Henri Richard Bessière (1923 – 22 December 2011) was a French

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

novels. His œuvre, particularly abundant, was published primarily by publisher Fleuve Noir. Bessière was one of the leading authors of publisher Fleuve Noir's popular imprints ''

Anticipation Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure or anxiety in considering or awaiting an expected event. Anticipatory emotions include fear, anxiety, hope and trust. When the anticipated event fails to occur, it results in disappointment (if posit ...

'' and ''Espionnage''. Bessière was born and died at Béziers - a year after his death, his home town announced that a street would be named in his honour. His first science fiction series (1951–54) featured the ''Conquérants de l’Univers'' onquerors Of The Universe a band of Earthmen led by professor Bénac, the inventor of a spaceship called ''Meteor'', who explore the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. Bessière's most popular series featured the adventures of American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

Sydney Gordon, his ditzy wife Margaret, his catastrophe-prone son, Bud, and his scientist friends, Archie and Gloria Brent. The series began with serious tales of

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

or extra-dimensional

invasions An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

, but eventually took a satirical turn. Bessière's other popular series involved the

hard-boiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence ...

adventures of Dan Seymour, a futuristic

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

. Bessière also made his mark on French science fiction through a number of non-connected novels that featured an original blend of horror and science fiction. Monstrous aliens threatening to take over mankind were featured in ''Escale chez les Vivants'' top-Over Among The Living(1960); evil entities from beyond human ken whose only weakness was sound invaded Earth in ''Les Maîtres du Silence'' he Masters Of Silence(1965); ''Cette Lueur Qui Venait Des Ténèbres'' hat Light Which Came From The Dark(1967) featured ghastly

body-snatching Body snatching is the illicit removal of corpses from graves, morgues, and other burial sites. Body snatching is distinct from the act of grave robbery as grave robbing does not explicitly involve the removal of the corpse, but rather theft from ...

parasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

. The ultimately doomed reconquest of a post-cataclysmic Earth ruled by

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...

s and deadly lifeforms, was the subject of ''Légion Alpha'' (1961), ''Les Sept Anneaux de Rhéa'' he Seven Rings Of Rhea(1962), in which Earth was described as seven concentric spheres with Hell at its core, and ''Les Jardins de l’Apocalypse'' he Gardens Of The Apocalypse(1963). ''Les Marteaux de Vulcain'' he Hammers Of Vulcan(1969) described a nightmarish

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

where survival was all but impossible. Bessière also wrote almost a hundred spy

thrillers Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Suc ...

for the ''Espionnage'' imprint of Fleuve Noir under the pseudonym of F.-H. Ribes. Many of these starred a hero called Gérard Lecomte.

Translations

''Les Sept Anneaux de Rhéa'' and ''Les Jardins de l’Apocalypse'' have been translated by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

and published as ''The Gardens of the Apocalypse'' (2010)

References

Notes

Source: Some of the information contained in this article was taken from:
French Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Pulp Fiction
by

Jean-Marc Lofficier Jean-Marc Lofficier (; born June 22, 1954) is a French author of books about films and television programs, as well as numerous comics and translations of a number of animation screenplays. He usually collaborates with his wife, Randy Lofficier ( ...

Randy Lofficier Jean-Marc Lofficier (; born June 22, 1954) is a French author of books about films and television programs, as well as numerous comics and translations of a number of animation screenplays. He usually collaborates with his wife, Randy Lofficier ( ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bessiere, Richard 1923 births 2011 deaths People from Béziers French science fiction writers 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French novelists French male novelists 21st-century French male writers