Berna, Paul
Entry updated 24 July 2023. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of French author Jean-Marie-Edmond Sabran (1908-1994), prolific in various genres, who also wrote as Joël Audrenn, Bernard Deleuze and Paul Gerrard; of his many books for children as by Paul Berna, the most famous is the non-fantastic Le cheval sans tête (1955; trans John Buchanan-Brown as A Hundred Million Francs 1957). Of his several tales of sf interest, the Threshold of the Stars sequence – comprising La porte des ètoiles (1954; trans John Buchanan-Brown as Threshold of the Stars 1958) and its sequel Le continent du ciel (1955; trans John Buchanan-Brown as Continent in the Sky 1959) – presents a moderately Paranoid vision of British-American intentions in space, countered by a secret French plan to Terraform the Moon. In La dernière aube (1974; uncredited trans as The Last Dawn 1977), which was written for the Young Adult market, a planet-wide Disaster follows Earth's impact with a Comet; the young protagonists; seven teenagers, who been on a cross-country trip on horseback, have survive into an arctic aftermath, find other survivors and a sheltered farmstead where flowers have begun to bloom (see Cosy Catastrophe). [JC]
Jean-Marie-Edmond Sabran
born Hyères, France: 21 February 1908
died Paris: 19 January 1994
works
series
Threshold of the Stars
- La porte des ètoiles (Paris: Bibliotheque Rouge et Or, 1954) [Threshold of the Stars: hb/Guy Sabran]
- Threshold of the Stars (London: The Bodley Head, 1958) [trans by John Buchanan-Brown of the above: Threshold of the Stars: hb/Geraldine Spence]
- Le continent du ciel (Paris: Éditions Genérale Publicité, 1955) [Threshold of the Stars: hb/Guy Sabran]
- Continent in the Sky (London: The Bodley Head, 1959) [trans by John Buchanan-Brown of the above: Threshold of the Stars: hb/Janet Duchesne]
individual titles
- La dernière aube (Paris: Éditions G P, 1974) [binding unknown/]
- The Last Dawn (London: Angus and Robertson, 1977) [uncredited trans of the above: hb/Gareth Ffloyd]
links
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