Now, I don’t believe that coincidences are anything but…however, this is the third time this week that I’ve seen a reference to Edison’s Conquest of Mars.

The second time came when I was reading an article about Mark Twain on Wikipedia and went from his entry to the entry about Mark Twain in Popular Culture to a reference to “The Five Fists of Science” (where Edison plays villian to genius whackjob Nicola Tesla) to the entry about Edison in Popular Culture to Edison’s Conquest of Mars and, finally, a link to the book itself.

Check out the cover.

The first was in a discussion with someone about remakes and unofficial sequels to War of the Worlds, of which Edison’s Conquest of Mars was one.

Apparently, the book is quite good for what it is and even makes references to mining asteroids and spacesuits — which is pretty good for 1898. It’s just a reminder that media heroes of another age were fine with licensing their name to use in fiction. Houdini did it. Lovecraft ghosted for him and so did Walter B. Gibson, creator of The Shadow.

According to Wikipedia, Walter Gibson also ghosted for other magicians, including Harry Blackstone, and introduced the Chinese Linking Rings to America.