The Raid. A Story of the Last Phase of the Great War.
Item
Title of Story
The Raid. A Story of the Last Phase of the Great War.
Story Summary
(Not to be confused with Captain H. G. Mackenzie) Attacks on Sydney and Melbourne!!! Started serialising before the war ended. Detailed plane / airship fights over Sydney. Over 26 chapters somewhere. This is not by 'Captain' H. G. Mackenzie who had died several years previously. Extensive searches of various databases around the world have not found this particular H. G. Mackenzie. As the story has reference to work in a newspaper office it is possibly written by a journalist under a pseudonym. Stylometric analysis might help, however the descriptions of the fight and the discussions between characters seem to be different styles of writing, and may be a collaborative effort.
Science Fiction Subgenres
Future War
Invention Opera
Future Year Set
1918
Inventions
Advanced airships, aeroplanes and monoplanes.
How this Story was Identified
Keyclouds. Also reappeared in a clustering experiment.
KeyClouds
scientist experiment invention electricity magnetic scientific science engine mechanical earth world
16 items were located with this keycloud in the To Be Continued Australian Newspaper Fiction Database. 5 were identified as science fiction.
Date Details Added to IA
July 2023
Historical Context
The news of The Great War had been driving people down in Australia for too long and no one knew how long it would go on for. With war being a constant in the newspaper it is doubtful this story would allay the strong anxieties that flooded the nation at the time, although as the story predicted the end of the war, it might have been a welcome surprise for some readers. It wasn't until war ended in November 1918 (in some places a few years later) that Australians began to relax, leading to the roaring twenties.
