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14. Robert Duncan Milne: A Lost Pioneer of Science Fiction

Unlike most episodes there are no film spoilers ahead!

 

This episode we take a huge jump back to the end of the 19th century and a sidestep to science fiction literature rather than film.

 

Robert Duncan Milne is a lost pioneer of science fiction literature. Milne’s work had largely vanished despite a book drawing attention to him in 1980. Born in Scotland to an episcopalian priest he died in San Francisco just before the dawn of the 20th century. During his time in San Francisco he worked as a journalist as well as writing science fiction short stories.

 

In the many stories Milne wrote he included themes of time travel, alien life, teleportation, cryogenic preservation, remote surveillance and much much more.

 

My fantastic guests today have spent many years researching and compiling Milne’s work and trying to discover as much as possible about his life and work.

 

The Experts

Keith Williams is a Reader in English Literature at the University of Dundee where he runs the science fiction programme. He has a special interest in the pre 1945 period.

 

Ari Brin completed her Masters at the University of Dundee where she began her PhD research which focuses on the life and work of Robert Duncan Milne.

 

The book that Ari and Keith have been working on will be released in January 2025. It is available for pre-order for the ungodly price of £117 in the UK or $175 in the USA.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:59 Why was this pioneer’s work lost?

03:21 Milne’s contemporaries and the topics he wrote about

06:57 The promising young man who vanishes from Scottish society

12:32 San Francisco: an exciting literary hub in the late 19th century

14:18 Milne’s excessive drinking and the Keeley cure

19:27 Milne’s journalism and how it fed into his fiction

22:20 The Great Moon Hoax of 1835

25:51 Milne, Wells and visions of the future

33:17 The death of Milne and his work

36:32 Keith and Ari’s book and the crazy price

 

 

Shownotes

  • You can learn more about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 here.

  • This is a beautiful old film clip (with fake sound) of San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake.

  • Robert Duncan Milne was born in Cupar, Scotland on the 7th of June 1844.

  • HG Wells was a British writer born in 1866. He wrote multiple well-known stories including the famous science fiction novels The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds and The Island of Dr Moreau.

  • Jules Verne was a French writer born in 1828. He wrote many novels, poems and plays including  the science fiction novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and From the Earth to the Moon. The last of those was part of the inspiration behind the first science fiction film ever.

  • Robert Duncan Milne invented a type of rotary steam engine in 1874 which was (according to The San Francisco Call Newspaper, published on the 17th of December 1899) “exhibited in the Mechanics' Fair at San Francisco… which was pronounced to be the wonder of the fair.”

  • The words Keith mentions all use the prefix tele which has a Greek origin meaning “far off”.

  • The Argonaut was a well- known and well-regarded newspaper based in San Francisco. It was founded in 1879.

  • Tiburcio Vásquez an outlaw in the wild west. You can learn a little about him from this Wikipedia page.

  • Mark Twain was a famous American writer born in 1835. He was in San Francisco before his rise to fame.

  • Robert Louis Stevenson was another British writer born in Scotland. He wrote many books including Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

  • San Francisco was a popular literary hub in the late 19th century. Irish writer extraordinaire Oscar Wilde famously visited the city in 1882.

  • Ambrose Bierce was an American writer born in 1842.

  • Rudyard Kipling was a British writer born in 1865. He also visited San Francisco and wrote various accounts about the city for newspapers.

  • William Randolph Hearst was the USA’s first media mogul born in 1863. He acquired the San Francisco Examiner newspaper from his father George Hearst who took it as payment for a gambling debt.

  • You can learn a bit about the Keeley cure or the bichloride of gold experiment here.

  • This news article from the San Francisco Examiner, February 11th 1892 records some details of Milne’s relapse into drinking.

  • There is lots of wonderful information online about The Great Moon Hoax. You can find more information about it here, and encyclopedia entry here or if you have access to The New Yorker there is a wonderful article here.

  • You can access the series of articles on the Great Astronomical Discoveries (AKA The Moon Hoax) on the internet archive here.

  • Sir John Herschel was a British astronomer born in 1792. You can learn a little about him here. (My personal opinion is that his photograph suggests he was haunted by the fake news story for a long time!) 

  • The Paleoscopic Camera is a story by Milne in which a photographer has a camera that can take pictures of the past. (Interestingly a similar concept is used in the 1936 film The Invisible Ray starring Boris Karloff in which he has invented a telescope than can look back into time.)

  • You can learn a bit about Robert William Paul and his theatrograph here.

  • You can learn a little about WKL Dickson (an inventor both in 1860) and his involvement in the Edison company here. This page also mentions the eidoloscope projector.

  • Shinichi Hoshi was a Japanese writer born in 1926. You can learn more about the Shinichi Hoshi here.

  • Cordwainer Smith is a pseudonym for Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger. An American writer born in 1913. You can learn more about him from this website set up by his daughter.

  • The book that Ari and Keith have been working on will be released in January 2025. It is available for pre-order for the ungodly price of £117 in the UK or $175 in the USA.

 

 

NEXT EPISODE!

 

WE ARE IN THE 1950s!!!!! It is an exciting but overwhelming time so please bear with me.

 

The next film we will be speaking about The Thing From Another World (1951). You can find out where you can watch it on Just Watch: https://www.justwatch.com/

 

It is available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play and other outlets. If you are in the USA I believe you can watch it for free (with ads) on Tubi.

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