White, Edward Lucas
Entry updated 22 June 2026. Tagged: Author.
(1866-1934) US classics teacher, author and poet, educated at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland; once noted for his historical novels but now best remembered for short supernatural Horror stories. Some of these draw on imagery from his own nightmares, as in "The House of the Nightmare" in Smith's Magazine for September 1906 and the unforgettable body-horror tale "Lukundoo" (November 1925 Weird Tales), which has been frequently anthologized. Collections of such work published during his lifetime were The Song of the Sirens (coll 1919) and Lukundoo and Other Stories (coll 1927). There have also been several posthumous collections, of which Sesta & Other Strange Stories: The Horror Fiction of Edward Lucas White (coll 2001) saw the first appearance of a number of previously unpublished pieces including the title novelette.
White's work of greatest direct sf interest, had it ever been published, would be the Utopian novel «Plus Ultra» which he began in 1885 – years before the appearance of Edward Bellamy'sLooking Backward 2000-1887 (1888) – only to destroy the original draft and start again in 1901, working on this project for much of his remaining life. A Langley Searles published a five-part essay on the novel – whose MS is preserved at Johns Hopkins University – as "'Plus Ultra' An Unknown Science Fiction Utopia" (Winter 1979/1980-Winter 1984 Fantasy Commentator), assessing it as a "major contribution to the field of science-fiction" and providing a chapter-by-chapter synopsis. It is a substantial text: a length of 500,000 words has been claimed, though Searles estimates only 360,000 to 370,000 words. An introductory novella or short novel (52,000 words) titled "From Behind the Stars" sets the scene with the Invention of a wireless Communications device using Rays that travel very much Faster Than Light; there is unexpected First Contact with a long-lived Alien intelligence (silicon- rather than carbon-based life) inhabiting a solar system 300 parsecs distant, leading to a conversation about the various forms of life in the universe. The main narrative begins when another voice joins in, that of a man in a distant galaxy whose world is somehow exactly equivalent to the Far Future Earth of 50,000 CE. This planetary Utopia is then described at length in many chapters with such inspiring titles as "The Scheme of Government", "Legislation and Suffrage", "Public Buildings", "Ornamental Structures" and "Mining and Quarrying" (all fossil fuels have been exhausted). Searles was moderately impressed by White's track record of Predictions in this long, didactic account. [DRL]
Edward Lucas White
born Bergen, New Jersey: 11 May 1866
died Baltimore, Maryland: 30 March 1934
works (selected)
collections and stories
- The Song of the Sirens (New York: E P Dutton, 1919) [coll: hb/]
- Lukundoo and Other Stories (New York: George H Doran Company, 1927) [coll: hb/]
- House of the Nightmare: The Horror Fiction of Edward Lucas White (Seattle, Washington: Midnight House, 1998) [coll: hb/Allen Koszowski]
- Sesta & Other Strange Stories: The Horror Fiction of Edward Lucas White (Seattle, Washington: Midnight House, 2001) [coll: hb/Allen Koszowski]
- Lukundoo (Vancleave, Mississippi: Ramble House, 2006) [story: chap: first appeared November 1925 Weird Tales: pb/Gavin L O'Keefe]
- The Stuff of Dreams: The Weird Stories of Edward Lucas White (Welches, Oregon: Arcane Wisdom, 2013) [coll: edited and introduced by S T Joshi: hb/Alex McVey]
- The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Edward Lucas White: Four Novelettes 'The Snout,' 'The Message on the Slate,' 'The Song of the Sirens,' & 'The Fasces,' Nineteen Short Stories & Two Poems of the Strange and Unusual (United Kingdom: Leonaur, 2017) [coll: pb/]
about the author
- George T Wetzel. "Edward Lucas White: Notes for a Biography" (Winter 1979/1980-Winter 1984 Fantasy Commentator) [mag/]
links
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