Lest Ye Be JUDGEd

THE unsigned book reviewer in the January 24, 1931 issue of Judge gives the once-over to a new book by a relatively new author:

Open Road Media's assessment of The Murderer Invisible is a little more informative than our Judge critic (also online HERE):

  A vengeful scientist uses his brilliant discovery to unleash terror on the world in this timeless science fiction classic from an early-twentieth-century master . . .

  The scientific community has always shunned William Carpenter. A strange, hulking giant, a talented biochemical investigator, and the self-styled "greatest mind in the western world," he has locked himself inside a house with no windows, in the most desolate reaches of New Jersey, where he can conduct his experiments in peace and isolation. Here in his personal sanctuary, Carpenter has found something astonishing that could alter life on Earth as we know it: a chemical compound that can render all matter invisible, from rocks to plants to people. But the twisted genius has no intention of using this breakthrough to benefit the planet. Instead, he is about to declare war on all humankind by launching an unseen campaign of terror and destruction. For years the world has ignored William Carpenter, labeling him insane, sociopathic, or worst of all, insignificant. And now the world will have to pay.

  The early works of novelist, editor, short story writer, essayist, and screenwriter Philip Wylie were primary influences on the creation of characters like Flash Gordon, Superman, and Travis McGee. First published in 1931, The Murderer Invisible takes H. G. Wells's classic Invisible Man several giant leaps further, resulting in a chilling tale of madness and science run amok that is at once a gripping adventure and a prescient commentary on man and society.

Archive.org has the 1976 reprint of The Murderer Invisible (HERE; borrow only).

Here's the headnote to the Hyperion reprint (also online HERE):

There's plenty of information available about Philip Wylie (1902-71; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

The reprints page for The Murderer Invisible (ISFDb is HERE).

Nicholas Laudadio of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has a five-page summary (HERE) of Philip Wylie's science fiction, from which we quote:

  Wylie’s first novel for Farrar was The Murderer Invisible (1931), a tale inspired by Well’s Invisible Man. He then went on to write a few “serious” novels and worked through a series of quite successful murder mysteries with Balmer. Next, Wylie and Balmer wrote When Worlds Collide (1932), a retelling of the Noah’s ark tale in which humankind struggles to build a giant spacecraft to help save earth’s creatures and cultures from a wandering planet on a collision course with earth. In contrast to Balmer’s wild disregard for scientific verisimilitude—an issue that would often emerge in the course of their partnership—Wylie insisted on getting the science of the novel “right” and thus he consulted with astronomers on the novel’s various astrophysical details. When Worlds Collide was slated to be made into a film directed by Cecil B. Demille, but a suitable screenplay couldn’t be found, and the idea was shelved for twenty years. (In 1951 Rudolph Maté a version approved by Wylie starring Richard Derr and Barbara Rush that received much praise.) When the novel first appeared in serial form in Bluebook, it was greeted with tremendous sales and has remained in print since, becoming one of the most 

successful science fiction stories of the period.

When Worlds Collide, the novel, is online in multiple formats at Faded Page (HERE).

But if you're in a hurry, the comic book version of the movie When Worlds Collide is at Comic Books Plus (HERE) and Archive.org (HERE).

Resources:

- A Philip Wylie short story that will give you an inkling of his attitudes but which has seen only a few reprintings since its first appearance in 1946 is "Blunder" (SFFAudio HERE; 18 pages); the ISFDb reprints page for the story is (HERE).

The bottom line:

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