What if Jules Verne and Kurd Laßwitz had discovered the same story?

Germany, autumn 1899. A mysterious visitor arrives late at the home of Kurd and Jenny Laßwitz in Gotha. His name is Jules Verne.

What begins as an unexpected meeting between two writers soon becomes a troubling literary mystery. Verne has recognized elements in Two Planets, Laßwitz’s famous novel, that remind him of one of his own works. But Laßwitz possesses an old notebook that appears to tell an even older version of the story.

With Jenny Laßwitz acting as an interpreter, the two authors begin comparing their accounts. Three travellers. An unknown world. A disappearance. Names that have changed over time. And a story that seems to have survived across generations.

But where did it come from?

The Beginning of an Extraordinary Journey is a historical fiction novella that brings together real people, historical settings, literary history, and an entirely imagined encounter. What begins as a question about two famous authors gradually leads to something much older.

And what if neither Jules Verne nor Kurd Laßwitz had been the first to tell the story?