A Day Among the Liars

Edward Page Mitchell (1852–1927) was an American journalist and author who stood as a foundational figure in early science fiction literature. Serving for decades as an editor and later editor-in-chief at The Sun newspaper in New York, he wrote numerous anonymous short stories that introduced groundbreaking concepts to modern speculative fiction well before they were popularized by later writers.

Born in Bath, Maine, Mitchell developed a fascination with technology, journalism, and literature at an early age. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1871, he embarked on a distinguished newspaper career, joining the staff of The Sun in 1875. His editorial work kept him closely attuned to the scientific innovations and philosophical debates of the late nineteenth century, which heavily informed the themes of his fiction.

Because Mitchell published his short stories anonymously in the pages of The Sun, his pioneering contributions to sci-fi were largely overlooked during his lifetime until twentieth-century literary historians rediscovered his work. Between 1874 and 1886, he authored stories exploring concepts such as time travel, invisibility, teleportation, faster-than-light travel, and mechanical minds years before authors like H. G. Wells gained fame for similar ideas.

Essential Reading:

• A Day Among the Liars (1885): A clever satirical story set in a peculiar village where total dishonesty is the norm, offering a humorous reflection on human nature and deception.
• Exchanging Hearts (1888): A fascinating speculative tale about an unusual romantic proposition involving medical intrigue and psychological concepts.
• The Clock That Went Backward (1881): One of the earliest known stories to depict a dedicated time-travel machine, following two young men transported into historical battles.