Guy Boothby was a 19th century Australian writer and In 1890 Boothby wrote the libretto for the comic opera, Sylvia. In 1894 he published On the Wallaby or Through the East and Across Australia, an account of the trip he and his brother took across Australia from Cooktown to Adelaide. Boothby moved to England in 1894. He wrote over 50 books during a decade. Boothby wrote a series of five novels about Doctor Nikola, an occultist anti-hero seeking immortality and world domination. These books include A Bid for Fortune: or, Dr Nikola's Vendetta (1895) (AKA Enter, Dr Nikola), Dr Nikola (1896) also as Dr. Nikola Returns, The Lust of Hate (1898), Dr Nikola's Experiment (1899), and "Farewell, Nikola" (1901). Dr Nikola is a dark brooding intellectual obsessed with finding the path to eternal life. Audiences fear Dr Nikola and at the same time are fascinated by him.