The Man Who Saw the Future

The Man Who Saw the Future by Edmond Hamilton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Looking through my unheard audiobooks I ran across one of my old favorite writers, Edmond Hamilton. I had a Librovox recording of "The Man Who Saw the Future". I went online and found a Project Gutenberg edition of the book published on February 13, 2009, illustrated by Leo Morey — so I could read along with the narration by Gregg Margarite, one of my favorite ebook narrators.

"The Man Who Saw the Future" by Edmond Hamilton was first made into an ebook from Amazing Stories of February 1961, but the story was first published in Amazing Stories of October 1930.

In Edmond's story Henri Lothiere, an apothecary's assistant of Paris in 1444 is a curious soul at a time when being curious could get a person killed. It starts with the Jean De Marselait, Inquisitor Extraordinary of the King of France reading the charges against Henri, an alleged sorcerer.


The charges were many. The Inquisitor had plenty who witnessed and attested to Henri Lothiere's sorcery. At the conclusion of the reading of charges Henri was offered the opportunity to dispute the allegations -- which the inquisitor believed burning was the appropriate punishment.

Henri admitted that he could not refute any of the testimony but wanted to respond to the charges if allowed to tell it all from beginning to end.

This is one of the favorite ways early Science Fiction writers liked to tell their story: To have a character narrate something fantastic that they witnessed. This is what happens in this story.

Henri is given the permission of the court to tell his story. Henri explains he has always been curious - wanting to know things like how the birds fly, and other such marvels. Then came the loud thunderclaps in a near-by field that had no explanation. No clouds in the sky, nothing anyone could see caused the noise. Henri was exceedingly curious. So he investigated.

As witnesses testified he went to the park and watched everything for hours, including the sky, on several days. Henri could not explain the thunderclaps. Trying to learn more, he gathered some instruments and went to the middle of the field to see if he could make any measurements when he heard the thunderclaps. What happened next was unbelievable, explained Henri. Yes, he admitted, he did vanish.

At the conclusion of his story it explained all that the witnesses had testified about. Then Henri awaited his judgment.

Considering the title of the book you may guess what Henri had to testify about but I'll leave that for your enjoyment.

When you decide to enjoy this short 1930s book, keep in mind the events take place in 1444 and 1944. The author, Edmond, was projecting his speculation only 14 years into the future. He published the story in 1930, and the events his character, Henri, described took place in 1944. I find the events imagined extremely optimistic of the author.

I enjoy thinking about the authors of these stories written in the 20s and 30s as much as I enjoy the stories. I grew up reading reprints of the old Doc Savage adventures from the 30s and 40s. In the 60s and 70s, when I read 130 Doc Savage novels. Many of the scientific advancements in those books were either new inventions in the 70s, or were still fiction.

My older brother, Elvin, was always reading, always excited about Doc Savage. He would tell me some of what he read. Naturally, being the younger brother I wanted to read the books too. My love of adventure books is, in part, me trying to be like my big brother Elvin, may he rest in peace. Maybe that's why I routinely venture back to writers like Edmond Hamilton and Lester Dent.

You can get free copies of this ebook and audiobook.
Epub: Gutenberg.org, Amazon.com
Audiobook: Librovox MP3

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