George Allan England (9 February 1877 - 26 June 1936) was an American writer and explorer, best known for his speculative and science fiction. He attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and later in life unsuccessfully ran for

Governor of Maine The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive. The current governor of Maine is J ...

. England was a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and many of his works have socialist themes.

Life

England was born in Nebraska. He attended

, where he received

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(A.B.) and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

(M.A.) degrees. In 1912 he stood for

as the candidate of the Socialist Party of America. In that election, he finished in third place with 2,081 votes (1.47%). England died in a hospital in New Hampshire, although there is a legend that he disappeared on a treasure hunt.

Writing

England's writing career took place mainly in New York and Maine. Many of his works have a socialist theme. Influences on England's writing include

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

and

Algernon Blackwood Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE (14 March 1869 – 10 December 1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary cri ...

.Richard A. Lupoff, "England, George Allan" in ''

Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers ''Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers'' is a book by Curtis C. Smith published in October 1981 on science fiction authors in the 20th century. It is the third in the St. Martin's Press's ''Twentieth-Century Writers of the English Language'' ...

'' by Curtis C. Smith. St. James Press, 1986, (p.230-1). His short story, "The Thing from—'Outside'", which had originally appeared in

Hugo Gernsback Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American editor and magazine publisher, whose publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as pub ...

's magazine ''

Science and Invention ''The Electrical Experimenter'' was an American technical science magazine that was published monthly. It was established in May 1913, as the successor to ''Modern Electrics'', a combination of a magazine and mail-order catalog that had been pub ...

'', was reprinted in the first issue of the first

science fiction magazine A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard-copy periodical format or on the Internet. Science fiction magazines traditionally featured speculative fiction in short story, novelette, nove ...

, ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances ...

'', in April 1926.Ashley, ''Time Machines'', p. 51. The novel ''The Air Trust'' (1915) is the story of a billionaire, Isaac Flint, who attempts to control the very air people breathe, and the violent consequences of his ambition and greed. In the concluding chapter, Flint is described as one of "the most sinister and cruel minds ever evolved upon this planet."George Allan England. ''The Air Trust''. St. Louis, MO. Phil Wagner. 1915. p. 329. England's trilogy, ''Darkness and Dawn'' (published in 1912, 1913 and 1914 as ''The Vacant World'', ''Beyond the Great Oblivion'' and ''Afterglow'') tells the story of 2 modern people who awake a thousand years after the earth was devastated by a meteor. They work to rebuild civilization. Richard A. Lupoff has noted that ''Darkness and Dawn'' contains "an unfortunate element of racism" (the villains who menace the heroes are descended from African-Americans).

Novels

* Darkness and Dawn Series ** ''The Vacant World'' (1912) ** ''Beyond the Great Oblivion'' (1913) ** ''The Afterglow'' (1914) Other Novels * ''Beyond White Seas'' (1910) * ''The Elixir of Hate'' (1910) * ''The Empire in the Air'' (1914) * ''The Air Trust'' (1915) * ''The Fatal Gift'' (1915) * ''The Golden Blight'' (1916) * ''The Gift Supreme'' (1916) * ''Bill Jenkins, Buccaneer'' (1917) * ''Cursed'' (1919) * ''The Flying Legion'' (1920) * ''Adventure Isle'' (1926)

Short stories

*''Pod, Bender and Co'' (October 1916) - Short story collection ** When Pod Took the Count ** A Flyer in Annuities ** Birds of Passage ** "Ammunition — With Care" ** Art for Art's Sake ** The Old Homestead ** Pod Flits ** A Game of Solitaire ** Crayons and Clay ** The Turning of the Worm ** Lobsters and Loot ** The Supreme Getaway ** Knight Errants Up-to-Date ** The Kimberley Special ** A Passage at Arms ** Fly-Time * ''The Thing--From Outside'' (2016, short story collection)

Notes

References

External links

* * * *
Pod, Bender and Co (1916) at Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:England, George Allan 1877 births 1936 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers Writers from Nebraska Harvard University alumni Socialist Party of America politicians from Maine American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers