Green Fire is a science fiction

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 by author John Taine (pseudonym of Eric Temple Bell). It was first published in 1928

1928 in literature

The year 1928 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Ford Madox Ford publishes Last Post. It is the final book of a four-volume work titled Parade's End published between 1924 and 1928....

 by E. P. Dutton

E. P. Dutton

E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. In 1986, the company was acquired by Penguin Group and split into two imprints: Dutton Penguin and Dutton Children's Books.-History:Edward Payson Dutton founded...

. The novel was adapted and produced as a play.

Plot introduction

The novel concerns two corporations competing to develop the power of atomic energy. Independent Laboratories is working for the advancement of mankind, and Consolidated Power is working for personal gain. Nature goes berserk, and James Ferguson, the leader of Independent, discovers that Jevic, the Director of Consolidated, has achieved his goal. Nebulae in space are marked with a greenish glow and then are obliterated. MacRobert, who has previously refused offers from either corporation, is placed in charge of Independent. He disposes of Jevic in time to end the destruction.

Publication history

• 1928, USA, E. P. Dutton
  E. P. Dutton
  E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. In 1986, the company was acquired by Penguin Group and split into two imprints: Dutton Penguin and Dutton Children's Books.-History:Edward Payson Dutton founded...
  
   , Pub date 1928, Hardback
• 1952, USA, Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.
  Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.
  Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc., or FPCI, was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing company established in 1946. It was the fourth small press company founded by William L...
  
   , Pub date 1952, Hardback

Reception

Basil Davenport, reviewing the novel for The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, faulted the story's "psychological crudities," but noted that Green Fire was also marked by "some striking concepts, and a duel of powers with real suspense."

Everett F. Bleiler

Everett F. Bleiler

Everett Franklin Bleiler was an editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called...

 faulted the novel for defects including "poor exposition," noted that Jevic was modeled on Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...

, and found the fictionalized account of his early life "fascinating."