{{short description|British writer}} {{Multiple issues| {{Lead too short|date=July 2022}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2023}} {{Notability|date=April 2023}} }} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
'''Edwin Lester Linden Arnold''' (14 May 1857 – 1 March 1935) was an English writer. His best-known work is ''Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation'' which is one of the earliest examples of the planetary romance sub-genre.
==Life and literary career== Arnold was born in Swanscombe, Kent, as son of Sir Edwin Arnold. Most of his childhood was spent in India, but he returned to England to study agriculture and ornithology. He became a journalist in 1883, and published his first books ''A Holiday in Scandinavia'' (1877) and ''Bird Life in England'' (1887) before writing his first novel ''The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician'', the adventures of a warrior who goes in and out of an unexplained state of suspended animation in order to be a witness to invasions or attempted invasions of England. ''Phra'' was first published in 24 parts in the prestigious ''Illustrated London News'', and later published in book form in the United States and the United Kingdom.
He wrote several pieces of shorter fiction, including the novelettes "The Story of Ulla", which was published in ''Short Stories'' magazine in March 1892, and "Rutherford the Twice-Born", which was published in the ''Idler'' magazine in May of the same year. These and eight other stories were collected in ''The Story of Ulla and Other Tales'' in 1895.
Arnold later wrote two other novels. The first was ''Lepidus the Centurion: A Roman of Today'' (1901), which flopped commercially. In 1905 Arnold published his best known novel, ''Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation'', also known as ''Gulliver of Mars'', (1905). Its initial reception was lukewarm, and he published only a few short stories in later years. However, it was later seen as an important precursor of the planetary romance sub-genre.<ref>[http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/planetary_romance "Planetary Romance"]</ref>
==Legacy== Arnold's ''Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation'' is considered important to 20th century science fiction literature, in that it may have inspired the Edgar Rice Burroughs ''Barsoom'' series, which was written six years later. Indeed, both Gullivar and Burroughs's character John Carter, first seen in ''A Princess of Mars'' (1917), are military men from the Southern United States who arrive on Mars and have numerous adventures, including falling in love with a Martian princess.
Ace Books reprinted Arnold's ''Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation'' in 1964, retitling it ''Gulliver of Mars'' {{sic}}. A more recent Bison Books edition was issued as ''Gullivar of Mars'', adapting the Ace title to Arnold's spelling.
Marvel Comics did a brief comic version of ''Gullivar of Mars'' during the early 1970s, possibly as a reaction to DC gaining the rights to publish Burroughs' ''John Carter'' during this time. With art by Gil Kane, it ran in several issues of ''Creatures on the Loose''. Marvel's Gullivar was a Viet Nam vet, and the series started in modern times. Though the series used many of Arnold's characters and concepts, the series was not a strict adaptation of the original book.
Both Gullivar and John Carter make an appearance at the beginning of volume two in Alan Moore's ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' comic book series.
==Bibliography==
===Fiction=== * ''The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phœnician'' (US 1890, UK 1891) {{Internet Archive|13293698.1551.emory.edu|1893 edition}} * ''The Constable of St. Nicholas'' (1894) * ''The Story of Ulla and Other Tales'' (1895) * ''Lepidus the Centurion: A Roman of Today'' (1901) ([https://archive.org/details/lepiduscenturio00arnogoog Internet Archive e-text]) * ''Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation'' (1905)
===Non-fiction=== * ''A Summer Holiday in Scandinavia'' (1877) ([https://archive.org/details/asummerholidayi00arnogoog Internet Archive e-text]) * ''Coffee: Its Cultivation and Profit'' (1886) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=D8dEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR3 Google Books e-text]) * ''Bird Life in England'' (1887) ([https://archive.org/details/birdlifeinenglan00arnorich Internet Archive e-text]) * ''England as She Seems: Being Selections from the Notes of an Arab Hadji'' (1888) * ''On the Indian Hills: or, Coffee-planting in Southern India'' (1893) ([https://archive.org/details/onindianhillsor00arnogoog <!-- quote=Edwin Lester Arnold. --> Internet Archive e-text]) * ''The Soul of the Beast'' (1960)
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{Cite book | last=Tuck | first=Donald H. | authorlink=Donald H. Tuck | title=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy | location=Chicago | publisher=Advent | year=1974|isbn=0-911682-20-1 | page=19}}
==External links== {{wikisource|works=or}} * {{Gutenberg author |id=317| name=Edwin Lester Linden Arnold}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edwin Lester Linden Arnold}} * {{Librivox author |id=4858}} * {{ISFDB name |name=Edwin L. Arnold}} * [http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/arnold_edwin_l Arnold, Edwin L on The Science Fiction Encyclopedia] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20031013193856/http://www.sfsite.com/09a/gu159.htm Review of ''Gullivar of Mars''] on SF Site. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20041220154926/http://thenostalgialeague.com/fsfh/text/gmars.html Forward to ''Gulliver of Mars''] on The Nostalgia League website.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Edwin Lester Linden}} Category:1857 births Category:1935 deaths Category:English science fiction writers Category:People from Swanscombe Category:Victorian novelists Category:19th-century English novelists Category:20th-century English novelists Category:English male novelists Category:Writers from Kent Category:19th-century English short story writers Category:English male short story writers Category:Victorian short story writers Category:English male non-fiction writers Category:19th-century English journalists Category:19th-century British male journalists Category:English male journalists Category:English travel writers Category:20th-century English short story writers