The sterling silver stopper is shaped into Cerberus, the mythological three-headed dog. Through a busted burglary and a bit of intrigue, they are sitting at a table with a mysterious glass bottle in front of them. Terry Trenmore is a big, strapping Irishman, full of muscles, but perhaps a bit lacking in brains. This is a rarely reprinted science fiction novel of the early 20th Century about three people suddenly sent on a wild adventure.Set in Philadelphia of the early 20th Century, Robert Drayton is a young lawyer in ethical trouble. Lovecraft as ranking among "the top grade of writers," and her dystopian political and social satire continues to captivate modern readers. Author Francis Stevens - actually Gertrude Bennett, a pioneer of science fiction and fantasy - was praised by H. Loaded with action and humor, the imaginative extravaganza anticipates the work of Philip K. This 1919 classic was the first alternate-world fantasy. The time-travelers emerge into Philadelphia's brutal totalitarian state, where the city hall is a temple, a statue of William Penn is worshipped as an idol, and the citizens are crushed under the religious tyranny of the Penn Service and its Superlatives. Once inhaled, however, the dust exhibits extraordinary powers, transporting a trio of adventurers from the early twentieth century to the year 2118. Dick." Damon Knight wrote "Those who insist on the close reasoning and the satirical wit of modern science fiction will find surprising amounts of both here.Capped by a silver figure of Cerberus, the three-headed hound that guards the gates of Hell, an ancient glass vial contains ordinary-looking dust. Bleiler described the novel as "highly imaginative work, one of the classics of early pulp fantastic fiction", commenting that despite simplistic characterization, "the cynical anti-authoritarianism" in the description of the imagined future culture "is refreshing." Bleiler also noted that the novel's resolution "is a fine anticipation of the work of Philip K. Schuyler Miller found Cerberus "dated and old-fashioned", but noted it was "a pioneering variation on the parallel worlds theme." Įverett F. Groff Conklin called it "perhaps the first science fantasy to use the alternate time-track, or parallel worlds, idea." Boucher and McComas praised the novel as "a slightly dated but still originally imaginative and acutely satiric story." P. The novel concerns people who, after inhaling a grey dust, are transported to a future totalitarian Philadelphia in 2118. A scholarly reprint edition was issued by Arno Press in 1978, and a mass market paperback by Carroll & Graf in 1984. It was the first book published by Polaris Press.
The novel was originally serialized in the pulp magazine The Thrill Book in 1919, and it was first published in book form in 1952 by Polaris Press in an edition of 1,563 copies. The Heads of Cerberus is a science fiction novel by American writer Francis Stevens.
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