“The Brick Moon” was written as a parody and serialized in the Atlantic Monthly in 18. Hale came from New England “royalty” including his great uncle, the oft-quoted but unfortunate failed spy, Nathan Hale. There are no "Man-Bats" in this particular story, but it wouldn't be much less believable if there were.Įdward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was a writer and theologian most famous for his Union propaganda piece, “The Man Without a Country,” penned in 1863 to lend support for the Civil War effort. If you've never heard of that, take a look at The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York. I'm pretty sure that the author knew that he was going far afield from realism. Always plenty of environment to go around! Parts 2 to 4 become more silly, but I won't spoil it by saying why. Pretty wild to think about that! It involves cutting down lots of trees and damming lots of rivers, etc., but there is no hint of worry about harming the environment.
Part 1 seems like "Hard SF" in that it tries to seriously examine how one could construct an artificial moon and put it into orbit using technology available around the time of the American Civil War. (See Longitude for the history of that prize.) Written around 1870, this story imagines trying to put an artificial moon into orbit so that it can be used to determine longitude while at sea, thus winning a big prize. Entertaining, particularly as an example of how Science and Science Fiction have changed over the years.
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