Jean François Paschal Grousset

Jean François Paschal Grousset (1844- 1909) was a French politician, journalist, translator and science fiction writer. 

Grousset published under the pseudonyms of Andre Laurie, Philippe Daryl, Tiburce Moray and Leopold Virey. Grousset was born in Corsica, and studied medicine before commencing a journalistic career. In 1869 he began working for the weekly newspaper La Marseillaise, writing pro-revolutionary articles. He was elected a member of the Paris Commune, becoming a member of its Executive Committee and Delegate for External Affairs. After the fall of the Commune, he was arrested and in 1872 was deported to New Caledonia. He escaped, and lived in Sydney, San Francisco, New York and London, making a living by teaching French. He returned to France after the 1880 amnesty. 

Like Jules Verne, he was another discovery of publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel. He “collaborated” with Verne on Les Cinq Cent Millions de la Begum (1879), L’etoile du Sud (1884) and L’epave du Cynthia (1885).