The Eastern USA and Western Europe are all that remain of the white man's empire. The rest of the world is under the control of the evil Vitons. |
Science Fantasy
Russell took readers into the future: the events of "Sinister Barrier" are set in the year 2015. In the story, the burning New York city (depicted on the magazine's cover by Harold Scott, image shown to the right) has been subjected to long-range artillery bombardment. Russell's imagined future war is essentially a hypertrophied World War I battle featuring a Yellow Horde of invaders from Asia. What makes me want to categorize "Sinister Barrier" as a science fantasy story is that the war is started by aliens, "energy beings" that Russell called Vitons. The idea of living beings that are made of energy seems more like fantasy than science.
Download the issue of Unknown that contains "Sinister Barrier" from this website. |
That's no moon! |
Here in the age of the internet (2019 as I write this), it is not easy to "buy into" Russell's imagined world of 2015. However, "Sinister Barrier" is of interest to me because my own writing obsession, the Exode Saga, deals with the same problem: how to reveal to Earthlings that aliens have long been visiting our world. You can download the March 1939 issue of Unknown from this website.
Chased by evil Vitons! |
cover art by Ralph McQuarrie |
I read the original magazine version of "Sinister Barrier", but there is apparently a longer version that was published in book format. I have no patience for military science fiction, so the original shorter version of the story already seems far too long to me.
"Sinister Barrier" is full of scientists and medical doctors, almost all of whom are men. In my view, the one part of the story that could have been expanded involves doctor Harmony Curtis. There is more than one woman in the story, but most of them don't get to do much. Since this was 1939 magazine publishing, when Harmony is about to get smooched by the hero of the story, everything fades to black. The End.
in the Ekcolir Reality |
Telpathy
The titular sinister barrier is created by our limited human senses. However, by making use of a magic potion (called Bjornson's Formula, consisting of iodine, mescal and methylene blue), humans can suddenly see into the long wavelength end of the spectrum and see the evil Vitons who have long fed off of human emotions. I despise the Sci Fi plot of "energy beings" who feed on human emotions (which I was first exposed to by way of Star Trek). The Vitons have telepathic powers and can control the minds of humans or, by "pushing" harder with their evil minds, they can even kill humans.
more telepathy from Russell (1950s) |
I've been reading old stories about telepathy in order to help me decide how to deal with this delicate plot element in the Exode Saga. Sadly, Russell did not provide readers with much information about human telepathy in "Sinister Barrier".
source |
Next: telepathy and time travel in 1950
visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers |
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