Stapledon first announced his intention to write a history of the universe in his 1935 work Odd John, in which the main character, John Wainwright, has already produced such a thing (Stapledon would often mention his next literary project in the book he was currently working on - the story of "Odd John" is itself mentioned in passing in 1932's Last Men in London).
The flame creatures themselves contribute to a "racial mind", or linked telepathic consciousness, something Stapledon's "Last Men" were shown to be capable of in Last and First Men and Last Men in London.
London | University of London | University College London | London School of Economics | King's College London | Tower of London | City of London | London Underground | London Symphony Orchestra | United States men's national soccer team | London, Ontario | X-Men | London Stock Exchange | London Borough of Hackney | Imperial College London | NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship | Jack London | Hyde Park, London | Great Fire of London | Chelsea, London | Canada men's national soccer team | London Marathon | London and North Western Railway | 7 July 2005 London bombings | London Philharmonic Orchestra | London Palladium | Bishop of London | South London | London, Midland and Scottish Railway | Lord Mayor of London |
The story draws particularly from Stapledon's novels Last and First Men (1930), Last Men in London (1932), Odd John (1935) and Sirius (1944).