Here's a few interesting passages from Enoch1, chapter LXXIX:
"In the days of sinners the years shall be shortened."
"The moon shall change its laws, and not be seen at its proper period."
"Heaven shall shine more than when illuminated by the orders of light."
What I take from these three passages is that the human life span will be reduced, the moon will be in a different position and the sun will appear brighter after the flood. Are these inspired? Who can say?
Here's a passage from the Haggada-Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg:
"The flood was produced by a union of the male waters, which are above the firmament, and the female waters issuing from the earth. The upper waters rushed through the space left when God removed two stars out of the constellation Pleiades. Afterward, to put a stop to the flood, God had to transfer two stars from the constellation of the Bear to the constellation of the Pleiades. That is why the Bear runs after the Pleiades. She wants her two children back, but they will be restored to her only in the future world."
Removed stars from the heavens sounds just like Seola's lost Wan Planet. Smith probably read the Haggada and added her own flavor to the novel.
Here's one of the sci-fi portions that was taken out of Angels and Women:
"As I look forth into the night, the answer is given. The storm is over; the stars are silently climbing the eastern heavens, but as my eyes sweep inquiringly across the serene vault many familiar objects are wanting. Quenched is one lamp of the Burning Seven, vacant the place of the Wan Planet, and lost forever the bright constellation that madly plunged to outer darkness, sharing the doom of the fallen Star Spirits." -Seola pg.172
The Notes section of Seola has this to say about why she included the Wan Planet in her story:
Note 18...""The Wan Planet felt the shock". Astronomers inform us that a great planet once existed between Mars and Jupiter which was shattered, and that the fragments, called asteroids, are now to be seen in that portion of the solar system."
Astronomers do not hold that view now. They believe the asteroid belt is material from the solar system's formative period that failed to condense into a planet. Maybe they're right or maybe Smith is right? Who can really know? You can speculate until you're blue in the face.
What I take from all this, is that Smith had her nose in all sorts of ancient myths just as the appendix to Seola states. If you piece enough information together you're bound to get something right.
