Utopian novels of the early period
After doing some background research for my interactive fiction story, Harmonia, I became fascinated with some of the earliest works of science fiction: the utopian fiction of the 19th century. I'm especially interested in those books by women and other underrepresented writers, as these fictional works tend to describe the world as people wished it to be.
Each one of these pieces contains original biographical research on the authors.
Her stories
A survey of early utopian and dystopian works by women, from the period between 1850 and the early 20th century.
Unveiling a Parallel
1893
An exuberantly feminist and sex-positive utopian novel by Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Robinson Merchant.
Journeys to the Planet Mars
1903
A deeply-felt hoax by spiritualist Sara Weiss, written and illustrated under the direction of "spirit guides." In 2023 I wrote an interactive fiction piece, The ecology of the waterways of Mars, based on her cosmology.
The Ostrich for the Defence
1912
William Hile's novel-length advertisement for a doomed venture to achieve world peace through ostrich farming.
Freeland: A Social Anticipation
1889
Theodor Hertzka's immensely popular novel led to a disastrous attempt to realize his utopian plan in Kenya.
Loma: A Citizen of Venus
1897
A clairvoyant being from Venus saves the young mother of the messiah. "Doctor" William Windsor wrote Loma to capitalize on the utopian trend and sell phrenology, quack science, and curiously modern gender politics.
Young West
1894
Solomon Schindler, a radical Reform rabbi in Boston, authored this surprisingly good sequel to Edward Bellamy's classic utopian novel, printed in a uniquely colorful series of editions.