Thanks to the Gutenberg Projec
Thanks to the Gutenberg Project, I've just read Robertson's "prophetic" story Beyond the Spectrum.
This story is grossly mis-represented on many web sites. It is said to foretell aspects of WW II in the Pacific, including aircraft and nuclear weapons. This pure boloney.
The only resemblance to the Pacific war is that Japan begins attacks on US warships without a declaration of war. The rest is nothing like the real war. Here are some facts.
Japan is intent on attacking San Francisco, not Hawaii. The attack is a complete failure.
There are no aircraft and no "sun bombs".
The story is not a book. It's a short story.
The special weapon in the story is a kind of ray gun. An American inventor makes a powerful arc light, with a reflector that focuses it into a narrow beam. By the usual sci-fi mumbo jumbo, he removes all visible light from the beam, leaving only ultraviolet. This invisible beam can be shone into the eyes of a ship's crew at night, blinding them for a week or so.
The Japanese copy the invention and turn it on US warships. These struggle into port, crewed by cooks, stokers and other crew from below decks. (Why the Japanese didn't sink the ships while their crews were disabled I leave to Robertson).
The inventor goes out against the Japanese, having equipped his crew with spectacles that protect them against the weapon. The Japanese are defeated, America triumphs and Robertson gets a prize for a silly story.
This tale can be read at the Gutenberg Project, which has appended it to The Wreck of the Titan. There's also a tale called The Pirates which has some wonderfully awful dialogue.
