Garrett Putnam Serviss (1851–1929) was an American writer of popular astronomy and an early science fiction author. He served as an editor at the New York Sun and spent many years giving traveling lectures on astronomy and writing, devoting much effort to bringing astronomical knowledge to the general public. His science fiction often draws on astronomy, imagining space travel and extraterrestrial settings; his representative work A Columbus of Space is about space exploration, while The Moon Metal imagines lunar resources. Two of his works are included in this collection, commonly classified under inspirational growth. Public information on the details of his life is limited; the available account rests mainly on his professional identity and surviving works, with emphasis on his popular science writing and his pioneering role in early science fiction themes.
