Cirrus@Austlit

'For the leading characters of his new book, "The Missing Angel," Erle Cox has chosen a young and personable young business man (very wealthy and very pure); a man-about-town (wicked); a nagging wife (disagreeable); a private secretary (beautiful), and the Devil himself. Then he provided himself with a big spoon and mixed them all up, giving us a farce which is at times extremely humorous, though always quite improbable. If you can look upon it from the point of view of rather robust humour you will probably enjoy the book.

'Tydvil Jones was brought up very carefully, almost, one might say, in seclusion, and when he inherited his father's flourishing business he found himself at a decided disadvantage. It was only then that he discovered that his wife was not like other women. She nagged and persecuted him, lied, and generally controlled him. And eventually he woke up, and decided to put a stop to it.

'In his scheme Tydvil Jones was associated and helped in every way by the gentleman who was known as Nicholas Senior. Through his guidance Tydvil was able to change personalities with Billy Brewer, a young man who believed in living life to the fullest degree possible. The resulting chaos may well be imagined, but for three months Tydvil had more fun and did more disreputable things than he would at one time have thought possible in a whole lifetime of sin.

As may be imagined this change of personalities led to some hilarity and more strife, with the police department frequently chasing the wrong man. It all ends happily in the end.'

Source:

'Amusing Farce by an Australian Writer', Western Mail, 30 January 1947, p.24.

'A Fanciful But Not Entirely Credible Tale of an Eccentric Scientist Who Took a Novel Revenge on Society.'

Source: Magazine blurb.

Adapted from Erle Cox's lost civilisation novel of the same name.

'Think of enemy troops stealing through the night on Fremantle without a formal declaration of war;

'Think of their ships, under the guard of destroyers, landing soldiers at Cottesloe and Fremantle;

'Think of an enemy raking St. George's Terrace with machine gun fire, charging down Barrack-street at the double with fixed bayonets;

'Think of Western Australian women at the mercy of the invaders;

'THINK OF GREAT AUSTRALIAN CITIES BEING POUNDED TO DESTRUCTION BY BOMBERS AND BATTLE-CRUISERS, INCENDIARY BOMBS AND HIGH EXPLOSIVE SHELLS BRINGING DEATH TO THOUSANDS AS THEY FLEE PANIC-STRICKEN FROM THE DOOMED BUILDINGS.

'Think of all this vividly pictured in one of the most sensational books you have ever read, and you will have just a faint idea of the gripping narrative of "Fools' Harvest," by Erie Cox. In this startlingly dramatic story the author grimly pictures a surprise invasion of Australia, reveals with convincing clarity the horrors of bombardment and occupation, and finally the loss of all the freedom in which Australians exulted, and their reduction to a state of slavery.

'"Fools' Harvest" is a story that is amazingly well told and it will be all the more interesting to readers in this State because chapters deal with the invasion of Western Australia.'

Source: Advertising blurb for the forthcoming serialisation in Perth's The Mirror (The Mirror, 28 January 1939, p.14).

Erle Cox's science-fiction novel adapted (apparently by Cox himself) as a comic strip, which ran simultaneously in at least three major Australian newspapers.

The strip appeared in the same form each week: three to four (most usually four) panels of black-and-white line drawings, each with their own small block of text beneath.