Synopsis
Mars suddenly and swiftly leaves orbit and heads straight at the earth. Dr. Whitley has an idea that a magnetic anomoly may be connected to this. He convinces Allan to come with him to Easter Island, where the anomoly seems to ahve originated.
History
First publication: Weird Tales, serialized September to November 1926
Review
Clearly influenced by Wells’ The War of the Worlds, but going farther to establish a different narrative that would set the tone for alien invasion pulp stories for a long time. Here you have the Martian invasion and miraculous sciences, but you have a scientist as one of the main protagonists, who has ideas about what is going on. He investigates while the world panics. This story set the standard for science fiction for more than just Hamilton’s stories, but most of the stories published in the late 20s and through the thirties, and all the way to the B-movies made during the 1950s.
Videos
We have the story in these editions:
The Metal Giants and Others: The Collected Edmond Hamilton Volume One, hardcover, Haffner Press, 2009-02-13
