Meyer, John J
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1873-1948) US author of several loosely linked apostrophic picaresques. They break down into two rough series. The Cerebroscope sequence – comprising 20,000 Trails Under the Universe with the Cerebroscope [for full subtitles throughout see Checklist] (1917) and The Deer-Smellers of Haunted Mountain (1921) – features a device, the cerebroscope, capable of Communications with the dead, of use when the protagonist of the second volume finds a kind of Lost Race of Germans skulking Underground somewhere in the Appalachians, and serves as well as a guidance system for the protagonists of the two books to gain the Brotherhood of Man. The Mentator sequence – comprising 13 Seconds that Rocked the World; Or, the Mentator (1935) and Try Another World (1942; vt The Immortal Tales of Joe Shaun 1944) – is based on the foggily sf-like premise that "Anything that brain can imagine is possible": including in this case the mentator, an artificial brain, in effect a primitive AI, a kind of Hive Mind which, incorporates the thoughts of all mankind, runs the world of the future on rational lines. [JC]
John Joseph Meyer
born 1873
died 1948
works
series
Cerebroscope
- 20,000 Trails Under the Universe with the Cerebroscope: A Tale of Wonderful Adventure: A Protest Against the Principle of Death in Nature: The Gods, Nature and Man on Trial in God's Country (New York: Privately Printed, 1917) [Cerebroscope: hb/]
- The Deer-Smellers of Haunted Mountain: The Almost Unbelievable Experiences of a Cerebroic Hunter in the Hills of This World and the Lowlands of the Universe with a Gypsy-Eyed Spirit Adventurer, Humorously Tattle-Taled (New York: The Cerebroscope Co, 1921) [Cerebroscope: hb/]
Mentator
- 13 Seconds that Rocked the World; Or, the Mentator: A Romance of a Mankind Director in an Age of Certified Reason (New York: Rae D Henkle, 1935) [Mentator: hb/Nat Falk]
- Try Another World: A Saga Coursing its Way through the Six Adventures of Joe Shaun Which Thrilled the Village of Caryldale (New York: The Business Bourse, 1942) [Mentator: hb/]
- The Immortal Tales of Joe Shaun: An Enchanting Artist Makes the Five Immortal Hopes and Dreams of Mankind Come True: Delightful Catnip for the Mind (New York: The Caryldale Library, 1944) [vt of the above: Mentator: hb/]
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