Robert Cromie 
Crack of Doom 

Though first published in 1895, this eerily prescient science-fiction novella contains the first-ever description of what an atomic explosion might look like. Often compared by critics to masterworks such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, Robert Cromie’s The Crack of Doom explores the dangers of unfettered scientific experimentation.