''The Steam Man of the Prairies'' by

Edward S. Ellis Edward Sylvester Ellis (April 11, 1840 – June 20, 1916) was an American author who was born in Ohio and died at Cliff Island, Maine. Ellis was a teacher, school administrator, journalist, and the author of hundreds of books and magazine ...

was the first U.S.

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

dime novel The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...

and archetype of the

Frank Reade Frank Reade was the protagonist of a series of dime novels published primarily for boys. The first novel, ''Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains'', an imitation of Edward Ellis's ''The Steam Man of the Prairies'' (1868), was written by H ...

series. It is one of the earliest examples of the so-called "

Edisonade "Edisonade" is a term, coined in 1993 by John Clute in his and Peter Nicholls' '' The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', for fictional stories about a brilliant young inventor and his inventions, many of which would now be classified as science fi ...

" genre. Ellis was a prolific 19th-century author best known as a historian and biographer and a source of early heroic frontier tales in the style of

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought ...

. This novel may be inspired by the steam powered invention of Zadoc Dederick. The original novel was reissued six times from 1868 to 1904. A copy of the first 1868 printing with its cover intact is owned by the Rosenbach Museum and Library,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Summary

The first novel starts when Ethan Hopkins and Mickey McSquizzle—a "Yankee" and an "Irishman"—encounter a colossal, steam-powered man in the American prairies. This steam-man was constructed by Johnny Brainerd, a teenaged boy, who uses the steam-man to carry him in a carriage on various adventures.

Modern appearances

''The Steam Man'', a five issue

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

co-written by

Mark Alan Miller Mark Alan Miller is the Vice President of Seraphim, Inc., Clive Barker's production company. Miller is also a comic book writer, having written for Boom! Studios and Dark Horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emer ...

and Joe R. Lansdale and illustrated by Piotr Kowalski, appeared from

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

beginning in 2015. The character also appears in a few panels of

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...

's ''

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (''LoEG'') is a comic book series (inspired by the 1960 British film ''The League of Gentlemen'') co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The series spans four vol ...

'' and '' Nemo: Heart of Ice'' comics. He is also referenced in

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

; '' Planetary''.

Editions

*''Beadle's American Novel'' No. 45, August 1868, featuring "The Steam Man of the Prairies" by Edward S. Ellis. *''Beadle's Half Dime Library'' Vol. 11 No. 271, October 3, 1882, featuring "The Huge Hunter; or, The Steam Man of the Prairies" by Edward S. Ellis. *''Beadle's Half Dime Library'' No. 1156, December 1904, featuring "The Huge Hunter; or, The Steam Man of the Prairies" by Edward S. Ellis. *''Beadle's New Dime Novels'' No. 591, January 27, 1885, featuring "The Huge Hunter; or, The Steam Man of the Prairies" by Edward S. Ellis. *''Beadle’s Pocket Novels'' No. 40, January 4, 1876, featuring "The Huge Hunter; or, The Steam Man of the Prairies" by Edward S. Ellis. *''Frank Starr's American Novels'' No. 14, 1869, featuring "The Huge Hunter; or, The Steam Man of the Prairies" by Edward S. Ellis *''Pocket Library'' No. 245, September 19, 1888, featuring "Baldy's Boy Partner; or, Young Brainerd's Steam Man" by Edward S. Ellis.

References

External links

*
The Huge Hunter or, the Steam Man of the Prairies
' at Project Gutenberg *

1868 American novels Pulp stories Western (genre) novels 1868 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Steampunk novels Midwestern United States in fiction Novels set in St. Louis Fictional humanoid robots Dime novels {{1860s-sf-novel-stub