Fitz James O'Brien (December 31 1828 - April 6 1862) was an author and is often considered one of the forerunners of today's Science Fiction. He was born Michael O'Brien in County Cork, and was very young when the family moved to Limerick, Ireland, educated at the University of Dublin, and is believed to have been at one time a soldier in the British service. On leaving college he went to London, and in the course of four years spent his inheritance of £8,000, meanwhile editing a periodical in aid of the World's Fair of 1851. About 1852 he came to the United States, in the process changing his name to Fitz James and thenceforth he devoted his attention to literature. 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 pen was also employed in writing plays. For James W. Wallack he made A Gentleman from Ireland, that held the boards for a generation. He also wrote and adapted other pieces for the theatres, but they had a shorter existence. In New York he at once associated with the brilliant set of Bohemians of that day, among whom he was ranked as the most able. At the weekly dinners that were given by John Brougham, or at the nightly suppers at Pfaff's on Broadway, he was the soul of the entertainment. In 1861 he joined the 7th regiment of the New York National Guard, hoping to be sent to the front, and he was in Camp Cameron before Washington for six weeks. When his regiment returned to New York he received an appointment on the staff of General Frederick W. Lander. He was severely wounded in a skirmish on 26 February, 1862, and lingered until April, when he died at Cumberland, Maryland. (via Wikipedia)