Jan Kostka is a editor of Science Fictin and Fantasy based in New Jersey Horace Walpole was an 18th century English politician and writer who is acknowledged to have written the first ＂Gothic＂ novel. William Beckford was also an 18th and early 19th century writer who was friends with Lord Byron and others of the period Mary Shelley was an author of the 19th century, the daughter of famous parents and the wife of one of the famous poets of the day. She is most famous for her work, ＂Frankenstein＂. Edgar Allen Poe was a 19th century author famous for the macabre in short stories Jack London was a late 19th century / early 20th century author and newspaperman, most known for his stories of the outdoors.