Robert Duncan Milne
Appearance
Robert Duncan Milne | |
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Born | 7 June 1844 Cupar, Fife, Scotland |
Died | 15 December 1899 (aged 55) San Francisco, California |
Robert Duncan Milne (7 June 1844–15 December 1899) was a late-19th century San Francisco science fiction writer whose work was published primarily in newspapers of the time, and the magazine The Argonaut. He was born in Cupar, Scotland, and moved to San Francisco in the 1860s, where he remained until his death.[1]
Milne is considered one of the earliest full-time science fiction writers in America.[2] His stories explored speculative concepts such as climate catastrophe, cryogenics, and drone warfare, making making him a successor to writers like Jules Verne and a precursor to those such as H.G. Wells. Despite his forward-thinking themes, much of his work remained obscure and was unavailable for long after his death.[2]
Rediscovery
[edit]Milne was rediscovered by science fiction historian Sam Moskowitz, who collected some of his work in the 1980 volume Into the Sun & Other Stories. In January 2025, Bloomsbury Academic published The Essential Robert Duncan Milne: Stories by the Lost Pioneer of Science Fiction,[3] the most comprehensive collection of Milne's work to date. Edited by Dr. Keith Williams and Ari Brin, the anthology reflects eight years of archival research and renewed interest into Milne’s contributions to the early development of science fiction.
A few years ago, Augusta Boveresse discovered his existence. She began her investigations in the Californian press of the end of the 19th century and discovered an article in the San Francisco Call and Post of the December 17, 1899, unfortunately announcing his death. This article made her aware of his real existence. These few lines encouraged her to continue her research, and it was after tedious work that she gathered many of his short stories. She discovered part of his life through some autobiographical texts published in the Californian newspapers from the 1870s, then extraordinary stories mixing science and fiction, a completely avant-garde style for the time. She also discovered, according to her, an endearing, sensitive, very erudite man, strangely fleeing his past life. Augusta then decided that such a talented and imaginative author could not disappear from our memories once again. So, she began to retrace his life, translate his texts into French, and then, according to those elements, write a fictionalized biography in four parts – 1/ Printemps: https://amzn.eu/d/2SaMlss [archive] - 2/ Eté: https://amzn.eu/d/0DooATl [archive] - 3/ Automne: https://amzn.eu/d/7aEVC4D [archive] - 4/ Hiver: https://amzn.eu/d/8bP7bEX [archive]) – also relying on the only picture she found of him, apparently taken before 1893 by an unknown person.
Bibliography
[edit]- Milne, Robert Duncan (1980). Into the Sun & Other Stories. selected and introduced by Sam Moskowitz, illus. Ned Dameron. West Kingston, R.I.: Donald M. Grant.
- Williams, Keith, and Brin, Ari, eds. (2025). The Essential Robert Duncan Milne: Stories by the Lost Pioneer of Science Fiction. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- (fr) "Histoire d'un visionnaire oublié." (2024) : a biography of Robert Duncan Milne imagine by Augusta Boveresse. (biography in 4 parts : 1/ Printemps: https://amzn.eu/d/2SaMlss [archive] - 2/ Eté: https://amzn.eu/d/0DooATl [archive] - 3/ Automne: https://amzn.eu/d/7aEVC4D [archive] - 4/ Hiver: https://amzn.eu/d/8bP7bEX [archive]).
- (en) "THE LOST FATHER OF AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION." (2025) - English version of "Histoire d'un Visionnaire oublié." by Augusta Boveresse --> https://amzn.eu/d/ctJxhoM
References
[edit]- ^ "Back to the future as science fiction's '˜father' Robert Duncan Milne honoured". The Scotsman. 12 November 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
- ^ a b Williams, Keith (7 June 2017). "Remembering the lost father of American science fiction – and his Scottish roots". The Conversation. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
- ^ Milne, Robert Duncan (2025). Brin, Ariana; Williams, Keith (eds.). The Essential Robert Duncan Milne: Stories by the Lost Pioneer of Science Fiction (1st ed.). London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-350-41264-4.
External links
[edit]- The Essential Robert Duncan Milne at Bloomsbury Publishing
- Article about Robert Duncan Milne's Science Fiction stories
- Robert Duncan Milne at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Works by Robert Duncan Milne at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Robert Duncan Milne fan blog: http://theeidoloscope.blogspot.co.uk/
- Robert Duncan Milne's biography in French and English [1]
Categories:
- American science fiction writers
- 1844 births
- 1899 deaths
- Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
- Scottish science fiction writers
- American male short story writers
- American male novelists
- 19th-century American novelists
- 19th-century American short story writers
- 19th-century American male writers
- American science fiction writer stubs