G. Sidney Paternoster

Born in Cirencester in 1866, G. Sidney Paternoster was an English journalist and author. Reliable reference sources describe him as a journalist as well as a writer of light fiction, and he is associated with work for The Times.

He is best known now for The Motor Pirate and its sequel, stories that helped bring the new technology of the motor car into popular adventure fiction. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction notes that these books follow a masked outlaw whose exploits use unusually advanced motoring technology, giving the stories an early speculative edge alongside their crime-and-chase energy.

Paternoster died on December 2, 1925. Although he is not widely famous today, his work remains of interest to readers who enjoy Edwardian popular fiction, early thrillers, and the moment when modern machines first began to reshape storytelling.