Born in San Francisco, Jack London (1876-1916) shoveled coal, pirated oysters, sailed with a sealing schooner, and worked in a cannery as a youth. In 1897, London traveled to the Yukon to join the Klondike gold rush, an experience that inspired many of his later works. Best known for The Call of the Wild (1903), he wrote and published more than fifty volumes of essays, novels, and short stories, and was one of the most popular authors of his era. He is more known for his nongenre works, but nevertheless contributed novels in the realms of fantasy and sci-fi, and his short story “The Red One” is considered a sci-fi classic of sorts. London passed away in 1916, at the age of 40.
Today, more than a century after Jack London’s passing in 1916, most people probably remember the San Francisco-born author for his books of rugged adventure, such as his third novel, The Call of the Wild (1903), his fifth, The Sea-Wolf (1904), and his seventh, White Fang (1906). Fewer will recall that amongst London’s 23 novels, 21 short story collections, three memoirs, three plays, 22 books of nonfiction and 45 poems – all written during a life span of only 40 years – this most superhumanly prolific of authors also produced four books that must be classified as either fantasy or sci-fi.
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