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Scientifictionist, v. 1, issue 6, August-October 1946

Page 5

ever to be able to find the earth out of the whole universe when he shrinks back to smallness. And he is right. It is. Nevertheless he does it.
Finally, Wertenbaker throws in yet another idea, one which is quite like "Worlds of If" theme which later writers generally associate with the idea of parallel or branched time lines. In this story, though, we are told that the cycle of time is not truly closed but rather advances helically like the thread of a screw into a fifth dimension (time being the fourth). Thus Kirby finds on his eventual return to the reborn earth that it has a different and more "advanced" history from that of his former existence. It is interesting and remarkable that in this one story the author has made early, and perhaps original, use of so many different themes which were later to become so familiar in other forms to the reader of science fiction. Wertenbaker seems to have become the forgotten pioneer. 

THE COMING OF THE ICE -- Amazing Stories, Vol. 1, No. 3 (June 1926)
Wertenbaker appeared still again in a third issue of Amazing, this time with a tale of a twentieth-century man who was made immortal and so lived to be the last man alive in a distant age when the earth has grown cold. Dennell, the immortal man, spent his first few centuries in the accumulation of knowledge, but only to meet eventual frustration when he discovers that the mortal race has evolved to the point where their thoughts are beyond the comprehension of his twentieth-century brain. Thereafter he leads a lonely and miserable existence, despised by the mortals who have evolved beyond him. The writing in this story is as undistinguished as in THE MAN FROM THE ATOM. 

THE CHAMBER OF LIFE -- Amazing Stories, Vol. 4, No. 7 (October 1929)
Following publication of THE COMING OF THE ICE, three years were to pass before another Wertenbaker story was to appear in the columns of Amazing. THE CHAMBER OF LIFE, though, was a magnificent tale, and well worth the long wait. Wertenbaker's return after his long silence was marked by a new and far more mature level of writing. As in his earlier efforts it is the protagonist who tells the story, but, where his early use of this difficult narrative form conveyed an impression of amateurishness, here it is used skillfully and with remarkable effect. Present, too, is the melancholic atmosphere of his other works, but here it is not marred by a tendency to melodramatics which was evident in his previous tales. 
In THE CHAMBER OF LIFE the narrator unfolds the recollection of a dream, a man-made dream conjured up through a new invention in the field of entertainment. The Chamber of Life represents the ultimate development of motion pictures wherein the spectator, receiving not merely sight and sound but all other sense impressions from the device, seems to live the part of one of the characters of the drama. Now this theme is not wholly unfamiliar  to the scientifictionist of today, either, though doubtless few will remember THE CHAMBER OF LIFE. Yet here again a good claim can be made for Wertenbaker as the originator of this scientifictional idea. A somewhat similar story, by Manning and Pratt, [footnote 1] appeared a few months after Wertenbaker's story, and Manning later used the theme again in his MAN WHO AWOKE series.[footnote 2] But Manning's conception of the "dream machine" differed considerably from Wertenbaker's, and it is doubtful if Manning was influenced any by Wertenbaker's previous handling of the theme. A more remarkable similarity exists, however, between THE CHAMBER OF LIFE and the better known PYGMALION'S SPECTACLES[footnote 3] by Stanley G. Weinbaum. Possibly it is temerious to suggest that Weinbaum consciously borrowed from the plot of Wertenbaker's story of some six years before. Be as it may, the plots of the two stories are closely alike. The "magic spectacles" of Weinbaum's Professor Ludwig produce precisely the same type of illusion as does the chamber devised by Wertenbaker's in-

1. THE CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, Science Wonder Stories, V. 1, #12 (May 1930)
2. THE CITY OF SLEEP, Wonder Stories, V. 4, #12 (May 1933)
3. PYGMALION'S SPECTACLES, Wonder Stories, V. 7, #1 (June 1935)
Reprinted in Startling Stories, V. 1, #3 (May 1939)

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ever to be able to find the earth out of the whole universe when he shrinks back to smallness. And he is right. It is. Nevertheless he does it. Finally, Wertenbaker throws in yet another idea, one which is quite like "Worlds of If" theme which later writers generally associate with the idea of parallel or branched time lines. In this story, though, we are told that the cycle of time is not truly closed but rather advances helically like the thread of a screw into a fifth dimension (time being the fourth). Thus Kirby finds on his eventual return to the reborn earth that it has a different and more "advanced" history from that of his former existence. It is interesting and remarkable that in this one story the author has made early, and perhaps original, use of so many different themes which were later to become so familiar in other forms to the reader of science fiction. Wertenbaker seems to have become the forgotten pioneer. THE COMING OF THE ICE -- Amazing Stories, Vol. 1, No. 3 (June 1926) Wertenbaker appeared still again in a third issue of Amazing, this time with a tale of a twentieth-century man who was made immortal and so lived to be the last man alive in a distant age when the earth has grown cold. Dennell, the immortal man, spent his first few centuries in the accumulation of knowledge, but only to meet eventual frustration when he discovers that the mortal race has evolved to the point where their thoughts are beyond the comprehension of his twentieth-century brain. Thereafter he leads a lonely and miserable existence, despised by the mortals who have evolved beyond him. The writing in this story is as undistinguished as in THE MAN FROM THE ATOM. THE CHAMBER OF LIFE -- Amazing Stories, Vol. 4, No. 7 (October 1929) Following publication of THE COMING OF THE ICE, three years were to pass before another Wertenbaker story was to appear in the columns of Amazing. THE CHAMBER OF LIFE, though, was a magnificent tale, and well worth the long wait. Wertenbaker's return after his long silence was marked by a new and far more mature level of writing. As in his earlier efforts it is the protagonist who tells the story, but, where his early use of this difficult narrative form conveyed an impression of amateurishness, here it is used skillfully and with remarkable effect. Present, too, is the melancholic atmosphere of his other works, but here it is not marred by a tendency to melodramatics which was evident in his previous tales. In THE CHAMBER OF LIFE the narrator unfolds the recollection of a dream, a man-made dream conjured up through a new invention in the field of entertainment. The Chamber of Life represents the ultimate development of motion pictures wherein the spectator, receiving not merely sight and sound but all other sense impressions from the device, seems to live the part of one of the characters of the drama. Now this theme is not wholly unfamiliar to the scientifictionist of today, either, though doubtless few will remember THE CHAMBER OF LIFE. Yet here again a good claim can be made for Wertenbaker as the originator of this scientifictional idea. A somewhat similar story, by Manning and Pratt, [footnote 1] appeared a few months after Wertenbaker's story, and Manning later used the theme again in his MAN WHO AWOKE series.[footnote 2] But Manning's conception of the "dream machine" differed considerably from Wertenbaker's, and it is doubtful if Manning was influenced any by Wertenbaker's previous handling of the theme. A more remarkable similarity exists, however, between THE CHAMBER OF LIFE and the better known PYGMALION'S SPECTACLES[footnote 3] by Stanley G. Weinbaum. Possibly it is temerious to suggest that Weinbaum consciously borrowed from the plot of Wertenbaker's story of some six years before. Be as it may, the plots of the two stories are closely alike. The "magic spectacles" of Weinbaum's Professor Ludwig produce precisely the same type of illusion as does the chamber devised by Wertenbaker's in- 1. THE CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, Science Wonder Stories, V. 1, #12 (May 1930) 2. THE CITY OF SLEEP, Wonder Stories, V. 4, #12 (May 1933) 3. PYGMALION'S SPECTACLES, Wonder Stories, V. 7, #1 (June 1935) Reprinted in Startling Stories, V. 1, #3 (May 1939) page 5