Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Jules Verne is such a good writer that his stories become real. After reading Verne's novel Around the World in 80 Days, a writer named Elizabeth Bisland decided to take Mr. Verne up on his offer. Although her superiors wanted to send a man on this voyage, Bisland held her ground and eventually took her journey, circling the globe in a mere seventy-six days. (Source)
Michel Ardan is directly inspired by Verne's friend and legendary photographer, Félix Nadar. It turns out that Nadar actually plays an important role throughout Verne's fiction—his real-life adventures inspired many a Jules Verne novel. Plus, the guy seems to have invented the animated gif. Consider us swooning. (Source)
You might not realize it, but Verne was once Edgar Allan Poe's number one literary fanboy. Verne was so into Poe's work that it took it upon himself to complete Poe's unfinished novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, releasing his interpretation under the name An Antarctic Mystery. Even the greats write fan fiction. (Source)