Frank Aubrey

Writing as Frank Aubrey, Francis Henry Atkins was a British civil engineer and author born around 1847 and died in 1927. He also used the pseudonym Fenton Ash, and he became known for fast-moving pulp fiction, especially science fiction and adventure stories aimed at younger readers.

His work appeared widely in late Victorian popular magazines, and later reference sources credit him as an early contributor to lost-world and pre-science-fiction storytelling. Among the titles associated with his Frank Aubrey byline are The Devil-Tree of El Dorado, A Queen of Atlantis, The Radium Seekers, and A Trip to Mars.

Although not as famous today as some of his contemporaries, his fiction captures the restless imagination of turn-of-the-century popular adventure writing. He was also the father of novelist Frank Howard Atkins, linking him to another generation of popular fiction.