1905 novel about 2015 New York

The Doomsman (1905), by Van Tassel Sutphen, is a novel about NYC in 2015. Manybooks.net has it in a bunch of different ebook formats.

The state of civilization in 2015 New York will closely resemble that of England in the early days of Saxon settlement -- primitive people will dwell sparsely in patriarchal stockades and will fight and hunt with bow and arrow.

Link

[#1 posted by twhid , October 16, 2007 2:17 PM]

And the NYT review of course:

NIGHTMARE PROPHECY; Van Tassell Sutphen's New and Thrilling Story of New York After the Deluge.

Mr. VAN TASSELL SUTPHEN in his new romance "The Doomsman" (Harpers) assumes the role of prophet. According to Mr. Sutphen the state of civilization in the country about New York in the year 2015 will resemble very closely that of England in the early days of the Saxon settlement.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9804E0D9113AE733A25753C3A9609C946797D6CF

I love the internet!

[#2 posted by Greg Weeks , October 16, 2007 2:38 PM]

This is going through Distributed Proofing right now on it's way into PG.

http://www.pgdp.net/c/project.php?id=projectID46f696d6835c4

I suspect manybooks got it from there before it was been proofed.

Greg Weeks

[#3 posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden , October 16, 2007 4:11 PM]

Of course, the building on the cover is what marks it as a fable of the most fantastic sort. Neither now nor in some hypothesized futurity would the natives of New-York erect such an improbable edifice.

[#4 posted by togetherless , October 16, 2007 8:53 PM]

I think the forward-minded denizens of NYC would willingly submit to the erection of such an obelisk despite its overt phallicism. Wait, do you mean that it looks like a giant penis complete with urethra?

[#5 posted by jimh , October 16, 2007 9:10 PM]

"Of course, the building on the cover is what marks it as a fable of the most fantastic sort. Neither now nor in some hypothesized futurity would the natives of New-York erect such an improbable edifice."

I hope that's a joke, because I laughed! It is the Flatiron building, obviously. Since it was built in 1902, it was certainly modern at the time.

http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Flatiron_Building.html/cid_1101917214_Flatiron_1.html

[#6 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , October 16, 2007 9:16 PM]

JimH, the joke is that Patrick's office is in the Flatiron.

[#7 posted by jimh , October 16, 2007 9:21 PM]

That's what I thought, it seemed as if he was winking. That's why I laughed, even though I didn't know how familiar he was with the structure!