author
Frank Koester
1876–1927
An engineer by training and a storyteller by instinct, this German-born writer moved from designing power systems and thinking about modern cities to writing books that made big technical ideas feel approachable. His work ranges from practical guides on electricity and urban planning to an adventurous novel set beneath the Sahara sky.
1 Audiobook
Under the desert stars : A novel
by Frank Koester
About the author
Born in Sterkrade, Germany, on August 28, 1876, and later based in New York City, Frank Koester was a German-American engineer, planner, editor, and author. Reference works from his own era describe him as someone with extensive technical and municipal experience in Germany before he came to the United States in 1902 and became a U.S. citizen soon after.
Koester built his reputation through clear, practical writing about electric power, hydroelectric development, farming technology, and city planning. He also edited Popular Electricity and wrote books such as Steam-Electric Power Plants, Hydroelectric Developments and Engineering, and Modern City Planning and Maintenance, showing a talent for explaining large systems in a way ordinary readers could follow.
He also crossed into fiction: the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction notes that his 1923 novel Under the Desert Stars is a lost-race adventure set in the Sahara. Koester died in New York City on October 5, 1927, leaving behind a body of work that connects the excitement of early modern technology with the curiosity and imagination of popular writing.