THE four gypsies left Herr Hippe's house cautiously, and directed their steps towards Mr. Pippel's bird-shop. Golosh Street was asleep. Nothing was stirring in that tenebrous slum, save a dog that savagely gnawed a bone which lay on a dust-heap, tantalizing him with the flavor of food without its substance. As the gypsies moved stealthily along in the darkness, they had a sinister and murderous air that would not have failed to attract the attention of the policeman of the quarter
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
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Fitz James O'Brien was an author and is often considered one of the forerunners of today's Science Fiction.
He was born Michael O'Brien in County Cork, and was very young when the family moved to Limerick, Ireland, educated at the University of Dublin, and is believed to have been at one time a soldier in the British service. On leaving college he went to London, and in the course of two years spent his inheritance of -8,000, meanwhile editing a periodical in aid of the World's Fair of 1851. About 1852 he came to the United States, in the process changing his name to Fitz James and thenceforth he devoted his attention to literature.
While he was in college he had shown an aptitude for writing verse, and two of his poems - Loch Ine and Irish Castles - were published in The Ballads of Ireland (1856).
His earliest writings in the United States were contributed to the Lantern, which was then edited by John Brougham. Subsequently he wrote for the Home Journal, the New York Times, and the American Whig Review. His first important literary connection was with Harper's Magazine, and beginning in February, 1853, with The Two Skulls, he contributed more than sixty articles in prose and verse to that periodical. He likewise wrote for the New York Saturday Press, Putnam's Magazine, Vanity Fair, and the Atlantic Monthly. To the latter he sent The Diamond Lens(1858) and The Wonder Smith (1859), which are unsurpassed as creations of the imagination, and are unique among short magazine stories. The Diamond Lens is probably his most famous short story, and tells the story of a scientist who invents a powerful microscope discovers a beautiful female in a microscopic world inside a drop of water.
--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Devilish Dolls,
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This review is from: The Wondersmith (Kindle Edition)
Irish-born, New York-based author Fitz-James O'Brien wrote some of the earliest science fiction stories, including The Diamond Lens (1858) and What Was It? A Mystery (1859). This novelette (also from 1859) is more supernatural horror than science fiction-- it is about Gypsy sorcerors who animate dolls to carry out a fiendish scheme-- but it can also be seen as a precursor of SF stories about rebellious robots. It is, despite its age, still a pretty good read, if you can get past the decidedly un-PC tone of the story (it has nasty, if offhand, remarks about Jews and Italians on the first page, and the plot centers on evil Gypsies out to avenge themselves on "Christian children"). One minor point of historical interest-- the story talks about Santa Claus bringing toys to children on New Year's Eve, not Christmas Eve. I have to assume that was the way it was done in New York in the 1850s.
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