The Iron Star 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 1930

1930 in literature

The year 1930 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 6 - The first literary character licensing agreement is signed by A. A. Milne, granting Stephen Slesinger U.S...

 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...

.

Plot introduction

The novel concerns an African expedition. Swain, a member of the expedition, becomes demented and attempts to exterminate a peculiar species of African ape. The other members of the expedition are befriended by an intelligent ape called the Captain. The expedition discovers that the apes are in fact humans that have evolved in reverse due to exposure to a meteor and that the Captain was once human.

Reception

One newspaper review of the original edition described The Iron Star as "a fantastic thriller along unusual lines, clever and well done, but with a repulsive theme."

Boucher

Anthony Boucher

Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...

 and McComas

J. Francis McComas

Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....

 faulted the novel as "poorly written," but characterized the central idea as "curious and effective.". P. Schuyler Miller

P. Schuyler Miller

Peter Schuyler Miller was an American science fiction writer and critic.-Life:Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a life-long interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association.He...

, however, rated the novel as "Taine's greatest book, and one of the greatest in all science fiction"; he praised its "daring scientific concept" and its "perplexing mystery," as well as "a smoothness which none of [Taine's] other books quite show."

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...

 reported that "The idea is interesting, despite Taine's ignorance of zoology and his shocking racial intolerance," but that "the literary development is fumbling."

Publication history

• 1930, 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 1930, Hardback
• 1943, USA, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Pub date September 1943, Magazine
• 1951, 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 1951, Hardback