Edward Page Mitchell was born in Bath, Maine on 24th March 1852 into a wealthy family. When he was eight the family moved to a house on New York’s famed Fifth Avenue.In 1863 he witnessed the Draft Riots and in the aftermath Mitchell's father moved the family to Tar River, North Carolina. It was there, at the age of fourteen, that his letters were first published in the local newspaper The Bath Times.In 1872, at age twenty, whilst on a train journey to Bath, Maine, a hot cin...

Edward Page Mitchell was born in Bath, Maine on 24th March 1852 into a wealthy family. When he was eight the family moved to a house on New York’s famed Fifth Avenue.In 1863 he witnessed the Draft Riots and in the aftermath Mitchell's father moved the family to Tar River, North Carolina. It was there, at the age of fourteen, that his letters were first published in the local newspaper The Bath Times.In 1872, at age twenty, whilst on a train journey to Bath, Maine, a hot cin...

On a dark New York street, a man collides with a stranger who leaves almost no trace behind him. Minutes later that stranger vanishes into thin air, and the mystery refuses to leave the narrator’s mind.The answer arrives in the most astonishing way imaginable. Guided by unseen hands into a hidden room, the narrator meets a man who should not exist—a living scientist whose body has been stripped of every pigment until nothing remains to catch the light. He can speak, move, breathe, ...

The Man Without a Body is a pioneering science-fiction tale first published in The New York Sun in 1877. The story follows a brilliant but impatient scientist who invents a machine capable of transmitting matter through space — but when he tests it on himself, only his head makes the journey. What begins as a bold experiment quickly becomes a darkly humorous and unsettling lesson in the limits of human control over technology. Long before teleportation was a commo...

Edward Page Mitchell was born in Bath, Maine on 24th March 1852 into a wealthy family. When he was eight the family moved to a house on New York’s famed Fifth Avenue.In 1863 he witnessed the Draft Riots and in the aftermath Mitchell's father moved the family to Tar River, North Carolina. It was there, at the age of fourteen, that his letters were first published in the local newspaper The Bath Times.In 1872, at age twenty, whilst on a train journey to Bath, Maine, a hot cin...

Later described as "the lost giant of American science fiction," Edward Page Mitchell wrote many science fiction and fantasy short stories in the 1870's to 1890's, nearly all of which were published anonymously in the The Sun daily newspaper of New York. Mitchell was editor-in-chief of The Sun and was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board for many years.Mitchell introduced many technological and social predictions which were daring for the time, prior to similar predictions by famou...

Edward Page Mitchell was born in Bath, Maine on 24th March 1852 into a wealthy family. When he was eight the family moved to a house on New York’s famed Fifth Avenue.In 1863 he witnessed the Draft Riots and in the aftermath Mitchell's father moved the family to Tar River, North Carolina. It was there, at the age of fourteen, that his letters were first published in the local newspaper The Bath Times.In 1872, at age twenty, whilst on a train journey to Bath, Maine, a hot cin...

Later described as "the lost giant of American science fiction," Edward Page Mitchell wrote many science fiction and fantasy short stories in the 1870's to 1890's, nearly all of which were published anonymously in the The Sun daily newspaper of New York. Mitchell was editor-in-chief of The Sun and was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board for many years.Mitchell introduced many technological and social predictions which were daring for the time, prior to similar pr...

This early work by Edward Page Mitchell was originally published in 1878 and we are now republishing it as part of our Cryptofiction Classics series. 'The Devilish Rat' is a short story about flesh stripping rodents. The Cryptofiction Classics series contains a collection of wonderful stories from some of the greatest authors in the genre, including Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jack London. From its roots in cryptozoology, this genre features bizarre, fan...

A young mathematician wants to marry the lovely Abscissa Surd, but her father says he must first prove himself worthy. Professor Surd will only allow the protagonist to marry his daughter if he can either accomplish perpetual motion or faster-than-light travel. “The Tachypomp” is a short story for the mathematically-minded. Though first published anonymously in 1874, science-fiction scholar Sam Moskowitz rediscovered and republished it—along with Mitchell’s other forgotten work—in 1973, th...

Science Fiction is usually thought of as a modern genre, something that could only be ‘invented’ in these more modern times where technology and imagination combine to bring us thrilling stories. That, of course, is true, but these authors in the 19th Century were far ahead of their own times, and perhaps, still of ours.1 - Sci-Fi Stories Written in the 19th Century - An Introduction2 - A Thousand Deaths by Jack London3 - The Tachypomp by Edward Page Mitchell

An author’s talents may seem obvious and indisputable as they move words and ideas into gathered phrases and stories.But where do these ideas and stories come from? A lonely thought that suddenly gathers form? An inspiration from a Muse? A suggestion from an everyday event?Perhaps in the case of their darker, more malevolent stories, other forces are at work. They help to nourish single words into sentences and paragraphs that ease themselves from the shadows and are sudden...