Retrieving 'Science in Fiction' from early 20th Century Australian Newspapers

Podcast episode 0 with Dr Rod Lambert and Professor Katherine Bode discussing the creation and value of the To Be Continued Database and Trove. {...}

Yes, it’s true. You can now learn about all the latest developments with the To Be Continued database, not only with the experts, but also with some amazing voice over artists and special sound effects through To Be Continued’ : A Lost Literature Podcast. Here’s the trailer: {...}

By November 1909, readers were informed that the three characters had been on the unknown planet in our Solar System, Lic-a-loo-ka, for over 2 years. Yet, still, how they got their food and water remains a mystery. Incidentally, by the end of the story, 15 years had past since Barrington {...}

The shock with the September 1909 release is two fold. First, the planet they land on is confirmed to be still under the star Sol. ie, they have visited another planet in the Solar System, while the language used earlier suggested that it was to another star. Secondly, even though {...}

It is a shame that nothing much happens in the story for months. Well, a lot happens, but it is from the point of view of the inventor describing his life. And, to draw out this trip even further, not only do we get various adventures, we even get a {...}

As previously posted, An Aerial Adventure, or The Secret of a Scientist, was a previously unknown, well to historians at any rate, story by the famed journalist and editor Victor Courtney. Written at some point between the ages of 13 and 15, likely with help from teachers, parents and editors, {...}

I’m so excited I can hardly contain the words. I’ve discovered a story in Trove that is of immense interest to me for two reasons. The first is, of course, that it is another space opera from 1909. The second is that it is a previously unknown story from a {...}

This story started with such promise. Representations of science, meeting aliens on the moon that were taller due to the gravity. I should have expected disappointment when after much scientific discussion about the dark side of the moon, the author, who only went by the initials F. N. wrote “How {...}

My PhD thesis will be written around the database To Be Continued. I’m very grateful to not only be using the information in the database, but also performing data entry enabling further stories to be added to the database. This is incredibly exciting as I get to see the fiction {...}

Most of the chapters of this serial by Charles H. Hunt exist, however the OCR of those newspaper pages are not the best. Here is an excerpt from chapter IV, where the protagonist encounters the feathered humanoid aliens for the first time: c• HAPu i IV. It was not :long before {...}

Attributed to ‘f. n’ and published in 1909 it features a man that suddenly finds himself on the moon and needs to make friends quickly to survive. Initially, I was drawn to the story due to the writer considering that the lower gravity of the moon would mean taller aliens {...}

I should mention a space opera I found before The World’s Last Wonder (1901). Venus Calling by Frank H. Bodle (1934). This was retrieved using the keyphrase ‘space ship’. Unfortunately, it was the only one in the to be continued database that appeared for that phrase. Up until ‘space ship’, {...}

Professor Katherine Bode of the Australian National University created the To Be Continued database. She recently gave a presentation about it. You can watch it online here: {...}

As discussed in a previous blog post, I identified a great space opera story in Australian Newspaper Fiction from 1901. Unfortunately it was missing chapter IV. I am very grateful for the help of both the National Library of Australia and Melbourne University Library in finding the missing chapter. At {...}

There are several parts to my PhD thesis. This blog will focus on one aspect which is the discovery and retrieval of speculative fiction from the To Be Continued Database in conjunction with the Trove database. I’m currently focused on retrieving space opera works from early 20th century newspapers. To {...}