Austin, F Britten
Entry updated 18 November 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1885-1941) UK author and World War One army captain, most noted for his collections of stories illustrating problems for UK military security arising in Future Wars from new Weapons and tactics: In Action: Studies of War (coll 1913), Battlewrack (coll 1917), and The War-God Walks Again (coll 1926; cut 1926). The latter volume is occasionally eloquent; whether "When the War-God Walks Again" (October 1927 Chums) directly duplicates material from the book itself has not been established. "By the Aero-Mail: A Romance of To-Morrow" (April 1919 Strand) adumbrates but does not quite describe a Pax Aeronautica world. Austin also wrote several volumes of linked stories, each comprising a kind of anthropological romance telling the development of a significant aspect of Man's history through the ages; examples are A Saga of the Sea (coll of linked stories 1929), where a ship's history is told, and A Saga of the Sword (coll of linked stories 1928). The first and last stories of each of these collections tend to infringe upon sf material and concerns. His other works also include some marginal sf; for example, the final tale in The Red Flag (coll of linked stories 1932) is set in 1977. [JC/DRL]
see also: Origin of Man.
Frederick Britten Austin
born Mile End, London: 8 May 1885
died Weston-super-Mare, Somerset: 12 March 1941
works
- In Action: Studies of War (London: London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1913) [coll: hb/]
- Battlewrack (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1917) [coll: hb/]
- According to Orders (London: Andrew Melrose, 1918) [coll: hb/]
- On the Borderland (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1922) [coll: hb/]
- Under the Lens (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1924) [coll: hb/]
- Thirteen (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1925) [coll: hb/Horace Taylor]
- The War-God Walks Again (London: Williams and Norgate, 1926) [coll: hb/]
- The War God Walks Again (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1926) [coll: with one story cut: hb/]
- When Mankind Was Young (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1927) [coll of linked stories: hb/]
- A Saga of the Sword (London: Arrowsmith, 1928) [hb/Brier]
- A Saga of the Sea (London: Ernest Benn, 1929) [coll of linked stories: hb/]
- Tomorrow (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, circa 1930) [coll: hb/]
- The Red Flag (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1932) [coll of linked stories: hb/]
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