Zarlah the Martian

In Short

Published in 1909, Zarlah the Martian is an early interplanetary science fiction romance detailing how an Earth scientist establishes contact with Mars through advanced radio-visual technology. After exchanging places with a Martian philosopher through a soul-transferring machine, the narrator inhabits an immortal alien body, experiences an advanced utopian society, and falls in love with the titular Martian woman, Zarlah. Filled with rapid airships, singing flowers, and cosmic danger, the novel remains an intriguing historical example of Edwardian space fantasy, capturing the era's fascination with the Red Planet, radium, and spiritualism.

The Story

The story opens with Parisian-trained American scientist Harold Lonsdale experimenting in his laboratory. Using a custom-built receiver sensitive to unseen wave vibrations, Harold accidentally intercepts a brilliant, non-illuminating light beam originating from Mars. Through this phenomenon, he establishes contact with Almos, a Martian astronomer. Almos explains that Martians have observed Earth for seven hundred years using "super-radium" light rays. Furthermore, Mars has eliminated illness, crime, and aging through regenerating rays, creating a unified, peaceful utopian global family where everyone lives in perpetual health and youth.

Almos invites Harold to visit Mars using a device called the "virator," which can swap the consciousness of two individuals across millions of miles. Harold agrees, taking the risk of temporarily dying on Earth so his spirit can inhabit a Martian body. Awakening on Mars in Almos's physical form, Harold is introduced to a world of astounding technological marvels: "aerenoids" (anti-gravity airships propelled by repelling metals), devices that translate the visual beauty of flowers into musical harmonies, and instant planetary travel along vast canals. Guided by his peer Reon, Harold adapts smoothly by drawing on Almos's vast subconscious memories.

During his exploration, Harold meets Zarlah, a radiant Martian woman. The two fall deeply in love, but their affection is shadowed by tragedy. Harold believes his stay is temporary and that he must return to Earth to share the secret of super-radium's life-saving rays with humanity, sacrificing his personal happiness for the greater good of his home world. Meanwhile, Zarlah faces her own dilemma regarding a dangerous device that can read human thoughts, which she eventually destroys to protect her society.

Unbeknownst to Harold, Almos makes a supreme sacrifice. Realizing the depth of Harold and Zarlah's love, Almos deliberately alters the schedule of the virator from Earth, permanently giving up his life on Mars so Harold can remain with Zarlah forever in his body.

When Zarlah discovers Harold's imminent departure (before learning of Almos's sacrifice), she despairs. In a desperate bid to be reunited with him across space, she pilots an airship toward the Repelling Pole—a dangerous magnetic region at the northern ice cap designed to hurl objects off the planet toward Earth. Realizing her deadly mistake, Harold pursues her in a high-speed race against time. Both airships are hurled off the pole into space, but divine providence guides them onto a tiny, rapidly orbiting Martian moon. After surviving the cosmic ordeal and maneuvering their craft off the satellite, Harold rescues an unconscious Zarlah and pilots them safely back through the Martian atmosphere.

The novel closes with an epilogue written from Paris by Almos, who now happily inhabits Harold’s former earthly body. Six months after the ordeal, Almos confirms that Harold and Zarlah are safely united on Mars, leaving Almos on Earth to prepare humanity for future scientific revelations.

How It Unfolds

A voice across the void While experimenting with wave vibrations in his dark room, Harold Lonsdale intercepts a luminous super-radium beam from Mars. He communicates with the Martian astronomer Almos, who reveals that Martians have studied Earth for centuries and developed technology capable of projecting images and sound across space.

The spiritual transit Almos proposes exchanging conscious spirits across the interplanetary gulf using a machine called the virator. Harold accepts the peril, allowing his earthly body to enter a deathlike state while his mind travels along the light rays to inhabit a Martian body at the alien observatory.

Wonders of a utopian world Awakening on Mars, Harold discovers an idyllic planet free of disease, crime, and aging. Guided by Almos's memories, he learns to navigate society, riding fast anti-gravity aerenoid airships above the great canals and experiencing inventions like apparatuses that convert the colors of flowers into musical melodies.

Love and sacrifice Harold meets and falls in love with Zarlah, but he agonizes over his duty to return to Earth with the secret of perpetual health. Meanwhile, Almos secretly decides to stay on Earth permanently, sending a letter to Harold that gifts him his Martian life and body so the lovers can remain together.

The race to the Repelling Pole Believing Harold is lost to Earth, a grief-stricken Zarlah flies toward the Repelling Pole to be hurled into space toward Earth. Harold gives chase in a desperate race against death, following her into the frozen northern wastes before both their airships are flung off the planet's surface into the void.

Delivered from the dark After being thrown onto a small, fast-moving Martian moon, Harold saves Zarlah, and together they navigate their airship off the satellite and safely back to Mars. They touch down in the gathering gloom, free from danger and secure in their everlasting love.

The People

• Harold Lonsdale: A thirty-year-old American-trained scientist who discovers the Martian light ray. He desires scientific truth and later longs to remain with Zarlah, but his strong sense of moral duty forces him to choose between personal romance and sharing Martian health technology with dying humanity. He ends up permanently living on Mars in an immortal alien body.
• Almos: A brilliant Martian astronomer and scholar who has spent years observing Earth. He seeks to foster contact between the two worlds. Seeing Harold's nobility and love for Zarlah, Almos makes the ultimate sacrifice by choosing to remain on Earth in Harold's physical body, granting Harold his Martian existence.
• Zarlah: A noble Martian woman of great beauty and deep emotional passion. She wants to protect her world from harmful technology and devote her life to Harold. Driven to madness by the thought of losing him, her desperate attempt to leap across space nearly costs her life, but she ends up safely united with Harold.
• Reon: A loyal Martian companion and fellow researcher. He assists Harold (whom he believes to be Almos) during his journeys across Mars, managing their high-speed airships and guiding him through the planet's canal networks.

In Its Own Voice

Before launching his mind across the void, Harold faces the strange reality of his journey:

"Indeed, the first step of the journey to Mars was to take my life, as we understand the term on Earth, and, having become reconciled to this, I was not sensible of any danger beyond."

In the Martian wilderness, Harold realizes the horrifying plight of his beloved heading toward the northern ice cap:

"Zarlah, unable to obtain the repelling force necessary to carry her off Mars, was rushing toward the Repelling Pole to be hurled off the planet, risking all in the hope of being drawn to Earth, which was in opposition."

Standing upon a tiny alien satellite, Harold reflects upon the heavens above:

"To meet with this moon in our journey through space, we must have described an arc, as this satellite never passes over the pole."

What It's Really About

Zarlah the Martian explores the tension between selfish desire and societal duty, arguing that true nobility lies in self-sacrifice for the common good. Underneath its pulp space-adventure exterior, the story ponders the moral evolution of intelligence, suggesting that technological advancement is inherently tied to spiritual and social perfection. By contrasting a disease-ridden, divided Earth with an immortal, unified Martian utopia, Grisewood questions whether human suffering and crime are merely physical ailments awaiting scientific cures. Ultimately, the plot asserts that love and spiritual alignment transcend physical bodies, planetary distances, and even the boundaries of death itself.

Why Read It Today

Fans of early planetary romances—such as the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. G. Wells, or Gustavus W. Pope—will enjoy Zarlah the Martian as a charming historical artifact of early 20th-century speculative fiction. It offers a nostalgic, optimistic vision of space travel unburdened by modern physics, where astral projection, super-radium rays, and anti-gravity airships make interplanetary journeys a matter of pure wonder.

Reading the book feels like stepping into a vintage pulp illustration: it moves at a brisk pace with sensational cliffhangers, melodramatic declarations of devotion, and sweeping cosmic imagery. While modern readers must navigate the period's florid, formal prose, earnest sentimentality, and pseudo-scientific hand-waving regarding "radium" and "repelling poles," the novel's brevity prevents it from dragging. What lingers after reading is its unbridled optimism about scientific progress and its sweet, unabashed belief in a love capable of crossing the stars.