Edward Lytton was an English novelist, playwright and politician. Many famous literary phrases come from Lord Lytton such as: "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and "it was a dark and stormy night". Some consider The Coming Race to be the first science fiction novel. His story of a superior subterranean master race and the energy form Vril was so compelling that many people believed it to be true. Even as late as 1960 there has been a theory about a secret Vril society