LE QUEUX, William (Tufnell)

(1864-1927)

   French-born UK journalist and author of over 100 books in a variety of genres, though most of his most popular works were espionage thrillers in the vein of E. Phillips OPPENHEIM - he claimed, unconvincingly, to be a spy himself - and detective novels, often with oriental colouring. He wrote a number of fantasies in the vein of H. Rider HAGGARD, with some immediate but no lasting success, and a number ofromances, like Stolen Souls (1895), whose generic definition shifts between suspense and the occult. He is best remembered today for his two future- WAR/ INVASION novels: The Great War in England in 1897 (1894) and The Invasion of 1910: With a Full Account of the Siege of London (1906;cut vt The Invasion 1910), the latter written with the anon collaboration of H(erbert) W(rigley) Wilson (1866-1940). Both books were serialized in English newspapers before being separately published, and both arousedconsiderable stir, particularly the latter, with its letter of commendation from the distinguished soldier and statesman Lord Roberts (1832-1914), who shared WLQ's anti-German views (and collaborated with himon two nonfiction dreadful-warning books, The Great War (1908) and Spies of the Kaiser (1909)). Though both novels were told with every trick WLQ had acquired in his years of journalism, and though the latter is replete with diagrams of the threatened invasion from Germany, the ultimate effect of each book is of a laboured turgidity of effect. A further tale whose title hints at similar contents, England's Peril (1899), is fundamentally an espionage thriller. WLQ persistently utilized Germany as the opponent in his work; even after WWI, stories like The Terror of the Air (1920) attempt to present a world in constant danger of Teutonic aggression. The sf of WLQ's last years is consistently routine. He is fundamentally a figure of pre-WWI interest.

   JC

   Other works: Zoraida: A Romance of the Harem and the Great Sahara (1895); The Great White Queen: A Tale of Treasure and Treason (1896); The Eye of Istar: A Romance of the Land of No Return (1897), one of several lost-race novels (LOST WORLDS); A Madonna of the Music Halls (1897; vt A Secret Sin 1913); The Veiled Man (coll 1899); The Sign of the Seven Sins (1901); The Closed Book (1904); TheUnknown Tomorrow: How the Rich Fared at the Hands of the Poor (1910); The House of Whispers (1910); The Great God Gold (1910); No 70 Berlin (1915); The Mystery of the Green Ray (1915); "Cinders" of Harley Street (coll 1916), featuring a doctor with PSI POWERS; The Zeppelin Destroyer: Being some Chapters of Secret History (1916); The Unbound Book (1916); The Bomb-Makers (1917); The Rainbow Mystery: Chronicles of aColour-Criminologist (coll 1917); The Little Blue Goddess (1918); The Voice from the Void (1922); The Gay Triangle (1922), featuring a car with collapsible wings; Tracked by Wireless (1922); The Broadcast Mystery (1925); Double Nought (1927); The Chameleon (1927; vt Poison Shadows 1927US); The Secret Formula (1928).

   See also: DYSTOPIAS; WEAPONS.