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y separately published work icon The Celestial Hand : A Sensational Story single work   novel   mystery   fantasy  
Issue Details: First known date: 1903... 1903 The Celestial Hand : A Sensational Story
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

When the world is brought to the mercy of a futuristically mechanised Chinese army fired by the spirit of Genghis Khan, salvation comes from Ella Pritchard, a young Sydney woman with a bent for the supernatural.

Exhibitions

10701526
10689169

Notes

  • Steampunk note : This story bears many of the features of what would become magical steampunk, particularly the magically powered army of Chinese automatons. However, its publication in 1903 (well before steampunk emerged as a recognisable field) classifies it as proto-steampunk.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Gendering of Disaster : Cities and City Manhood in Joyce Vincent's The Celestial Hand Johnny A. Bell , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , March vol. 41 no. 1 2010; (p. 41-56)

'Striving to convince readers that an invasion was no mere literary license, the Australian invasion novels of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries called upon a gallery of foreign and internal villains. Of the latter, the (mostly) male authors frequently identified the manhood of Australia's cities as a weak link that could fatally undermine the young nation. This article, though, will illuminate the work of another invasion novelist, Joyce Vincent, to show that this concern about the men of the city had more to do with the uncertainties of gender than it did with the defence of White Australia.' (p. 41)

Invasion Graham Stone , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Notes on Australian Science Fiction 2001; (p. 124-125)

— Review of The Celestial Hand : A Sensational Story Joyce Vincent , 1903 single work novel ; The Awakening G. D. Mitchell , 1937 single work novel ; The Australian Crisis C. H. Kirmess , 1908 single work novel ; The Coloured Conquest Rata , 1904 single work novel
Untitled Alfred George Stephens , 1903 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 12 November vol. 24 no. 1239 1903; (p. 2)

— Review of The Celestial Hand : A Sensational Story Joyce Vincent , 1903 single work novel
Invasion Graham Stone , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Notes on Australian Science Fiction 2001; (p. 124-125)

— Review of The Celestial Hand : A Sensational Story Joyce Vincent , 1903 single work novel ; The Awakening G. D. Mitchell , 1937 single work novel ; The Australian Crisis C. H. Kirmess , 1908 single work novel ; The Coloured Conquest Rata , 1904 single work novel
Untitled Alfred George Stephens , 1903 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 12 November vol. 24 no. 1239 1903; (p. 2)

— Review of The Celestial Hand : A Sensational Story Joyce Vincent , 1903 single work novel
Gendering of Disaster : Cities and City Manhood in Joyce Vincent's The Celestial Hand Johnny A. Bell , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , March vol. 41 no. 1 2010; (p. 41-56)

'Striving to convince readers that an invasion was no mere literary license, the Australian invasion novels of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries called upon a gallery of foreign and internal villains. Of the latter, the (mostly) male authors frequently identified the manhood of Australia's cities as a weak link that could fatally undermine the young nation. This article, though, will illuminate the work of another invasion novelist, Joyce Vincent, to show that this concern about the men of the city had more to do with the uncertainties of gender than it did with the defence of White Australia.' (p. 41)

Last amended 22 Feb 2017 08:34:26
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