative, visiting Cass in the asylum. Cass claims to have been in contact with the flames once more, who have re-established contact with their brethren on the sun. Cass tells the story of their race: how they became part of a "cosmical mind" reaching out to the creator of all things, and how this enterprise failed. Thos hears nothing from Cass for a few months, but is later informed of Cass's death - he perished in a fire at the asylum, which he started himself.
The Flames contains many elements familiar to readers of Stapledon's other books. The flame creatures themselves contribute to a "racial mind", or linked telepathic consciousness, something Stapledon's "Last Men" were shown to be capable of in Last and First Men and Last Men in London . The spiritual quest of a "cosmical mind", in which the flame creatures participated, is also the backbone to Stapledon's 1937 opus, Star Maker . (Whether it is the same quest is debatable - the endeavour of the cosmical mind in The Flames fails; in Star Maker it succeeds).
The alien beings are also treated as if they may be a symptom of mental illness, a device also used in Last Men in London.
Emerging in late summer of 1947, critical reaction to The Flames was mixed. The book was given a somewhat lukewarm review by John Betjeman in the Daily Herald , who described the book as a "strain on the mind".[ citation needed ] However, a reviewer for the Daily Worker was enthusiastic, saying: "Contemporary literature's most ingenious master of macabre fantasy has excelled himself".[ citation needed ] Despite such reviews (and a promotional talk in Manchester by Stapledon himself), the book did not sell well.
Lucifer is the name of two unrelated characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. One is an alien supervillain of the X-Men and the other is a villain of Ghost Rider and is referred to as the Prince of Darkness.
William Olaf Stapledon – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of science fiction. In 2014, he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Dreamcatcher is a 2001 science fiction horror novel by American writer Stephen King, featuring elements of body horror, suspense and alien invasion. The book, written in cursive, helped the author recuperate from a 1999 car accident, and was completed in half a year. According to the author in his afterword, the working title was Cancer. His wife, Tabitha King, persuaded him to change the title. A film adaptation was released in 2003.
Star Maker is a science fiction novel by British writer Olaf Stapledon, published in 1937. The book describes a history of life in the universe, dwarfing in scale Stapledon's previous book, Last and First Men (1930), a history of the human species over two billion years. Star Maker tackles philosophical themes such as the essence of life, of birth, decay and death, and the relationship between creation and creator. A pervading theme is that of progressive unity within and between different civilisations.
The Martian Manhunter is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in Detective Comics #225. Martian Manhunter is one of the seven original members of the Justice League of America and one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe.
Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a "future history" science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years and eighteen distinct human species, of which our own is the first. The book employs a narrative conceit that, under subtle inspiration, the novelist has unknowingly been dictated a channelled text from the last human species.
Saturn Girl is a superheroine appearing in comics published by DC Comics. A talented telepath from the 30th century, Saturn Girl is a founding member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Imra's "Saturn Girl" title refers to her homeworld of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. There have been three versions of Imra since her original debut, separated by the events of the limited series Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! and Infinite Crisis.
The Brood are a fictional race of insectoid, parasitic, extraterrestrial beings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, especially Uncanny X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum, they first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #155.
The White Martians are one of four fictional extraterrestrial races native to Mars in the DC Comics' shared universe. White Martians, also known as Pale Martians, appear in the comics of the DC Universe, chiefly JLA, Martian Manhunter, and Son of Vulcan. They first appeared in Justice League #71.
The Man in the Maze is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert Silverberg, originally serialized in the magazine Worlds of If in April and May 1968, and published in bookstores the following year. It tells the tale of a man rendered incapable of interacting normally with other human beings by his uncontrollable psychic abilities. The novel is inspired by Sophocles' play Philoctetes, with the roles of Odysseus, Neoptolemus and Philoctetes played by Boardman, Rawlins, and Muller, respectively.
Commander Perkins is a German science fiction series by H. G. Francis, published partly as audio plays and partly as a series of novels.
The Ood are an alien species with telepathic abilities from the long-running science fiction series Doctor Who. In the series' narrative, they live in the distant future.
The Monster Society of Evil is a supervillain team created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. It is led by Mister Mind against their mutual enemy Captain Marvel. The team is significant as one of the first supervillain teams in comics to contain villains that a superhero had fought previously; prior to this, supervillain teams were composed of villains created just for that storyline. In fact, the Monster Society consists of every major enemy Captain Marvel had ever faced.
The D'Bari are a fictional alien race appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are most known as the people whose star system was destroyed by Phoenix during the Dark Phoenix Saga (1980).
Nebula Maker is a science fiction novel by Olaf Stapledon and published posthumously by Bran's Head Books in 1976. It was written in the 1930s and discovered in 1976. It appears that this novel was written between his other books; Last and First Men in 1930, and Star Maker in 1937.
Ape vs. Monster is a 2021 American science fiction monster film directed by Daniel Lusko and produced by The Asylum.