Luis Senarens
Encyclopedia
Luis Philip Senarens was an American dime novel
writer
specializing in science fiction
, once called "the American Jules Verne
". He grew up in a Cuban-American family in Brooklyn
.
Around 1882, Senarens began writing new stories in the Frank Reade
adventure story series begun by Harry Enton in 1868. Senarens introduced Frank Reade, Jr. as the new main character, and added elements such as electricity
. The stories were very successful, and by the 1890s Senarens was asked by publisher Frank Tousey to write a similar series featuring Jack Wright, the "Boy Inventor". Later in the decade, Tousey created the Frank Reade Library, a periodical devoted to "invention" stories, largely (or wholly) composed by Senarens using the pseudonym Noname. Mike Ashley calls him "the first prolific writer of science fiction". He would eventually write more than 300 dime novels.
In 1917 Senarens became the editor of the Tousey detective story
periodical, Mystery Magazine.
Dime novel
Dime novel, though it has a specific meaning, has also become a catch-all term for several different forms of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
specializing in science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, once called "the American Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
". He grew up in a Cuban-American family in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
.
Around 1882, Senarens began writing new stories in the Frank Reade
Frank Reade
Frank Reade was the protagonist of a series of dime novels published primarily for boys. The first novel, Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains, an imitation of Edward Ellis's "The Steam Man of the Prairies" , was written by Harry Enton and serialized in the Frank Tousey juvenile magazine...
adventure story series begun by Harry Enton in 1868. Senarens introduced Frank Reade, Jr. as the new main character, and added elements such as electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
. The stories were very successful, and by the 1890s Senarens was asked by publisher Frank Tousey to write a similar series featuring Jack Wright, the "Boy Inventor". Later in the decade, Tousey created the Frank Reade Library, a periodical devoted to "invention" stories, largely (or wholly) composed by Senarens using the pseudonym Noname. Mike Ashley calls him "the first prolific writer of science fiction". He would eventually write more than 300 dime novels.
In 1917 Senarens became the editor of the Tousey detective story
Detective Story
Detective Story is a film noir which tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. It features Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell, Lee Grant, among others. The movie was adapted by Robert Wyler and Philip Yordan...
periodical, Mystery Magazine.