Van Zile, Edward S
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1863-1931) US author of some sf interest for two of the tales assembled in A Magnetic Man and Other Stories (coll 1890): the protagonist of "A Magnetic Man", whose various Inventions do nothing to make him liked, learns how to control electricity, which governs affinities; and "Chemical Clairvoyance" features a device capable of recording the backward traces of the future on atoms, thus making Prediction possible. "The Skeleton's Confession", in The Dreamers and Other Poems (coll 1897), is a Baseball ghost story in verse. An Incan Lost World is discovered in With Sword and Crucifix [for full title see Checklist below] (1900); and Perkins, the Fakeer [for full titles of the above two see Checklist below] (coll of linked stories 1903) features several supernatural tales involving Identity Exchanges, the most interesting perhaps being "When Reginald Was Caroline" (July 1900 The Smart Set), in which a married couple exchange bodies. Van Zile's light touch, popular in its day, has worn heavily. [JC]
Edward Sims Van Zile
born Troy, New York: 2 May 1863
died New York: 29 May 1931
works (selected)
- With Sword and Crucifix: Being an Account of the Strange Adventures of Count Louis Sancerre, Companion of Sierre de la Salle, on the Lower Mississippi in the Years 1682 (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1900) [hb/]
collections
- A Magnetic Man and Other Stories (New York: Frank F Lovell and Company, 1890) [coll: pb/]
- The Dreamers and Other Poems (New York: F Tennyson Neely, 1897) [coll: hb/]
- Perkins, the Fakeer: A Travesty on Reincarnation; His Wonderful Workings in the Cases of "When Reginald Was Caroline", "How Chopin Came to Remsen", and "Clarissa's Troublesome Baby" (New York: The Smart Set Publishing Company, 1903) [coll of linked stories: illus/hb/Henry Mayer]
links
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