Ignis, The Central Fire

Ignis (1883) is about the industrial exploitation of Earth's central fire by a multinational cartel. It also contains fanciful digressions into biological engineering, Utopian city planning, the possibility of brain control by means of electrical stimulation and the potential exhaustion of fossil fuels.

Proving again that science fiction writers are harbingers of the future, it features the first depiction of the revolt of machines-steam-powered non-humanoid robots-that have become intelligent, all penned at a time before the automobile was even invented!

Brian Stableford has been a professional writer since 1965. He has published more than 60 science fiction and fantasy novels, as well as several authoritative non-fiction books.