A Voyage to the Moon

 
In 'A Voyage to the Moon', the narrator (called, like the author, Cyrano de Bergerac), after a failed first attempt to reach the moon using vials of dewdrops, finally makes it into space and to his desired destination using the more scientific means of a rocket-powered craft. After landing, he discovers four-legged creatures whose nourishment is smoke and whose currency is poetry and encounters the ghost of Socrates. Published posthumously and intended mainly as a satire of its age, this imaginative and entertaining tale - here presented in a lively translation by Andrew Brown - is now considered one of the pioneering works of science fiction.