Fitz-James O'Brien (1828-1862) was an author and is often considered one of the forerunners of today's Science Fiction. While he was in college he had shown an aptitude for writing verse, and two of his poems Loch Ine and Irish Castles were published in The Ballads of Ireland (1856). His earliest writings in the United States were contributed to the Lantern. Subsequently he wrote for the Home Journal, the New York Times, and the American Whig Review.