Meade, L T
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
Working name of UK author Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith (1844-1914), now best remembered for her numerous and sometimes inventive books for girls, but some of whose romances of detection and sedition are of sf interest, though the sometimes-cited John Bell sequence – assembled as A Master of Mysteries (coll of linked stories June-November 1897 Cassell's Magazine; 1898) with Robert Eustace – is not, as the mysteries are invariably rationalized in nonfantastic terms. The volume is Checklisted below for convenience, as are the Stories from the Diary of a Doctor volumes with Clifford Halifax, some of which edge into sf territory. Of greater sf interest are This Troublesome World (1893 3vols) with Clifford Halifax, both anonymous, about a doctor who uses psychotropic drugs to gain his will; The Desire of Man: An Impossibility (1899), a study in abnormal Psychology involving vampirism; The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings (January-October 1898 Strand; coll of linked stories 1899) with Robert Eustace, featuring Madame Koluchy, a She-like female Mad Scientist and master criminal who creates foul Inventions to destroy her enemies; The Sanctuary Club (July-December 1899 The Strand as Stories of the Sanctuary Club; coll 1899) with Clifford Halifax, a series of Club Stories including at least one Invention tale involving an evil doctor; A Race with the Sun (coll: July 1896-February 1897 The Strand as The Adventures of a Man of Science; 1901) with Clifford Halifax, mysteries narrated by a scientific detective; and The Sorceress of the Strand (October 1902-March 1903 Strand as with Robert Eustace; 1903), about a nihilist female with claims to Immortality and, because of her mixed blood, an early representative of the Yellow Peril. [JC]
Elizabeth Thomasina Smith
born Bandon, County Cork, Ireland: 5 June 1844
died Oxford, Oxfordshire: 26 October 1914
works (selected)
series
Stories from the Diary of a Doctor
- Stories from the Diary of a Doctor (First Series) (London: George Newnes, 1894) with Clifford Halifax [coll: first appeared anonymously July 1893-June 1894 The Strand: Stories from the Diary of a Doctor: hb/]
- Stories from the Diary of a Doctor: Second Series (London: Bliss, Sands and Co, 1896) with Clifford Halifax [coll: first appeared, signed, January-December 1895 The Strand: Stories from the Diary of a Doctor: hb/]
individual titles
- This Troublesome World (London: Edward Arnold, 1893) with Clifford Halifax, both anonymous [published in three volumes: hb/]
- The Desire of Man: An Impossibility (London: Digby, Long and Co, 1899) [hb/]
collections
- A Master of Mysteries (London: Ward, Lock and Co, 1898) with Robert Eustace [coll of linked stories: first appeared June-November 1897 Cassell's Magazine: John Bell: hb/]
- The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings (London: Ward, Lock and Co, 1899) with Robert Eustace [coll of linked stories: first appeared January-October 1898 Strand: illus/hb/Sidney Paget]
- The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings (London: Ward, Lock and Co, 1903) with Robert Eustace [coll: cut: omits one story from the above: illus/pb/Sidney Paget]
- The Sanctuary Club (London: Ward, Lock and Co, 1899) with Clifford Halifax [coll: first appeared July-December 1899 The Strand as Stories of the Sanctuary Club: hb/]
- A Race with the Sun (London: Ward, Lock and Co, 1901) with Clifford Halifax [coll: first appeared July 1896-February 1897 The Strand as The Adventures of a Man of Science: hb/]
- The Sorceress of the Strand (London: Ward, Lock and Co, 1903) [first appeared October 1902-March 1903 Strand as with Robert Eustace: hb/]
- Silenced (London: Ward, Lock and Co, 1904) with Clifford Halifax [coll: illus/Sydney Paget/Gordon Browne: hb/]
- Eyes of Terror and Other Dark Adventures (Dublin, Ireland: Swan River Press, 2021) [coll: hb/]
about the author
- Sarah V Buckley. Elizabeth Thomasina Meade, Novelist (1844-1914) (Bangor, Northern Ireland: Crawford Cottage Books, 2004) [chap: pb/photographic]
links
previous versions of this entry