Along with H.G. Wells, Jules Verne is considered to be the second founding figure of modern sci-fi. He was a French writer who published most of his work between the mid-19th and the early 20th centuries.

You may have heard of Verne, because his fantastic adventure stories—like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea—have long been a part of the popular imagination. His work is full of incredible inventions, dangerous voyages, and, of course, fantastic locations.

20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870)

This novel tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine the Nautilus, which circles the world a bunch of times. Submarines may not seem like such a fantastic thing to us nowadays, but back when this novel was published in 1870, they were a pretty radical new invention. And of course, Verne's submarine is a super-duper electric submarine. Yup: Verne predicted the future of subs.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has all the ingredients that make up a science fiction work. The novel puts a whole lot of emphasis on futuristic technology (submarines were pretty futuristic back then, after all). This novel is about an amazing journey that takes it protagonists to fantastic locations. And of course, it's just a good old-fashioned adventure story.

From the Earth to the Moon (1865)

The Baltimore Gun Club creates a giant cannon that launches three of its members all the way to the moon. Sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? Well it's sci-fi. Anything's possible in sci-fi.

Another early work of science fiction, Verne's novel prefigures the obsession with space travel that we'll find in later sci-fi. In the sequel to this book, All Around the Moon (1870) we get some pretty incredible descriptions of outer space and the moon. It's quite an achievement considering that back in the day, when Verne was writing, we knew even less than we do now about outer space.

Chew On This

Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is all about fantastic voyages. Check out the theme of exploration in the novel here.

The extraterrestrial landscape of the moon is at the center of Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon. Check out this novel here.