Into the Sun & Other Stories

Born in Cupar, Scotland on 7th June1844 Robert Duncan Milne is one of the true greats of early science fiction writing. The problem with that is that in these modern times he is almost forgotten.

From his early childhood he was a distinguished and prize-winning scholar. After gaining honors at Oxford University he made plans to travel to California. Such was the success of the visit that he decided to live there permanently. It was now that he made writing his main occupation and over his short career he published over 60 short stories in the Argonaut periodical and the San Francisco Examiner.

These stories stand out for two reasons. Once is their tremendous sense of vision and adventure. No idea was too large for his imagination to wrestle into literary form. The second was his ability to convince his audience through his interpretation of the available evidence and his own logic and imagination that the premise was accurate and believable.

He also developed a consuming alcohol problem. Monies were given to him to publish collections of his stories but instead of using the finds to gain a wider audience he squandered the entire $2000 on drink.

Tragically whilst totally drunk on 5th December 1899 he accidentally stepped in front of a San Francisco cable car and was killed. He was 55.