Free4Me Library: "Titanic" Sci-Fi

I have to start off by saying I am FASCINATED by the RMS Titanic. (Before I lose you, yes, I know, the Titanic is history and we’re here to talk science fiction… but stay with me a bit longer.) I’ve seen most all of the movies and television dramas (from excellent to groan-worthy), gone to the exhibits in several different cities (I survived every time, and you know what I mean if you’ve been to the exhibits), read books on all different aspects of it, watched every documentary that airs (one of the most intriguing is about the iceberg… no, really!), and even commemorated the 100th anniversary with a Titanic weekend at the Grand Hotel.

So yeah, I’d say it interests me. And I think what makes it so compelling is that looking back, we see not only the pomp and pageantry, hope and glory… but all the could have been’s and the if only’s… if only there had been more lifeboats, if only they had been filled to capacity then more lives could have been saved and more contributed to this world. What did we lose that night? What creations would have been a part of our world? Could someone that perished have been the one to make the next great scientific discovery or invent something to benefit society or composed great symphonies or just made the world a better place? We’ll never know. And even though we can know who was on the ship and stories of those who survived and histories of those who didn’t, we can’t really know what they were thinking, imagining, hoping. (If only someone had read 1898’s Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan-so eerily similar to what happened to Titanic! Really, check it out! Our e-Book is linked HERE!)

My interest in RMS Titanic began long before I knew I had a distant tie to it. My maternal great-grandmother emigrated to the US on the RMS Olympic, the sister ship of the Titanic and a contributor to several reasons why she was where she was when she was. My great-grandmother sailed with her three small children and a young girl from their village in December of 1911. Four months before the Titanic’s maiden voyage. If she had waited until spring, I may not be here. And her captain? None other than EJ Smith, master of the Titanic. When I learned of this connection, I really began to take an interest in the people and their stories. I wanted to learn more about the third class passengers, as that’s what my relatives were, but the bulk of the information is about the first class. Guggenheim, Brown, Strauss, Thayer… Astor. Ah yes, John Jacob Astor IV. At one of the exhibits I went to, a little boy got Astor as his passenger card…”Ha Ha! I got JJ Astor, the richest man on the Titanic, and you’re just in steerage!” he said to me (I don’t think he knew Astors’ eventual fate… or that I, the lowly steerage girl, survived).

Have you stayed with me so far? Because however much SciFi4Me is known for digressing, sometimes it really is a way to bring us right back to where we wanted to go, and with extra meaning. You see, John Jacob Astor IV was one of the richest men in the world, and his accomplishments included being a real estate magnate, developer of the turbine engine, patenting many inventions… and writing A Journey in Other Worlds, an 1894 science fiction novel about life in the year 2000 on the planets Saturn and Jupiter. (Ah! THERE it is! Sci-Fi! Phew!) Four years before Morgan Robertson published his novella about a grand ocean liner sinking after striking an iceberg (really, check out Futility), Astor imagined a future more than 100 years hence (some 14 years ago), speculating about technological invention, including a worldwide telephone network, solar power, air travel, space travel to the planets Saturn and Jupiter, and terraforming engineering projects such as an Arctic Ocean dam and adjusting the Earth’s axial tilt (by the Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company). This future has the United States as a multi-continental superpower, and race conflict is a thing of the past. After so much talk lately about the pervasiveness of dystopian sci-fi (ahem, Jason), take a moment to delve into this thoughtful and adventurous story with a dazzling array of futuristic devices. A Journey in Other Worlds is an unforgettable story of utopias and humankind’s restless exploration of the stars.

It is this looking forward to a hopeful future that brings a new side to the tragedy of 102 years ago. On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail with 1,317 passengers and 885 crew. On April 15, the RMS Carpathia sailed for New York with only about 710 Titanic survivors. Those on the Titanic weren’t fiction. They weren’t characters in a movie. They were real people who had hopes and dreams. They had visions of the future that we will never know… except for JJ Astor, who left this tale. Take a moment to remember those that were lost, then look to the future with this tale from the past.

A Journey to Other Worlds is our latest addition to the Free4Me Library, as it Futility. Check out all our titles today! New titles coming out every month, including classic Astounding Stories magazines!