The Essential Robert Duncan Milne

Stories by the Lost Pioneer of Science Fiction

Robert Duncan Milne (Autor)

Dr Keith Williams, Ari Brin (Herausgeber)

Buch | Hardcover

328 Seiten

2025
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-41262-0 (ISBN)

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This collection showcases the speculative writing of Scottish-born and California-based writer Robert Duncan Milne (1844-99) whose works mark him as one of the forgotten pioneers of early science fiction. Hailed as the first full-time science fiction writer in America, this critical edition draws together the most expansive collection of his writing ever published and places his life, works and themes into their historical, literary and scientific contexts. With his writing touching on nearly every subset of the genre, including climate catastrophe, utopia, cryogenics, molecular re-engineering of the body, personality transfer, drone warfare, remote surveillance, and satellite phones, this book offers an overdue correction to the science fiction canon. Grouped thematically and with volume and story introductions that connect Milne’s work to his peers and science fiction scholarship, this is the essential guide to a crucially overlooked writer. Astonishingly prescient and fulfilling the missing link in science fiction literary history that bridges the gap between the likes of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, Milne makes clear the often-obscured contribution of both Scotland and California in the development of the science fiction genre.

Robert Duncan Milne was a late 19th-century Science Fiction writer born in Cupar, Scotland but who was based in San Francisco. His work was primarily published in newspapers and the magazine The Argonaut. His works were rediscovered and collected together Into the Sun & Other Stories (1980) by Sam Moskowitz. Keith Williams is Reader in English at the University of Dundee, Scotland, where he runs the science fiction programme. His books include H.G. Wells, Modernity and the Movies (2007) and James Joyce and Cinematicity: Before and After Film (2020). He has researched and published widely on early science fiction and its prescience about modern media and communications. Ari Brin obtained her M.Litt in Science Fiction from the University of Dundee in 2017. Her PhD research since 2016 has focused on the life and work of Robert Duncan Milne, involving the collection, transcription, and analysis of over 100 works of fiction.

List of Illustrations
Foreword by Ken MacLeod
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Ghost of Futures Past
Note on the Text

Introduction to Thematic Cluster 1
The Artificial Eyes and Ears of Science:
Early Imaginings of Global Telecommunication Systems
and Surveillance Devices
The Great Electric Diaphragm (1879)
The Aerial Cone Reflector (1881)
The Palæoscopic Camera (1881)

Introduction to Thematic Cluster 2
Science Fiction Crime Stories:
The Impact of Technology on Human Matters
and “Karmic” Justice in the Modern Age
A Dead Man’s Ring (1883)
A Modern Proteus (1888)
The Silent Witness (1889)
The Eidoloscope (1890)

Introduction to Thematic Cluster 3
Scientizing Spiritualism:
Stories of Clairvoyance, Telekinesis, and Teleportation
A New Palingenesis (1883)
A Modern Magic Mirror (1884)
Prof. Vehr’s Electrical Experiment (1885)
Baron Von Steinbach’s Soul (1885)

Introduction to Thematic Cluster 4
Bodies without Limits:
Stories of Transfusions, Youth-Elixirs, and Radical Surgeries
A Man Who Grew Young Again (1887)
The Centenary of the Elixir (1889)
Brain Transference (1891)

Introduction to Thematic Cluster 5
Apocalypse and Things to Come:
Visions of Possible Futures
Into the Sun (1882)
The Awful Cataclysm in Ireland (1885)
A Question of Reciprocity (1891)
How San Francisco Looked in 1893
An Archeological Fantasy (1893)

Bibliography
Notes
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	6.3.2025
Zusatzinfo	10 bw illus
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	169 x 244 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Science Fiction
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturgeschichte
ISBN-10	1-350-41262-7 / 1350412627
ISBN-13	978-1-350-41262-0 / 9781350412620
Zustand	Neuware