183:. Mysteriously, human body parts start to be discovered scattered all over the landscape. Coincidentally, there have been instances of both humans and animals disappearing. Initially, we are led to believe that these are crimes of the natural sort, until it is discovered that they were kidnapped by invisible, ethereal beings, the Sarvants, living 50,000 feet (15,000 m) above the Earth in the upper atmosphere. It turns out that the whole planet is covered by a thin, transparent spherical membrane that covers the atmosphere in the same way that the Earth's crust covers the molten rocks beneath.
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Once they have been collected, the humans are dissected, studied and mounted for display in a sort of museum of natural history. Certain bodies are discarded, and thrown "overboard", which is the cause of the body parts which are found scattered across Bugey. This is uncovered through an account
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After managing to capture one of the ships of the
Sarvants, the French authorities discover that these enigmatic beings do not exist as individual entities, rather they are a race of tiny insectile creatures who are able to assemble and dissemble their bodies with each other in order to form
159:. It was translated into English by Brian Stableford in 2010, and is considered by many to be Renard's masterpiece, with one critic stating it "still reads as well as when it was originally published." While a science fiction story, it also combines elements of the
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found in the pocket of one of the bodies discovered, written by one of those unfortunate enough to have sojourned with
Sarvants who managed to write and who chose to kill himself in order to be dumped out of their stratospheric dwelling.
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Eventually, the
Sarvants accidentally discover that the specimens they have been acquiring are capable of both suffering and rational thought. This realization leads the Sarvants to cease their experiments.
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genres. It features invisible sentient creatures living high in Earth's atmosphere who fish for men the way we do fish, and study the specimens they catch.
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may have been the inspiration of other such stories about the Earth being unknowingly occupied by superior aliens, such as Eric Frank
Russell's
232:(1913), as well as borrowing (with permission) some of the details for his story, as was noted on the first page of Raphael's book.
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was translated into
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region of France is a picturesque area in a low series of hills at the tip of the
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is noteworthy due to its early anti-anthropomorphic treatment of the traditional
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It was acknowledged as the central idea for John N Raphael's
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temporary and functional organs controlling their machines.
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regarding the possible existence of superior earthly life.
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Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to
Science Fiction
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350:"The Fantastic Science Fiction of Maurice Renard"
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320:"Bugey Wine Region: Not Quite Savoie"
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424:. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
422:Great Themes of Science Fiction
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399:"Bibliography: The Blue Peril"
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467:Novels about alien abduction
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401:. isfdb.org
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285:February 3,
436:Categories
248:References
214:Influences
92:L. Michaud
61:Translator
306:French SF
240:In 2010,
161:detective
155:novel by
89:Publisher
230:Up Above
225:(1939).
133:29377828
69:Language
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199:Themes
165:horror
110:France
73:French
41:Author
236:Notes
177:Bugey
79:Genre
407:2014
385:2014
358:2014
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274:ISBN
175:The
171:Plot
163:and
127:OCLC
120:2010
102:1910
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