Edward Page Mitchell (1852–1927)

Required reading for students and scholars of early science fiction. Unfortunately, the book is not scholarship-friendly, lacking both an index to the stories and a bibliography for Moskowitz's excellent introductory essay. Original publication details for each story are scattered throughout the Introduction, but this information does not appear in either the Contents or on individual story title pages, making it extremely difficult to extract. Adding to this frustration, the stories are show more organized according to dubious categories apparently randomly assigned by Moskowitz, rather than by what would have been a much more useful chronological presentation. Despite these organizational shortcomings, the book offers transformative insight into the development of the science fiction genre, and represents the rediscovery of an important American writer.

The introductory essay by Sam Moskowitz makes a strong case for Mitchell's seminal influence on genre science fiction relative to his better-known contemporaries, and for the role of newspapers in establishing its generic style (Mitchell wrote most of the stories anonymously for the NY Sun, infamous perpetrator of the 1835 Moon Hoax). Crediting Mitchell with the first cyborg, the first friendly alien, the first cryogenics, the first time machine, and the first invisible man to appear in print on either side of the Atlantic, Moskowitz makes a plausible case that Mitchell may not only have anticipated Wells, but actually provided some of the ideas most closely associated with his genius.This last point is speculative, but compelling on its face, given the textual evidence of the stories, and the wide-spread cross-Atlantic reprint trade in an era without international copyright laws.

Mitchell's stories themselves are fascinating from an historical perspective, yet surprisingly readable today. At times the stories may strike some contemporary readers as annoyingly naive. Sensitive readers may also have little patience with outdated images of race and gender. But, Mitchell often withstands a careful reading even on these points, and is as likely to be found reflecting ironically upon such images as he is innocently reproducing them. Mitchell's narrative style is clean and literate, infused with humor, and casually intelligent. At his best, Mitchell brings compelling plot and reflective narrative to bear on the deepest philosophical implications of emerging science and technology, asking questions that still challenge us today. show less

The stories within are very simply structured and run an average of about 10 pages in length. Most are somewhat boring and seem to me as satirical pieces valid in their day but very obtuse now. There were a few stories that did peak my interest though. These mentionable stories being: The Crystal Man, the Balloon Tree, the Facts in the Ratcliffe Case, An Uncommon Sort of Spectre, The Case of the Dow Twins, and An Extraordinary Wedding.
The Crystal Man is only notable (aside from its show more potential historical significance) because its single twist, most of these tales have only a single twist near the end mind you, is just weird depending on the lone female character dumping the invisible man because he’s a freak thus prompting his suicide. The Balloon Tree is just weird, a group of men track through the jungle in the hopes of discovering a semi-mythical tree and one becomes lost only to lose consciousness and wake up back at the beach with his comrades who had given up the search and hope. Together they see the balloon tree floating away off in the distance.
The Facts in the Ratcliffe Case involves some lady with a poisonous or drugging gaze but the real centerpiece here is a scene in an 1880’s medical theater involving an old woman’s calcified knee, utterly gross but definitely worth the read. I truly wish all of these stories had a scene like that; they would have been much improved. An Uncommon Sort of Spectre is definitely interesting and deals with a strange conversation about the logistics of ghosts from the future. The Case of the Dow Twins was readable, it was okay overall and involves a mysterious spiritual/mental link between a good and evil twin type thing. An Extraordinary Wedding was definitely interesting with its single twist at the very end and made for a fun a little capper to this odd story involving spirit mediums and an art exhibit.
What I really did not like about this book was the tedious introductory essay. The Biographical Perspective by Sam Moskowitz was 63 pages long and really did not have much to do with Edward Page Mitchell until the last dozen pages only mentioning him briefly at the beginning and about halfway through. It was very uninteresting throwing out names and dates rapid-fire style especially near the beginning. To be honest, you can skip it unless you really, really have to know some basic details about Edward Page Mitchell and the place his work occupies in the bigger picture of early American science fiction according to Moskowitz.
I would not really recommend this book but for maybe experiencing the roots of science fiction and weird tales. However, The Facts in the Ratcliffe Case should be read just to experience that medical theater scene which is more akin to a straight gothic horror tale. Was it worth reading in the first place? I think so. It definitely felt different from most things I’ve read but that could be due to the stories’ origin as 100-year old newspaper filler. show less

A Very early sci-fi story about time travel. Like a lot of sci-fi from this period, I'm not sure modern readers would get much out of this, but it was fun and surprisingly complex. Well worth the 20 munites it took to read it.

Dnf as I couldn’t understand the narrator. Which is a pity as the story seemed intriguing.