Precursors of Science Fiction (Bookshelf)

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Science Fiction (often called sci-fi or SF) is a popular genre of fiction in which the narrative world differs from our own present or historical reality in at least one significant way. This difference may be technological, physical, historical, sociological, philosophical, metaphysical, etc, but not magical (see Fantasy).

—Excerpted from Science Fiction on Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

Precursors of Science Fiction, are works that are of a Science Fiction nature, but are written before, or contemporaneous with Jules Verne's time (1828-1905). This list of works is generally held to begin with Lucian of Samosata's (120 - 180) work Vera Historia,—in which a group travelers voyage beyond the Gates of Hercules to the Moon. Over time, other authors dot the landscape of the Precursors of Science Fiction genre until the days of Verne's contemporaries, such as Mary Shelley; and others.


Contents

Lucian of Samosata, ca. 120 - 180

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Voltaire, 1694-1778

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Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851

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Edward Bulwer Lytton 1803-1873

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W. H. Hudson 1841-1922

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Richard Jefferies 1847-1887

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Fitz-James O'brien

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Mark Twain, 1835-1910

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Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894

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