author

Edwin Lester Arnold

1857–1935

An early explorer of science-fantasy adventure, this English novelist is best remembered for a strange and imaginative trip to Mars in Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation. He also wrote historical and adventure fiction, bringing a brisk, story-first style to his books.

2 Audiobooks

Gulliver of Mars

Gulliver of Mars

by Edwin Lester Arnold

The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician

The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician

by Edwin Lester Arnold

About the author

Born on May 14, 1857, in Swanscombe, Kent, Edwin Lester Arnold was an English writer and the son of poet and journalist Sir Edwin Arnold. He wrote fiction across several modes, including adventure, historical romance, and early speculative fantasy.

His best-known book is Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation (1905), now often noted as an early example of planetary romance. The novel’s dreamlike journey to Mars helped give it an afterlife far beyond its original moment, especially among readers interested in the roots of science fiction.

Arnold died on March 1, 1935. While he is not as widely known today as some of his contemporaries, his work still attracts attention for its imagination, curiosity, and place in the long history of fantastic literature.