author
Edward S. (Edward Sims) Van Zile
1863–1931
A versatile American man of letters, he wrote novels, short fiction, biography, social commentary, and an early book on motion pictures. His career moved easily between journalism and popular writing, giving his work an energetic, wide-ranging feel.
5 Audiobooks
Perkins, the Fakeer: A Travesty on Reincarnation His wonderful workings in the cases of "When Reginald was Caroline", "How Chopin came to Remsen", and "Clarissa's troublesome baby"
by Edward S. (Edward Sims) Van Zile
With Sword and Crucifix Being an Account of the Strange Adventures of Count Louis Sancerre, Companion of Sieur LaSalle, on the Lower Mississippi, in the Year of Grace 1682
by Edward S. (Edward Sims) Van Zile
That Marvel—The Movie A Glance at Its Past, Its Promising Present and Its Significant Future
by Edward S. (Edward Sims) Van Zile
Kings in Adversity
by Edward S. (Edward Sims) Van Zile
The Manhattaners: A Story of the Hour
by Edward S. (Edward Sims) Van Zile
About the author
Born in Troy, New York, in 1863, Edward Sims Van Zile was an American writer and journalist whose career stretched across fiction and nonfiction. Sources describe him as a prolific author of short stories, novelettes, novels, biographies, commentary, and a history of the early motion-picture industry.
Van Zile published a varied body of work, including titles such as The Manhattaners, With Sword and Crucifix, and That Marvel—The Movie. That range helps explain his appeal: he could turn from light popular fiction to historical adventure and then to cultural observation without losing his readable style.
He died in 1931, but his work still surfaces in library and public-domain collections, where it offers a glimpse of late 19th- and early 20th-century American literary taste. For listeners and readers today, he is an interesting example of a once-busy magazine-era author whose curiosity reached from storytelling to the new art of film.