Ralph 124C 41+!

Ralph 124c 41+ A Romance of the Year 2660 was first written by Hugo Gernsback beginning in 1911 for his Modern Electrics magazine. It wouldn't be a novel until it was first gathered together in 1925 before the genre of "science fiction" was named. Gernsback was the guy who named it in the pages of his later magazine Amazing Stories. I assume most folks know that Gernsback is percieved by many as one founding father of the genre and in honor of that standing the annual award the "Hugo" bears his name. 

The story is the story of a rare intellect named Ralph 124C 41+, one of fifteen genius inventors who poplulate the world and feed the thriving society hungry for new improvements. He is a celebrated man, protected and seen as an asset to the world. As such he is isolated. That isolation comes to something of an end when he saves a young woman named Alice 212B 423 (everyone has these kinds of names) from an avalanche by long distance using his scientific genius and soon she and her father head to the United States to visit him. The two are madly in love and for the first time Ralph thinks of things other than science and inventing. 

But he's not the only one in love with Alice. There is a classic mustache-twirling villain named Fernand and a Martian named Llysanorah. Alice has rejected the unscrupulous Fernand which only makes him more determined and dangerous. Llysanorah knows that the law forbids marriage between Earth folks and Martians and is sorely depressed and eventually quite desperate. Quite a bit of this yarn is taken up describing the wonders of the world in 2660 which is brimming with technological marvels. Gernsback's interest is not primarily in spinning a story, but showcasing the wonders of a possible future paradise of electrical and chemical marvels. But that doesn't mean there isn't a story, you just have to wait for it. 

It gets into high gear when Alice is kidnapped first by Fenand and later by Llysanorah. I will say no more to allow some who want to read it, to learn how all that turns out, but it is safe to say the pursuit of the villains into space by Ralph aboard his personal spaceship is intended to be the rowsing high point of the narrative. The supposed theme of the novel is hidden in Ralph's name, but you have to wait until the last line to learn that. (You can cheat and check out the Wikipedia too if you can't wait.) This is not any means a great novel, some might argue it's not a good one. I rather liked it after I fell into its peculiar rhythm. The personalities of the two lovers are too idealized for anything like real characte development, but if you think of it as a fairy tale it works fine. 

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