FLYING FISH “PROMETHEUS”
By Vilhelm Bergsoe
Translated by Dwight R. Decker
Vesper Press
47 pages
When little books, sometimes called chap-books, land on my
desk, they bring within their pages lots of unique, long forgotten literary
treasures. FLYING FISH “PROMETHEUS” is a
very old Danish science fiction tale reminiscent of the works of Jules
Verne. It is a rare story, considering
its source, and little known among most sci-fi buffs until only recently. It was published in 1870 and tells the story
of a Danish engineer who travels in a remarkable airship.
In the tale, the author sets his adventure in the future of
1969 and his hero is on his way to Central America to witness the opening of
the Panama Canal. The fun of this short tale is seeing which of
the author’s predictions came true and which were pure flights of imaginative fancy.
(Pun intended.) Perhaps the greatest of
these being the aircraft itself which works less than conventional dirigibles and
more like an actual flying fish having to propel itself out of a body of water
to attain flight.
For those of you who enjoy finding such long lost sci-fi
gems, this wonderful package comes with additional material to include an essay
on the author and the story’s history and a post article by the translator,
Dwight Decker, on his role in bringing the story back into print and the inherent
challenges in the translation. All in
all, FLYING FISH “PROMETHEUS” is a rare sci-fi oddity we think readers will
enjoy discovering…at long last.
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