This early work by Olaf Stapledon was originally published in 1916 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Seed and the Flower' is a science fiction short story. William Olaf Stapledon was born on 10th May 1886 in Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula near Liverpool, in England. He completed a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Liverpool and his first published work of prose A Modern Theory of Ethics (1929) was based on his doctoral thesis. The following year, Stapledon published his first work of fiction Last and First Men (1930), the success of which enabled him to become a full-time writer. He had a great impact in the field of science fiction, influencing notable authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and Brian Aldiss.