1940s Irish sci-fi novel features early mecha and gravity assists

A forgotten 1940 Irish-language sci‑fi novel just dropped on GitHub, and the comments are the show. The repo digitizes Máiréad Ní Ghráda’s young‑adult space adventure, “Manannán,” complete with giant machine action and a mention of gravity assist (aka the planet “slingshot” trick). Cue instant hype, confusion, and nitpicks. Check the project here: github.com/cavedave/Manannan.

The loudest early vibe? Language whiplash. One user groaned that most folks can’t read Irish at all, while native speakers popped in like superheroes. A delighted commenter beamed, “unexpected delight,” and another swooned over the classic cló Gaelach Irish typeface. Meanwhile, the “first mecha outside Japan” claim triggered the Mecha Wars: a fan of giant robots swooped in to cite 1860s American pulp like “Steam Man of the Prairies,” basically yelling, “not so fast, Ireland!” For the record, a gravity assist is when a spacecraft uses a planet’s pull to boost speed—yes, this book may have described that in the 1940s.

Between folks begging for translations, font nerds purring over old typesetting, and pedants jousting over who invented the first robot suit, the thread is pure internet theater. The consensus? Hidden gem, messy history, needs subtitles. And now everyone’s dusting off their Irish—or at least pretending to.