Adventures in Air Author:Edgar Allan Poe Poe's contributions to early science fiction set him apart from all others as the most versatile story teller in history. He is considered the founding father of mysteries, horror stories, and many other popular genres. His timeless tales continue to inspire and chill modern readers. These two unabridged "flights" of fancy include Mell... more »onta Tauta, written in 1849. This story, satirizing the politics of Poe's own century, takes the form of a letter dated April Fool's Day, 2849, written by a woman aboard a doomed trans-Atlantic super-blimp. The Unparalleled Adventure of Hans Pfall is part satire, part hoax, and part aeronautical fantasy, as a manuscript dropped from a balloon by a dwarf-like creature explains a host of mysteries that have afflicted the ground-dwellers. With this tale, Poe established an important precedent which continues in literature to this day-that of science fiction being grounded in science fact.« less