In The Biocole (1927), Professor Tornada conquers death itself and becomes the creator and virtual god of a utopian enclave called Biocolia. In The Case of Baroness Sasoitsu (1939), the eccentric scientist solves a baffling murder case by using his psychovisor which translates thoughts into images. The book also includes the novella In the Afterlife (1936), a story in a lighter comic vein.

André Couvreur (1865-1944) was a medical doctor who penned several medical treatises, and was also the author of eight romans scientifiques dealing with "medical concepts" featuring the mad scientists Doctor Caresco, then Professor Tornada. These are collected in a series of five volumes, translated and annotated by Brian Stableford, presenting for the first time the ground-breaking works of this pioneer of French science fiction.