News of Asteroid with Comet-Like Tales Reminds of First Science Fiction Short Story About Comets

The Hubbel telescope has recently spotted a strange asteroid with six comet-like tales. Whenever I hear interesting scientific news like this I always want to know if (and when) science fiction authors first wrote about such an event.

Turns out in 1835, Sir Thomas Charles Morgan (1783-1843)--husband of the popular novelist Lady Morgan--came pretty close. He wrote the first science fiction short story where the protagonist rides on a comet that he controls by a "filial or two" of concentrated gravity. The tale is called "Glimpses of Other Worlds" and you can find it my recently published anthology - Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Stories 1800-1849.

Balloon Trip to the Moon - Only 193 Years in the Making

For only $75,000 balloon trips to the moon are being offered. Will it actually work? Check out this video. Technology has finally caught up to a science fiction writer who described of these types of trips in 1820.

Years before Edgar Allan Poe' popular "[Balloon Hoax]" tale, another was published that not only sent the first earthling to the moon in a balloon, but when he arrives, he meets the first lunarian whose name was Zuloc.

What was the name of the first sci-fi short story of a trip to the moon in a balloon and who wrote it? You can find the story and my thoughts on who the author was in Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Stories 1800-1849.

Man in Balloon Attempt Eerily Similar to 1835 Science Fiction Stories

When I hear of the recent failed attempt by a North Carolina man to cross the Atlantic Ocean with a copse of balloons, it brings to mind the year of 1835 when people on both sides of the Atlantic had dreams of crossing the ocean in hot air balloons. Perhaps some of us still have that wild-eyed fascination with balloons. In 1835, writers latched onto this public enthusiasm to create sci-fi tales where the balloons went ever higher, with some reaching as far as the moon. The stories were: “Leaves from an Aeronaut” by Willis Gaylord Clark; “Great Astronomical Discoveries Lately Made by Sir John Herschel, L.L.D. F.R.S. &C. at the Cape of Good Hope” by Richard Adams Locke; “Glimpses of Other Worlds” by Thomas Charles Morgan; and “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” by Edgar Allan Poe. None of these stories made the cut in Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Stories 1800-1849 (www.andrewbarger.com/bestsciencefictionstories1880.html), but follow the link to see which classic sci-fi stories did.

Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Stories 1800-1849 is Now Published!

Andrew Barger, award-winning author and engineer, has extensively researched forgotten journals and magazines of the early 19th century to locate groundbreaking science fiction short stories in the English language. In doing so, he found what is possibly the first science fiction story by a female (and it is not from Mary Shelley). Andrew located the first steampunk short story, which has not been republished since 1844. There is the first voyage to the moon in a balloon, republished for the first time since 1820 that further tells of a darkness machine and a lunarian named Zuloc.

Other sci-stories include the first robotic insect and an electricity gun. Once again, Andrew has searched old texts to find the very best science fiction stories from the period when the genre automated to life, some of the stories are published for the first time in nearly 200 years. As expected, the founding fathers of the short sci-fi story are present including Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Read these fantastic stories today!

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Cover Revleal "Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Stories 1800-1849" Edited by Andrew Barger

Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Stories 1800-1849 Edited by Andrew Barger

It's a holiday weekend here in America and what better time to reveal the cover for my latest book: Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Stories 1800-1849? Soon I will announce what great sci-fi stories I have uncovered, some of which have not been republished in over 150 years. Meantime, the ebook is out now if you simply cannot wait. You know who you are!

Best Science Fiction Stories on Amazon

Best Science Fiction Stories on Barnes & Noble

Best Science Fiction Stories on Kobo