Prisoners of the Electron was first published in the Astounding stories magazine in 1930.The original story includes futuristic descriptions of New York in the then far future of *1999* and has the electron ruled by apes instead of Lizard men.
The social attitudes of the time come across in Leitfred's characterisation of Nanette, who cries, trips over things and generally acts dumb, being the partially willing passive recipient of Carruther's (mostly) repressed manly feelings. The ape men are ruled by a white over class.
The adapted story beefs up the Nanette role, and removes the uncomfortable colour based hierachy of the electron's population. It also steers clear of the unintentionally hilarious 'Nanette carried off by lusting ape scene'.
Leitfred produced what is generally known as pulp fiction, but his descriptive prose style often rises above the genre and ridiculous plot lines. He lived to see the space travel he predicted in his many sicence and fantasy based stories and died in Laguna Beach, California aged 77.
