A Prophetic Romance
Encyclopedia
A 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. The book is one element in the major wave of utopian and dystopian literature that characterized the final decades of the nineteenth century.
The story is written in a form resembling an epistolary novel
: it consists of a series of reports from a Martian government official, the Lord Commissioner. He has been sent to Earth
by the "Chancellor Commander" of Mars
, the head of that planet's unified government, to report on terrestrial conditions. (The Martians are more advanced than humans, and have explored the solar system.) The time of the story is not specified, though details in the text suggest the late twentieth century, about a hundred years after the book's publication.
The Lord Commissioner travels to Earth by spaceship; he endures hallucinations due to the interplanetary "atmosphere." He lands at "Midland," the capital of the United States, and meets the president, who happens to be a woman. American society has been reformulated after a revolution around the turn of the twentieth century, when irate citizens blew up the Capitol and its congressmen. Laws must be approved by popular referenda before they take effect. The United States has expanded to included Canada and Central America. The salaries of business executives are limited. Gender equality has been achieved.
Technology has made major advances, including aircraft and electric cars; there is even a "lovemeter" that detects emotions. Vegetarianism
is dominant, and alcohol abuse is a thing of the past. The Bible
has been edited, with the bloody parts removed. Divorces are uncommon, and hard to obtain.
The Lord Commissioner falls in love with an Earth woman named Loleta, a friend of the president; he decides to remain on Earth with her.
1896 in literature
The year 1896 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Final volume of Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West....
utopian novel
Utopian and dystopian fiction
The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world, or utopia, as the setting for a novel. Dystopian fiction is the opposite: creation of a nightmare world, or dystopia...
written by John McCoy, and published pseudonymously as the work of "The Lord Commissioner," the narrator of the tale. The book is one element in the major wave of utopian and dystopian literature that characterized the final decades of the nineteenth century.
The story is written in a form resembling an epistolary novel
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
: it consists of a series of reports from a Martian government official, the Lord Commissioner. He has been sent to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
by the "Chancellor Commander" of Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, the head of that planet's unified government, to report on terrestrial conditions. (The Martians are more advanced than humans, and have explored the solar system.) The time of the story is not specified, though details in the text suggest the late twentieth century, about a hundred years after the book's publication.
The Lord Commissioner travels to Earth by spaceship; he endures hallucinations due to the interplanetary "atmosphere." He lands at "Midland," the capital of the United States, and meets the president, who happens to be a woman. American society has been reformulated after a revolution around the turn of the twentieth century, when irate citizens blew up the Capitol and its congressmen. Laws must be approved by popular referenda before they take effect. The United States has expanded to included Canada and Central America. The salaries of business executives are limited. Gender equality has been achieved.
Technology has made major advances, including aircraft and electric cars; there is even a "lovemeter" that detects emotions. Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
is dominant, and alcohol abuse is a thing of the past. The Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
has been edited, with the bloody parts removed. Divorces are uncommon, and hard to obtain.
The Lord Commissioner falls in love with an Earth woman named Loleta, a friend of the president; he decides to remain on Earth with her.