Apparently this is Griffith's first and signature s.f. novel. It certainly is full of interesting concepts both high and low: war to end all wars, a progressive income tax, the intrigue of underground revolutionaries, aerial warships, international politics, advanced explosives and more.

There are re

This book was published in 1893 and fairly accurately predicted the invention of heavier-than-air vehicles in the early 1900s, although the planes were more like modern helicopters than the modified gliders that the Wrights first developed. Nevertheless, I found the description of the airplane’s des

The plot concerns Richard Arnold, a young man in England at the beginning of the 20th century who devotes his life to creating the world's first fully functional airship. After years of effort, he finally succeeds, but at the expense of everything else in his life, to the point that he finds himself

This one didn't hold up very well for me. Moorcock's update of the idea is a much more enjoyable read. Griffith's approach is just so juvenile much of the time--which isn't to say childish, it's more of a young man's immaturity.

The whole premise: that a powerful terrorist force is trying to destroy

An early example of a genre known, apparently, as"invasion fiction", this is a mix of early sf and political polemic. It's very much of its time, with airships regarded as the weapon that would make their possessor unbeatable and future war impossible. The idea of an Anglo-Saxon alliance being the n

I hadn't read any Griffith before and found this a very interesting work in comparison with other SF novels of the 1890s and early 1900s, such as _The Time Machine_ and _The Purple Cloud_. Griffith is very interested in ships, how they work, and the advantages that they provide, so a lot of this is