Moreau’s Other Island. Brian Aldiss

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       Introduction

      Even if an author writes something as far-fetched as possible, still something of his family influence will remain.

      And in the case of this novel, what remains is deliberate.

      I am fortunate in having two sons and two daughters. My eldest daughter is very close to me (and indeed lives nearby). When she was still in utero, a drug called thalidomide was being touted, said to alleviate the suffering of morning sickness in pregnant women. Thalidomide was available between 1957 and 1962, after which it was banned.

      Fortunately, our doctor did not prescribe the drug for my wife. It emerged that Thalidomide was in fact a teratogen – a substance causing terrible birth defects in children. Had it been prescribed, then my dear daughter would likely have been malformed from birth. All these years later, I rejoice still that she was spared any such deformities.

      The dictator in this story is not so lucky. Mortimer Dart, who has inherited the island invented by Mr H.G. Wells, has to wear metal prostheses; he has suffered from the malevolent effects of Thalidomide. And Dart himself behaves much like a teratogen upon the creatures he rules over on his island – the Beast People.

      It has always been a struggle to have any novel in the fantasy or science-fiction genres reviewed in newspapers or journals. This novel proved more fortunate than most. The elegant American hardback, which was first published by Simon & Schuster, quotes from four British reviews. Those reviews between them convey much of the kind reception of the book:

      ‘For a good yarn in an old style - and I do intend a compliment - no need to go further than Brian Aldiss’s descendant of Dr Moreau, the wicked man in the H.G. Wells story who first brought the concept of genetic engineering to the horrified eyes of middle-class Edwardians... But this creaky stuff isn’t really the point of the book: its pleasures are to enjoy the old-fashioned virtue of pace and narration, to be let up and let down by the pulling of the strings, to smell the heat and the rank vegetation of a Pacific island.’

       Manchester Guardian

      ‘A sprightly homage to H.G. Wells’s fable about scientific irresponsibility, first published in 1896 … Aldiss has glossed ‘Frankenstein’ similarly and though he touches nothing he does not adorn, he’s onto an easy winner here, for simply restating this nineties theme in the eighties says a lot about the progress of notions and the notions of progress.’

       Sunday Times

      What the factual Brian Aldiss would add to these comments is that throughout this story a global war is in progress, emphasising the ready militarism of the West. The Beast People are among its victims.

      Brian Aldiss

      Oxford, 2013