The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (Vol. 2)

THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF A RUSSIAN SCIENTIST ACROSS THE SOLAR SYSTEM (VOLUME 2)by Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffignyadapted by Brian Stableford

Cover by Jean-Pierre Normand

The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System is an ambitious Vernian cosmic saga written between 1888 and 1896 by Georges Le Faure and Henri de Graffigny. Where Verne had limited his hero Hector Servadac to traveling on a comet, Le Faure and de Graffigny tell the detailed story of the exploration of the Solar System -- and beyond.

"We have traveled," said Fricoulet, quite placidly, "four billon kilometers in a little more than 30 hours.""But where are we?" Gontran groaned."Something like 1.2 thousand billion leagues from our own Sun," the engineer replied. "For I'm certain that the exceptionally bright star visible behind our ship is the center of our Solar System."

In this second volume, Professor Ossipoff and his fearless crew, after their harrowing adventures on Mars, pursue their rival Fedor Sharp through the storms of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. Then, chancing upon a mean of faster-than-light propulsion, after a tour of Uranus and Neptune, they embark on the first-ever journey out of the Solar System, to Alpha Centauri and beyond! Meanwhile, thanks to Tuttle's Comet, the insidious Sharp manages to return to Earth, where he plans to steal Ossipoff's discoveries...

"The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist is the longest scientific romance ever written, and it was not until the final years of the 20th century that the genre produced a handful of longer works. It is the first novel to attempt a tour of the entire Solar System, and to venture outside by means of faster-than-light travel." Brian Stableford