‘Radium Age’ sci-fi novel series from HiLobrow republishes a forgotten futurism

Joshua Glenn, the editor of HiLobrow, has an impassioned defense over on Boing Boing of what’s often seen as the “dark age” of sci-fi — roughly the first 30 years of the 20th century. He refers to the era as the “Radium Age,” and argues that the three decades that brought us supermen, robots, and telepathy shouldn’t be overlooked so quickly just because of some embarrassing optimism. The best news is that Joshua isn’t just griping, he’s actually started an imprint called HiLoBooks, which is going to be publishing new paperback editions of some forgotten, out-of-print titles. These aren’t no-names, either: the first three books are written by Jack London, Rudyard Kipling, and Arthur Conan Doyle, respectively. London’s title, The Scarlet Plague, is already being serialized on HiLobrow, so you can start reading right this moment, and if you’re ultra-curious, the other books are available online in Project Gutenberg form. The published versions will start rolling out in May.