“The Crystal Horde” by John Taine. Reading: Fantasy Press, 1952. First edition. Jacket design by Hannes Bok.
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
“Something was moving about the house. It was not alive, nor was it being propelled. Yet it moved.” That is the beginning of one of the most engrossing science novels ever to appear in print. Charged with thrills and suspense, it grips and holds your attention from the very first word.
When Captain Robert Lane of the U.S. Marines leaves for the Orient on the day before Easter, he has no idea that his young wife and four-year-old son are to become involved in a conflict far more deadly than the one in which he is to engage, a war older than the human race. Nor does he realize that he himself is potentially the most dangerous man in the world.
“The Crystal Horde” begins with an Easter egg, a storage egg dyed a virulent green, and it concludes with one of the most tremendous – and unique – battles ever conceived by the mind of man. The body of the tale is made up of action and mystery, beginning in California and moving from there to the interior of China.
Written by Dr. E.T. Bell of the California Institute of Technology (who writes science fiction as “John Taine”), “The Crystal Horde” displays the author’s customary ingenuity and originality in dealing with the unusual. In marked contrast with the otherworldly menace which supplies the basic plot of the story is the array of all-too-human characters. Dr. Saxby, who collects earthquakes, is definitely not a conventional science fiction scientist. He might well be one of Dr. Bell’s colleagues. You will be interested in meeting Hu the Good and his daughter, White Lily; the communist agents, Markoff and Liapanouff; and other ordinary and extraordinary people.
It is worth noting that, although “The Crystal Horde” cannot be called a satire in any sense of the word, Dr. Bell was unable to resist completely the thrusting of a satiric scalpel into some of the infected areas of modern society – and on occasion giving it a not-too-gentle twist!
“The Crystal Horde,” to summarize, is adult, literate reading fare – entertaining and thought-provoking, and written with the skill you’d expect to find in the work of an author who has produced twenty-five reasonably successful books.
“The Crystal Horde” by John Taine. Reading: Fantasy Press, 1952. First edition. Jacket design by Hannes Bok.
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
“Something was moving about the house. It was not alive, nor was it being propelled. Yet it moved.” That is the beginning of one of the most engrossing science novels ever to appear in print. Charged with thrills and suspense, it grips and holds your attention from the very first word.
When Captain Robert Lane of the U.S. Marines leaves for the Orient on the day before Easter, he has no idea that his young wife and four-year-old son are to become involved in a conflict far more deadly than the one in which he is to engage, a war older than the human race. Nor does he realize that he himself is potentially the most dangerous man in the world.
“The Crystal Horde” begins with an Easter egg, a storage egg dyed a virulent green, and it concludes with one of the most tremendous – and unique – battles ever conceived by the mind of man. The body of the tale is made up of action and mystery, beginning in California and moving from there to the interior of China.
Written by Dr. E.T. Bell of the California Institute of Technology (who writes science fiction as “John Taine”), “The Crystal Horde” displays the author’s customary ingenuity and originality in dealing with the unusual. In marked contrast with the otherworldly menace which supplies the basic plot of the story is the array of all-too-human characters. Dr. Saxby, who collects earthquakes, is definitely not a conventional science fiction scientist. He might well be one of Dr. Bell’s colleagues. You will be interested in meeting Hu the Good and his daughter, White Lily; the communist agents, Markoff and Liapanouff; and other ordinary and extraordinary people.
It is worth noting that, although “The Crystal Horde” cannot be called a satire in any sense of the word, Dr. Bell was unable to resist completely the thrusting of a satiric scalpel into some of the infected areas of modern society – and on occasion giving it a not-too-gentle twist!
“The Crystal Horde,” to summarize, is adult, literate reading fare – entertaining and thought-provoking, and written with the skill you’d expect to find in the work of an author who has produced twenty-five reasonably successful books.