The Steam Man of the Prairies

The Steam Man of the Prairies
Beadle's American Novel No. 45, August 1868, featuring "The Steam Man of the Prairies"
AuthorEdward S. Ellis
Working titleThe Huge Hunter
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
Published1868
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
TextThe 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]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Edisonade. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
  3. ^ Bleiler, op.cit.
  4. ^ Tim DeForest. Storytelling in the Pulps, Comics, and Radio: How Technology Changed Popular Fiction in America. McFarland. P. 18.
  5. ^ Lovece, Joseph (2015). Dime Novel Robots 1868-1899: An Illustrated history and bibliography. ISBN 978-1511578660.

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