Vandel, Jean-Gaston
Entry updated 1 October 2022. Tagged: Author.
Joint pseudonym of Belgian authors Jean Libert (1913-1995) and Gaston Vandenpanhuyse (1913-1981), best known for the nonfantastic Coplan FX-18 sequence of thrillers as by Paul Kenny. Their twenty sf novels under the ambitious Anticipations label, used by the publisher Fleuve Noir for a large number of titles in the 1950s, tend to place speculative renderings of various types of society – some technocratic, some more loosely constructed – into Space Opera contexts. Most of these titles are singletons, with the exception of the tales making up the Les chevaliers de l'espace ["The Space Knights"] sequence beginning with Chevaliers d l'espace ["The Space Knights"] (1952). Operating for centuries from a space platform (see Space Habitats), the Knights are Secret Masters of the world, maintaining a planet-wide elite Pax Aeronautica, subverting nation states when they become too aggressive, and defending Earth from Alien Invasion.
Of Vandel's novels only one has appeared in English, Attentat Cosmique (1953; trans Eugene Ascher as Enemy Beyond Pluto 1954), in which an Invasion of Aliens native to Pluto is finally defeated, when the Plutonians' Biological Weapons have almost triumphed, after the home forces devise a Ray fatal to the foe. [JC]
Jean Libert
born Brussels, Belgium: 1913
died Brussels, Belgium: 27 December 1995
Gaston Vandenpanhuyse
born Brussels, Belgium: 1913
died Brussels, Belgium: 1981
works
series
Les chevaliers de l'espace ["The Space Knights"]
- Chevaliers d l'espace ["The Space Knights"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1952) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: The Space Knights: pb/René Brantonne]
- Le Satellite artificiel ["The Artificial Satellite"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1952) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: The Space Knights: pb/René Brantonne]
- Les Astres morts ["The Dead Stars"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1952) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: The Space Knights: pb/René Brantonne]
individual titles
- Alerte aux robots ["Alert: Robots"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1952) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Frontières du vide ["Frontiers of the Void"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1953) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Le Soleil sous la mer ["The Sun Under the Sea"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1953) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Attentat cosmique (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1954) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Enemy Beyond Pluto (London: Hector Kelly Limited, 1954) [trans by Eugene Ascher of the above: hb/uncredited]
- Incroyable futur ["Incredible Future"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1953) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Agonie de civilisés ["Agony of the Civilized"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1953) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Pirate de la science ["Pirate of Science"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1953) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Fuite dans l'inconnu ["Flight into the Unknown"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1954) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/]
- Naufragés des galaxies ["Wreckage of the Galaxies"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1954) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/]
- Territoire robot ["Robot Territory"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1954) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Les Titan de l'énergie ["The Titans of Energy"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1955) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Raid sur Delta ["Raid Over Delta"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1955) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/]
- Départ pour l'avenir ["Departure for the Future"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1956) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/]
- Bureau de l'invisible ["Office of the Invisible"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1956) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Les Voix de l'univers ["The Voices of the Universe"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1956) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- La Foudre anti-D ["The Anti-D Lightning"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1956) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
- Le Troisième Bocal ["The Third Jar"] (Paris: Editions Fleuve Noir, 1956) [in the publisher's Anticipations series: pb/René Brantonne]
about the author
- Bradford Lyau. The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction: Stepchildren of Voltaire (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2011) [nonfiction: pp 140-169: pb/Wood River Gallery]
links
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