I have previously posted on “dime novels,” the fictional forerunners of pulps, which were long-running series of cheap fiction, often reprinting works from the various “story papers.” These works existed from 1868 until a little after 1900, at which point they started to be replaced by pulp magazines, often from the same publishers. Many times the term “dime novels” is used as a catch-all for a variety of cheap fiction of the period (dime novels, story papers, 5- & 10-cent weeklies, “thick books” reprints, etc).
A theme that started in many of these works were early robots, the most well-known being the “Steam Man of the Prairies” from 1868, which was basically a steam engine in the form of a large man that walked, pulling a cart. As a fan of early science fiction, I would always seen a copy of a cover for a dime novel reprints of this story. This story launched a variety of copycats, especially the various “boy inventor/adventure” characters, the “Edisonades”, that I have previously posted on.
Now, while there have been books that have looked at the Edisonade characters, or which have made use of the steam man robots in fiction, I don’t know of anyone who has done a book-length reference work on these robots. Until now.
Joseph Lovece, who has been reprinting several of these dime novel works as well as creating his own original fiction series with the boy inventor/adventurer Frank Rude Jr., has done that work: Dime Novel Robots: 1868-1899.
This book is an examination of these works that also includes an illustrated history and bibliography, as well as some bonuses. We get a great write-up on the development and use of these robots and vehicles, also looking into how some of the Edisonade characters, such as Frank Reade Jr., Electric Bob, and Jack Wright, used them.
A chronological bibliography of these works is next, followed by a 100 pages of cover art of these robots (in color), taken from Frank Reade, Frank Reade Jr, Tom Edison Jr., Electric Bob, and Jack Wright. We don’t get only steam men, we also get steam horses, electric horses, electric turtles, electric dear, sea cats, electric men, electric sea spiders, electric dolphin, and more.
Finally, we get the first part of a Jack Wright story: Jack Wright and His New Electric Horse. Wonder were we might get the rest?
This is a great addition to research of this period and if you have an interest in this period and these wild inventions, get it. Maybe this will help someone create their own stories using these inventions.
