Chapter 859 858 [Mars Invasion]

Night falls.

The president's wife, Anna Eleanor, brought the turkey roasted by herself, placed the plates, knives and forks with the servants, and shouted to the living room: "Gentlemen, get ready for dinner!"

Roosevelt carefully rolled up the oil painting and said to Zhou Hexuan: "Zhou, let's try Anna's craftsmanship."

Zhou Hexuan pushed Roosevelt into the dining room, saw four sets of knives and forks placed on the dining table, and asked casually: "Are there any guests tonight?"

Eleanor explained with a smile: "Jimmy heard that you were coming as a guest. He rushed back from Hollywood and arrived in Washington yesterday. He is your loyal admirer."

"Really? That's such an honor." Zhou Hexuan smiled.

Jimmy is Roosevelt's eldest son, James Franklin. This young man is a tragedy in his career. He was undoubtedly very talented. He studied at Harvard University and Boston University. He also served as the head of his father's campaign team in Massachusetts when Roosevelt was running for president.

When his father, Roosevelt, became president, James was slandered for whatever reason he did not go well.

James was originally Roosevelt's campaign team, so he naturally made suggestions for the appointment of members of the new government. As a result, he was accused and exposed, saying that Roosevelt wanted to establish family rule in the United States. In desperation, James could only choose to leave the United States and go to Europe. He did not want to damage the reputation of his father, who had just become president.

When James returned to the United States again, it was rumored that he would serve as the presidential secretary. This appointment had not yet been announced, but the overwhelming public criticism came again, and Roosevelt had to give up the idea immediately.

Since being in politics means getting scolded, let’s go into business, so James became president of the National Grain Fermentation Company. As a result, something went wrong again. Newspapers spread rumors that the company was connected to the Mafia, and that James could be president because he was the son of the president, forcing the hapless young man to resign quickly.

Afterwards, James attended the Conference of the Americas with his father as a presidential assistant. This move was once again criticized, and Time Magazine called him the second president. James had no choice but to continue to resign, but privately still helped Roosevelt handle government affairs.

James is now in the insurance industry again and has a net worth of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The news that he had become a young rich man was exposed again, and the American people were furious. Newspapers accused him of using his father's position to seek personal gain. James finally couldn't help it anymore, defended himself on the radio show, and then...obediently resigned and left the insurance industry.

Now James is interested in movies and is studying in Hollywood. He will serve as the president of Gedway Film Company next year.

As Roosevelt's eldest son, James's career has been so bumpy, which can only mean one thing: Roosevelt's New Deal violated the interests of many big capitalists. He himself was impeccable, and those consortiums whose interests were harmed turned their firepower on his eldest son.

After waiting for a few minutes, James finally arrived at the White House.

Eleanor went over to give her son a warm hug and said dotingly: "Jimmy, my baby, you are finally back! The climate in Hollywood must be very harsh, your face is sunburned."

"Mom, this is just your illusion." James was speechless.

James came over to greet his father, and then said to Zhou Hexuan: "Mr. Zhou, it's nice to meet again. Do you have any new works?"

"It is currently being created," Zhou Hexuan stood up and shook hands. "Thank you for your help to the Chinese people."

James said modestly: "That's what I should do. I just support justice."

At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, although Roosevelt did not favor China, his eldest son James was working hard.

This summer, James was criticized by the American media and forced to leave the insurance industry. When he was free, he was approached by Einstein. The two jointly launched the "China Aid Committee" and called for donations to aid China in more than 2,000 cities and towns in the United States.

Everyone sat around the dining table eating, drinking and chatting. James suddenly asked: "There is a very popular radio drama in the United States called "War of the Worlds". Does Mr. Zhou think there are really Martians?"

"Martians may not have it, but aliens definitely have it," Zhou Hexuan said.

Eleanor suddenly interjected: "Why must there be aliens?"

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "There are countless billions of stars like the sun in the Milky Way. And there are countless billions of galaxies like the Milky Way in the entire universe. Our earth is like the Sahara Desert in the universe. A grain of sand in the universe. There is no guarantee that in this desert of the universe, there is another grain or countless grains of sand that are as suitable for the birth and reproduction of life as the earth. Therefore, I think there must be aliens, maybe they are tens of thousands of light away from us. Years are so far away.”

"Maybe one day aliens will attack the earth." James suddenly laughed.

Roosevelt and his wife laughed too, referencing the science fiction radio drama "The War of the Worlds."

Just ten days ago, Americans were listening to a radio program when they were suddenly interrupted by emergency news. The station then cuts to a reporter on the scene, who vividly reports on the Martian attack on New Jersey. The reporter's live connection was soon interrupted because the radio studio was attacked by Martians. The announcer exclaimed: "God! There is something crawling out of the darkness. It shines like a wet sheet." The leather, but that face of it…it’s just indescribable.”

At that time, nearly a million Americans were frightened and confused, thinking that the earth was really invaded by Martians. They panicked, some poured into the streets, some hid in basements, and some went out with guns to resist. In New Jersey, where the Martian invasion took place, more than 20 residents of a block covered their faces with wet towels and rushed out of the house to run for their lives because the radio said that Martians were releasing poison gas in New Jersey.

When the oolong incident occurred, Zhou Hexuan was still in the hotel in New York. There was a burst of noise inside and outside the hotel, and people kept shouting "The Martians are coming", which made Zhou Hexuan, who was writing a book, confused.

In fact, CBS had emphasized that this was a science fiction radio drama when the program was broadcast, but many people did not hear this explanation. Because the National Broadcasting Corporation invited two stars to record the program at that time, people changed channels to listen to it. As a result, the two stars left after only ten minutes of performance.

So the audience switched channels one after another, and happened to hear the first half of the "War of the Worlds" radio drama. In order to create a real atmosphere, the radio drama is playing music and says it is a live performance by a well-known band, playing at the Park Plaza Hotel in New York. In fact, this music is played in a broadcast studio.

The music performance came to an abrupt end, and the radio station immediately interrupted with "emergency news" - Martians have invaded the earth!

The radio drama also invited an "astronomer" who spoke serious nonsense and scientifically confirmed that several hot gas explosions had occurred on Mars. The Martians could no longer stay on Mars, so they came to compete with the earthlings for the earth.

As a result, nearly a million American listeners believed it, and the police phone numbers in New Jersey were buzzing, and serious traffic jams occurred in major cities.

Since the American newspaper industry was robbed of the news market by the broadcast industry, as soon as this incident came out, the print media frantically attacked the broadcast media and deliberately exaggerated the bad impact to prove how unreliable broadcast news was.

As soon as major newspapers got involved, the "Martian invasion" suddenly became a national incident, attracting strong attention from the entire American society. No, even the president of the United States and his family joked about it, and even Roosevelt's wife insisted on listening to the Martian radio drama every night.

This incident made science fiction novels rapidly popular in the United States and cultivated countless new science fiction fans.

Zhou Hexuan's partner Mike took advantage of the situation and republished "The Legend of the Galaxy Heroes". This science fiction novel was first published in the United States two years ago. The first three volumes have been released successively. The sales volume can only be said to be barely satisfactory. After all, the science fiction market in the United States is not as good as that in the United Kingdom.

Now, aroused by the "Martian Invasion" incident, the reprint sales of "Legend of the Galaxy Heroes" are astonishingly high, with more than 60,000 sets sold in three days. Seeing this favorable situation, Mike is already preparing to publish the fourth, fifth, and sixth volumes. Anyway, Zhou Hexuan's name has once again shocked the American book industry.

This is a good phenomenon. "The Massacre of Nanjing" edited by Zhou Hexuan will probably be published in February next year. It will definitely attract more attention with the explosive popularity of science fiction.