A Sensation Novel is a comic musical play in three acts (described as "volumes" in the programme), one of a series written by the dramatist W. S. Gilbert for the Royal Gallery of Illustration , with music composed by Thomas German Reed , though much of the music is lost. The play premiered on 31 January 1871 and concerns an author suffering from writer's block who finds that the characters in his novel are dissatisfied when they come to life and complain about their fate. The piece satirises the sensation novels popular as pulp detective fiction in the Victorian era . This lithographic poster was designed by Robert Jacob Hamerton to advertise the premiere of A Sensation Novel .