Barr, James
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1862-1923) Canadian-born author, in the UK from 1883, of much short fiction of sf interest, in particular "The Last Englishman" (July 1906 Monthly Story Blue Book Magazine), a Yellow Peril tale in which a worldwide Chinese hegemony proves hollow, and "The World of the Vanishing Point" (March 1922 Strand), a striking adventure in a microscopic world of Monsters (see Great and Small). Also of note was a series for The Red Magazine during 1911 which looked into possible events of the Near Future, including "When Women Won" (15 April) about women getting the vote, "Peace Came!" (1 May) about the common people uniting against War, and "Lord Hagen's Dress Suit" (15 August) where advancing Technology has a retrograde effect and forces people back into caves. The Gods Give My Donkey Wings (1895) as by Angus Evan Abbott is a Lost Race tale in which a mountaintop Utopia is mocked. In The Witchery of the Serpent (1907), a giant sea serpent washes up against the Scottish coast, generating some fairly dire emotions.
This author was the younger brother of Robert Barr. He sometimes wrote as Angus Evan Abbot, wrongly given as his middle names by some sources ("James Angus Evan Abbot Barr") but in fact borrowed from others: Angus Evan, a respected teacher from his childhood, and Sir John Abbott, of Canada 1891-1892. [JC/MA]
James Barr
born Wallacetown, Ontario, Canada: 7 April 1862
died Putney, London: 21 March 1923
works
- The Gods Give My Donkey Wings (London: Methuen and Co, 1895) as by Angus Evan Abbott [this title has been given incorrectly in some catalogues as The Gods Gave My Donkey Wings: hb/]
- The Witchery of the Serpent (London: Gay and Bird, 1907) [hb/P W]
links
previous versions of this entry