_big.jpg) Beadle's American Novel No. 45, August 1868, featuring "The Steam Man of the Prairies" | |
| Author | Edward S. Ellis |
|---|---|
| Working title | The Huge Hunter |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | 1868 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Text | The Steam Man of the Prairies at Wikisource |
The Steam Man of the Prairies by Edward S. Ellis was the first U.S. science fiction dime novel[1] and archetype of the Frank Reade series. It is one of the earliest examples of the so-called "Edisonade" genre.[2] Ellis was a prolific 19th-century author best known as a historian and biographer and a source of early heroic frontier tales in the style of James Fenimore Cooper. This novel may be inspired by the steam powered invention of Zadoc Dederick.[3] The original novel was reissued six times from 1868 to 1904.[4] A copy of the first 1868 printing with its cover intact is owned by the Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia.[5]
- ^ Everett Franklin Bleiler, Richard Bleiler. Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930 : with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes. Kent State University Press. 1990. P. 220.
- ^ Edisonade. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
- ^ Bleiler, op.cit.
- ^ Tim DeForest. Storytelling in the Pulps, Comics, and Radio: How Technology Changed Popular Fiction in America. McFarland. P. 18.
- ^ Lovece, Joseph (2015). Dime Novel Robots 1868-1899: An Illustrated history and bibliography. ISBN 978-1511578660.