(1856-1919) He was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He wrote thirteen novel sequals, nine other fantays novels, and a host of other works (55 novels in total (plus four lost novels), 82 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings), and made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen. His works predicted such century - later commonplaces as television, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work).