Vogel, Julius
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1835-1899) UK-born politician, entrepreneur, newspaper editor and author, in Australia from 1852 and New Zealand from 1861, where he spent the bulk of his professional life until 1888, serving as New Zealand Premier 1873-1875 and 1876. His sf novel, Anno Domini 2000, or Woman's Destiny (1889), set partly in New Zealand and Australia, treats the dawning twenty-first century as benignly prosperous, with the Empire benefiting from Airships and instantaneous Communications worldwide. The story itself is focused primarily on Politics, with much attention paid to matters of royalty. The Empire of Britain – now much stronger, and sequentially housed in various of its territories – faces down a crisis when the current Emperor, resident in Australia, refuses his New Zealander fiancée's demand to facilitate a change in the succession laws in order to permit a female to succeed to the throne; as she is high in the New Zealand government, conflict is inevitable. The United States, whose president is female, now engages in a yet another failed Invasion of Canada, which causes a further weakening of America (on the lines of the debacle of 1812), and inspires New England to become part of Canada. Though women still may not inherit the throne, their status in the new world remains high (see Feminism; Women in SF); the extremely competent female protagonist of the novel marries the Emperor in the end. The tale is infused with Sex, though – as befits its author's political eminence – with an effect of evasive and melodramatic prurience. Vogel was knighted in 1875. The New Zealand Science Fiction Fan Awards, founded in 1989, were renamed Sir Julius Vogel Awards (see Awards) in 2002. [JC]
Sir Julius Vogel
born London: 24 February 1835
died Hillersdon, East Molesy, Surrey: 12 March 1899
works
- Anno Domini 2000, or Woman's Destiny (London: Hutchinson and Company, 1889) [colonial issue precedes London release by several months: hb/uncredited]
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