Albé Gaines

Albé Gaines
Gaines in 1904
Born	Alfred Ernest Gaines (1850-02-03)February 3, 1850 Bashaven, Rythene
Died	January 31, 1909(1909-01-31) (aged 58)
Occupation	Author
Genre	Science fiction, cosmic horror
Notable works	Celestial Pilgrimage Commentaries on the Front

Albé Gaines (born Alfred Ernest Gaines; 3 February 1850 - 31 January 1909) was a Rythenean author, often referred to as the “Father of Sci-Fi” because of his popular novels which pioneered the genre. Despite only publishing five novels in his thirty-five year career, Gaines remained one of the most successful authors well into the twentieth century, and his books have never been out of print. As of January 2021, Gaines’ books have sold just under ninety million copies in total.

Personal Life

Prior to his first official publication, Gaines adopted his father’s given name, Albé, as his pen name. Despite his upbringing in Bashaven, Gaines gained an appreciation for Casmirean culture through his parents, and resented the fact that they had to move to insular Rythene to make a living.

Novels

Notorious for being a slow writer when it came to novels, Gaines took great pride in the effort he took to create his books. Gaines once published an article about how he approached his writing, where he revealed that two-thirds of the time he spent making a book was planning alone. After his death, his surviving family published novel-like notes of his character’s backstories, where most of the lore he created never actually made it into the final product.

I can write a memoir in a week because we live in a world that is already defined for us. The characters have origins just by existing; they don’t need to be handcrafted from scratch. When writing a novel, I try to achieve the same level of nuance in every protagonist, antagonist, and minor personality before I even put pen to paper.

— Albé Gaines, 22 June 1889

Gaines’ first two publications, Vast Infinite and Lurking in the Depths, initially released to a poor reception. Readership was not widespread, and his writings which featured disturbing content were not well received. After the release of his memoir about his experience during the Battle of Bashaven, a wider audience revisited his previous work, and whilst opinions were still divided, he rose to prominence as an author practically overnight. His next book, Inferno Ablaze, was similar stylistically to his previous fictional works, and was influenced by the trauma inflicted upon him by the fires of Bashaven.

His first foray into the genre of science fiction occurred with his book Celestial Pilgrimage, which Gaines described as a reimagining of Perende’s journey. The new genre was positively received, and opened itself to be enjoyed by a wider audience. He followed this success with another book in the same genre, titled Vanguard of Escape, which was equally popular upon release, but lesser known to modern audiences today. Gaines was in the middle of planning for another science fiction novel, but stopped when he enlisted to fight in the First Great War. Despite only ever publishing two science fiction books, his new style was soon adopted by other authors, who flooded the market with novels which reflected the formula laid out by Gaines.

Memoirs

Although his novels were well regarded, Gaines' memoirs were more popular during his lifetime. The first of his three biographical works was Commentaries on Bashaven, a personal recount of his experience on the night his home city was burned to the ground by Tyrnican forces. Its timely publication merely four days after the event, and the impeccable detail of the devastation which swept the city, proved more valuable than official reports that the president had received. Upon reading Gaines' account, Stuart Griffiths was made aware of a number of details that had gone unreported. Ultimately, it partially aided in his decision to surrender when Tyrnican forces camped outside of Hyreathe a week after the burning of Bashaven. With a new found popularity, publishing companies revisited Gaines' previously ignored works, and the Rythenean people were exposed en masse to his novels for the first time. Public opinion on the content of the books was mixed, but they were undoubtedly unique and unprecedented, and their reception inspired Gaines to write more.

In 1888, Gaines attended the Delhaven World's Fair, and it became the subject of his second memoir, Commentaries on Delhaven Fair. When Griffiths heard that Gaines would be present at the opening ceremony, he invited him to an exclusive afternoon tea that had been organised for the living former presidents in attendance. Gaines' spent two weeks at the exposition, penning his memoir whilst he visited the attractions. Allegedly, he participated in the infamous brawl with Tyrnican gatecrashers, but he never admitted to personal involvement in the affair, and it was not mentioned in his own account. The memoir was published a month into the fair, and was used by the Rythenean government as advertisement, sparking further domestic interest in the event. The famous hot air balloon display on the opening day of the exposition inspired Gaines' first science fiction novel, Celestial Pilgrimage, which followed the story of a man's journey through the cosmos in a lighter-than-air vehicle.

With the success of his previous memoirs, and his associated reputation as the "voice of Rythenean perspective", in part inspired Gaines' decision to fight in the First Great War. Despite being nearly sixty years of age when enlisting, Gaines wanted to experience life first-hand on the front lines. Whilst serving he began writing his next memoir, however he was killed in action before he could finish. His research notes were retrieved alongside his other personal belongings, and were returned to his family following his death. In 1952, Gaines' great-nephew approached Ermina Arlette and asked her to complete his final work. Although Arlette had previously made a public vow to never write another war story, she relented on behalf of Gaines, who had been her childhood inspiration.

A Great War ended his career, and the next one launched mine. Gaines’ novels were the reason I wanted to become an author in the first place, so I felt an obligation to help his final work come to life.

— Ermina Arlette, 12 April 1959

Whilst Arlette had a reputation of releasing multiple books in a short time span, she took her time to study and attempt to mimic Gaines' writing style as much as possible. The final memoir, titled Commentaries on the Front, is officially ascribed solely to Albé Gaines, however a page is left blank in most editions to signify where he stopped writing and where Arlette started.

Legacy

At the conclusion of the First Great War, Casmire University was renamed the Gaines Institute. Although Gaines was born in insular Rythene, the name change was partly in spite of their rival school in Hyreathe (Gaudin University), who had co-opted the name of the first Casmirean president. In 2000, a popular petition called for Gaudin University to be renamed to the Arlette Institute, to once again adopt the namesake of a famous Casmirean.

Hidden Hemisphere conspiracy

After a revitalised public interest in Gaines' works following the posthumous release of his final memoir in 1959, a conspiracy theory based on his fictional novel Lurking in the Depths became popularised amongst certain self-proclaimed “truth-seekers”. Gaines’ 1879 novel was centred around an expedition beyond an ice wall discovered at the southern tip of the known world. Drilling past the wall, the crew discovered an ocean world filled with leviathan monsters and other oddities. Many failed attempts have been made by the hidden hemisphere believers to prove its existence, such as two unsuccessful satellite launches, numerous expeditions to the south pole, fake satellite renders, and pictures of Idica at night claiming it is in a constant shadow from the ice belt. Some believers who are Perendist believe that the two hemispheres reflect the bisignum, claiming that the second hemisphere is empty like the lower circle. Other members claim that another civilisation similar to ours resides on the opposite side of the ice wall.

Bibliography

Year	Book	Genre	Copies sold	Publisher
1871	Vast Infinite	Cosmic horror	3,000,000	Quill Press
1879	Lurking in the Depths	Cosmic horror	14,000,000	Quill Press
1883	Commentaries on Bashaven	Memoir	4,000,000	Quill Press
1886	Inferno Ablaze	Cosmic horror	9,000,000	Quill Press
1888	Commentaries on Delhaven Fair	Memoir	5,000,000	Quill Press
1902	Celestial Pilgrimage	Science fiction	22,000,000	Quill Press
1906	Vanguard of Escape	Science fiction	11,000,000	Quill Press
1959	Commentaries on the Front (posthumous)	Memoir	20,000,000	Pennings